Cynthia Gong, PharmD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Research, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Cynthia L. Gong, PharmD, PhD is a Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology and the Fetal and Neonatal Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), USC Keck School of Medicine. Supported by Teresa and Byron Pollitt Family Chair in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, Dr. Gong is a core faculty team member developing fetal and neonatal health economics and outcomes research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Her research primarily focuses on the costs and cost-effectiveness of therapies and policies to estimate whether changes in clinical treatment, guidelines, or policies represent high-value interventions that can optimize the efficiency of limited healthcare resources to yield the best treatment outcomes possible.

Dr. Gong received her PharmD from the USC School of Pharmacy in 2011 and completed a residency in pharmacoeconomics at the VA Northern California Healthcare System. She earned her PhD in health economics from the USC School of Pharmacy, working with faculty from the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Prior to joining CHLA and USC, Dr. Gong was the Senior Pharmacoeconomics Advisor for Stanford Health Care, performing economic evaluations of high cost drugs to support the formulary decision-making process, and assisting in the development of drug cost-savings initiatives throughout the institution.

Clinical Interests

Pediatric health-related quality-of-life

Education

Medical School

University of Southern California

Residency

Veterans Affairs, Northern California Healthcare System

Accomplishments

Certification

Licensed Pharmacist (CA #66038)

Memberships

American Academy of Pediatrics

Publications

Gong CL, Dasgupta S, Zangwill KM, Bolaris M, Hay JW. Early onset sepsis calculator-based management of newborns exposed to maternal intrapartum fever: a cost benefit analysis. J Perinatol. 2019 Apr;39(4):571-580. doi: 10.1038/s41372-019-0316-y. Epub 2019 Jan 28. PMID: 30692615.

Gong CL, Zhao HV, Wei Y, Tysinger B, Goldman DP, Williams RG. Lifetime Burden of Adult Congenital Heart Disease in the United States using a Microsimulation Model. Pediatric Cardiology. 41, 1515–1525 (2020). doi: 10.1007/s00246-020-02409-9.

Crawford SA, Gong CL, Randolph LM, Yieh L, Hay JW.  Diagnosing Newborns with Suspected Severe Mitochondrial Disorders: A Cost-Effectiveness Study Comparing Early Whole Exome Sequencing to Standard of Care. Genetics in Medicine. 2021 May 26. doi: 10.1038/s41436-021-01210-0. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34040192.

Zheng H, Gong CL, Chapman R, Yieh L, Hay JW. Cost-Effectiveness of The Duration of Neonatal Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Newborns with Severe Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia In The United States. Pediatrics & Neonatology. 2021 Oct 18. doi: 10.1016/j.pedneo.2021.08.015

Lakshmanan A, Song AY, Belfort MB, Yieh L, Dukhovny D, Friedlich PS, Gong CL. The financial burden experienced by families of preterm infants after NICU discharge. J Perinatology. 2022;42(2):223-230. doi:10.1038/s41372-021-01213-4. PMID: 34561556.

Research

Dr. Gong's research interests include health economics and behavioral economics, specifically focusing on cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses, and discrete choice experiments, and applying these methodologies to issues in neonatology, such as congenital disease, therapeutic interventions and monitoring, and transition home from the NICU. Dr. Gong’s research is supported by the Teresa & Byron Pollitt Family Chair in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.

Current Research Studies

Assessing optimal transition to home from the NICU using a discrete choice experiment
Cost-effectiveness of early whole exome sequencing
Cost-effectiveness of prolonged ECMO use in congenital diaphragmatic hernia
Resource utilization associated with hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Neonatology

4650 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
United States