Our Neonatologists
Istvan Seri, MD, PhD, HondDirector, Center for Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
Since his arrival at our hospital and USC, Dr. Seri has overseen the expansion of the Keck School of Medicine of USC Division of Neonatal Medicine and the creation of the Institute of Maternal-Fetal Health (IMFH). In 2006, Dr. Seri became the Director of the newly formed “Center of Fetal and Neonatal Medicine” at our hospital incorporating the Division of Neonatology with its academic neonatal network and the IMFH into one multidisciplinary center. As for his teaching activities, Dr. Seri has been intimately involved in graduate and postgraduate medical education and received numerous awards including the “Semmelweis Award” from Semmelweis Medical School (1998), the “Faculty Teacher of the Year Award” from CHOP (2000), the “Blockley-Osler Award for Excellence in Teaching Modern Clinical Medicine” from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2000), the “Neonatal Faculty Teaching Award” from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and CHOP (2001), the “Philip E. Rothman Memorial Award for Excellence in Pediatric Resident Education, Guidance and Inspiration” from our hospital (2004) and the R.H. Paul Award for Contribution to OB/MFM Resident, Fellow and Staff Education from the USC Division of MFM (2007). In 2001, upon Dr. Seri’s departure from CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania, the “Istvan Seri Faculty Teaching Award in Neonatology” for the Department of Pediatrics and Division of Neonatology was established. Dr. Seri also received an Honorary Doctorate Degree (“Doctor Honoris Causa”) from Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary in 2004 and the Robert M. McAllister Faculty Mentoring Award for Excellence in Mentoring Junior Faculty from the Department of Pediatrics at our hospital and Keck School of Medicine in 2007. In collaboration with the Viterbi School of Engineering of USC and the Department of Radiology at our hospital, Dr. Seri developed a PhD training program with 3 positions in bioengineering in the Center of Fetal and Neonatal Medicine in 2008. Dr. Seri’s basic and clinical research activities have focused on the developmental regulation of cardiovascular and renal function and sodium-potassium ATPase, the pathophysiology and treatment of neonatal shock and, more recently, the use of functional echocardiography and other bedside hemodynamic monitoring techniques such as near infrared spectroscopy in research and neonatal critical care. He has received several awards to support his research activities including the Charles A. Janeway Award from Harvard Medical School and awards from the NIH and other funding agencies. Dr. Seri has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, editorials and chapters and is the co-editor of the “Neonatal Hemodynamics and Cardiology” book published in 2008. He has been a member or chair of boards of several national and international committees and scientific organizing committees and has served on different NIH study sections. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Society of Pediatric Research, the Pediatric Academic Society and the Subsection on Perinatal Pediatrics of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Seri has been an invited speaker at over 200 national and international meetings and postgraduate courses in the US and abroad and has been on the organizing committee of the “Evidence vs. Experience in Neonatology” annual international conference. Dr. Seri has also been the chair of the Neonatal Hemodynamics Club at the PAS/SPR since its inception in 2004, is the course director for the Developmental Hemodynamics Course for the IPOKRaTES international organization of postgraduate medical education and has been serving on editorial boards and as invited reviewer of a large number of peer-review specialty journals. Because of his accomplishments, Dr. Seri is considered an internationally renowned expert on developmental hemodynamics and neonatal shock. Philippe Friedlich, MD, MS Epi, MBASection Head
Dr. Philippe Friedlich is Associate Professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Southern California and the section head and medical director of the Neonatal & Infant Critical Care Unit at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Dr Friedlich earned his medical degree from the University of Southern California and completed his pediatric residency and internship at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. He completed a fellowship in neonatal and perinatal medicine at the University of Southern California Women’s and Children’s Hospital before joining the faculty of the USC division of Neonatal Medicine in 1998. Dr Friedlich completed in 2004 a Master of Science in Applied Biostatics and Epidemiology from the University of Southern California and earned a MBA in Medical Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2006. A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Friedlich holds membership with the Society of Pediatric Research. His areas of research interests include Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support in neonates and infants, the epidemiology of congenital malformations and neonatal healthcare delivery and outcomes. Dr. Friedlich is a member of the California Children’s Medical Services /California Children’s Services NICU Technical Advisory Committee and a member of the California Children’s Services/CPQCC high-risk infants project to improve the neuro-developmental outcomes of at risk infants. Dr. Friedlich is an executive member of the California Premature Health Coalition. Since 2007, Dr Friedlich has served as a Neonatal consultant for the development of America’s best children’s hospitals by the U.S. News & World Report. Lisa Kelly
Dr. Kelly is board-certified in Pediatrics and in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine. She received her Bachelor's degree in Biology with a concentration in Scientific Ethics at the University of Notre Dame and received her medical degree from the University of Southern California in 1997. She completed her residency training in Pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, in 2000 and a fellowship in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine at the Northwestern University/Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2003. She joined the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine faculty in 2003 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Her research interests are in the regulation of pumonary vascular tone/ treatment of pulmonary hypertension, and the creation of a national Children’s hospital specific neonatal database. Access Dr. Kelly's Medical Bio Valairat Dhamcharee, MD
