Meet Karen Fairchild, Professor of Pediatrics

Karen Fairchild, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate Director for Neonatal Research in the UVA School of Medicine. Dr. Fairchild describes her interests and her experience as a clinician-scientist.

Brain Institute: Briefly describe your current research projects and interests. 

Dr. Fairchild: I’m broadly interested in improving outcomes of people that start their lives in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. This includes preterm and full term infants that require days, weeks, or months of intensive care before they can go home. My major research focus is analyzing vital signs to predict actionable adverse events, like sepsis. Babies in the NICU are at increased risk for sepsis because of immature host defense mechanisms and invasive devices required to support their breathing and nutrition. At UVA, researchers developed the “HeRO Monitor” which detects abnormal heart rate patterns and alerts clinicians to babies in the early (non-obvious) stages of sepsis. We currently have an NIH grant to develop even better early warning systems for NICU patients. More recently, I started looking at atypical vital sign patterns as a window to brain dysfunction.

How does your research connect with the field of neuroscience? 

Several years ago I started working with clinicians and data scientists interested in understanding how abnormal vital sign patterns reflect acute or chronic brain injury in infants. The autonomic nervous system controls beat-to-beat heart rate variability which is abnormal in people with different types of brain injury. Hypoxia, which is unfortunately common among patients in ICUs, can impact the brain as well. We’ve identified some novel heart rate and oxygenation patterns that reflect brain injury and risk for adverse neurodevelopment outcomes including autism and cerebral palsy.

Why did you decide to come to UVA? 

I was recruited to join the UVA Pediatrics faculty in the Division of Neonatology in 2004, and the fact that I’ve stayed this long (and still love my job!) is testimony to the support and collaboration I have found here. In my prior faculty position I did not have enough protected research time, but at UVA I was given a lab, resources, and time to start a bench research program in hypothermia leading to a K08 award. Hypothermia is neuroprotective and I developed a mouse model to study its impact on gene expression and inflammation.

What's the best part about your job? 

I love taking care of sick babies. I hate that they are sick, but I love being able to help many of them survive and thrive. In the NICU we also care for babies that really aren’t sick, just small and needing a little help to be ready for home. But I also love being able to do research. So the best part of my job is the variety.

What led you to a career in academic medicine? 

I wanted to be a doctor since I was a little kid, but I did not know until I got to medical school that research is so important, and can be fun and rewarding. Both my parents were academics, so I suppose research is in my genes. And the reason I’ve been relatively successful is three-fold: flexibility, excellent mentorship, and luck.

What advice do you have for clinician-scientists? 

Don’t let people tell you what can’t be done. I was told that getting a K08 eight years out from fellowship would be impossible. I was also told that making the transition from bench to clinical research would be difficult if not impossible. I did both of those things mainly because I did not give up, and I found the right people to collaborate with.

What's something new that you've learned recently (at work or outside of work)? 

I’ve taken on gardening since the pandemic. It’s been eye-opening to learn that growing fruits and vegetables isn’t as simple as throwing some seeds in the yard in the Spring and getting tomatoes and peppers when Fall rolls around. There’s a lot of science to it as well, and it’s been fun starting from scratch to learn something new again. My daughter’s also gotten into gardening with me. We’ll see how the strawberries we planted together do in a month or so.

Where are you from originally?

My Dad was in the Public Health Service so we got moved around a lot as he got reassigned to various universities for his research. I was born in Ohio, then lived in New Jersey, Seattle (my favorite by far!), and North Carolina (Research Triangle Park).

What's your favorite way to spend a weekend? 

My husband and I have a weekend house on the Rappahannock River and we go for a long weekend about once a month. I kayak, he fishes, and we read a lot. Our kids who live in DC and Norfolk sometimes join us there.

What kind of music do you like? 

Classical! I play cello. My sister plays violin and we play chamber music with another sister pair. Dvorak, Beethoven, etc.