Dr. Dhamcharee is board certified in Pediatrics, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Genetics/Metabolic Medicine. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of California, Irvine and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1998. She completed her Pediatric residency training and her fellowship in both Clinical Genetics and Biochemical Genetics at University of Medicine in New Jersey in 2000. She also completed a second fellowship in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine at Los Angeles County- University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Women’s and Children’s Hospital in 2006. She joined the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine faculty in 2006. Her research interests include FGFR mutations and related disorders, dysmorphology, inborn errors of metabolism and developmental outcome in very low birth weight infants. Arlene Garingo, MD
She completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at University of Southern California, San Diego, and received her medical degree from the University of California at Davis in 1998. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Oakland in 2001. She completed a fellowship in Perinatal-Neonatal Medicine at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Women's and Children's Hospital in 2004. She joined the University Of Southern California Division Of Neonatal Medicine in 2004 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Her research interests involve the use of telemedicine in the neonatal population; development of the ‘Virtual NICU.' Access Dr. Garingo's Medical Bio
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Dr. Seri obtained his MD (1976) and PhD (1985) in Budapest, Hungary at the Semmelweis Medical School and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, respectively. He completed his clinical training in pediatrics and neonatology at Semmelweis University and his basic and clinical research training in developmental physiology, and renal cellular physiology and neonatology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden (1984-86) and at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (1986-91), respectively. In 1991, Dr. Seri joined the faculty of the Joint Program in Neonatology at Harvard Medical School. In 1994, he was recruited to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania as the Clinical Director of Newborn Services. In 2001, he moved to our hospital and the University of Southern California (USC) as Professor of Pediatrics and the Chief of the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine at our hospital and LAC+USC Medical Center.
Lisa Kelly, MD, is the Associate Medical Director for the Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care (CNICC) and an Attending Neonatologist at our hospital and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. 
Valairat (Kate) Dhamcharee, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for the Division of Neonatology at the University of Southern California (USC) and an Attending Neonatologist and Geneticist at Cha-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Children's Hospital Los Angeles Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care (CNICC).
Arlene Garingo, MD, is an Attending Neonatologist at Cha-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital. She is board-certified in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. 
Paige Jackson, MD is the Director of the Community Outreach Program (COP) at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles . She is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for the Division of Neonatology at the University of Southern California (USC) and an Attending Neonatologist at our hospital, Neonatal and Infant Critical Care Unit and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. 
Victoria Niklas, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is an attending neonatologist in the Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care at our hospital and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. 
Shilpa Patil, MD is the Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and the Director of Communications and Website Technology for our hospital and USC. She is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for the Division of Neonatology at Keck School of Medicine of USC and an Attending Neonatologist at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles Neonatal and Infant Critical Care Unit and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. 
Rangasamy Ramanathan, MD, FAAP, is Professor of Pediatrics at Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is the Associate Division Chief of the Division of Neonatal Medicine at LAC+USC Medical Center and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. He is also the Section Head and Medical Director of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Ramanathan directs one of the largest fellowship programs in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine in the country. Dr. Ramanathan graduated from Stanley Medical College at Madras University, and completed his residency in Pediatrics at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Madras University, India (M.D. and D.C.H) and at Lincoln Medical Center, New York Medical College, in New York. He was a fellow in clinical neonatology at LAC+USC Medical Center, and a research fellow in neonatology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Ramanathan is an active faculty member in the NICUs at LAC+USC Medical Center, our hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Ramanathan’s research interests include surfactant therapy for RDS and ARDS, noninvasive ventilation in neonates, the molecular basis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cardiorespiratory monitoring, the pathophysiology of refractory hypotension in neonates, and oxygen toxicity in preterm neonates. He has conducted many multicenter trials and conducts workshops in many underdeveloped and developing countries throughout the world. He is the author of articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, American Journal of Perinatology, Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, and Pediatric Research, among others. He has written chapters in several textbooks, including Avery’s Diseases of the Newborn. He is a member of the Section on Perinatal Pediatrics, American Pediatric Society, and Western Society for Pediatric Research. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology and the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards from the department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics. He has been listed in Best Doctors in America by his peers in 2005-2010. Consumer’s Research Council of America selected him as one of “America’s Top Pediatricians“ in 2007, and the Marquis Who’s Who in America listed him in its 2008 and 2009 editions. Dr. Ramanathan is frequently an invited speaker in national and international meetings. 
Theodora Stavroudis, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for the Division of Neonatology at the University of Southern California and an Attending Neonatologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. 
Linda Tesoriero, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for the Division of Neonatology at the University of Southern California and an Attending Neonatologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles Neonatal and Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU) and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.