Dr. Shah is a physician-scientist with a passion for evidence-based medicine, hypothesis-driven research, and teaching. As an independent investigator, Dr. Shah's lab specializes in complement biology, and has been funded by the NIH, Virginia Catalyst and Commonwealth Health Research Board. His lab focuses on understanding the role of inflammation in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL), with the goal of developing new therapeutic strategies.
Dr. Shah completed his fellowship in neonatology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and holds a masters degree in public health in epidemiology from Emory University in Atlanta.He holds faculty appointments in the divisions of pediatrics, microbiology and molecular cell biology and is an adjunct faculty member in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
In addition to his clinical and research endeavors, Dr. Shah also runs a pathophysiology interest group with pediatric house-staff, leading in-depth discussions about mechanisms of neonatal diseases.
CURRENT POSITION
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology/Molecular Biology
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Attending Neonatologist
Children's Specialty Group
Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters
EDUCATION
1996-2002: Mumbai University - Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai, India
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.; B.S.), October 2000
2002-2004: Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, M.P.H., Epidemiology, May 2004
TRAINING
2004-2007 Residency in Pediatrics
Metrohealth Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
2007-2010 Fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, OH
BOARD CERTIFICATIONS
American Board of Pediatrics - Pediatrics
American Board of Pediatrics - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Neonatal asphyxia (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, [HIE]) is a significant cause of neonatal mortality and disability. The complement system, the most potent inflammatory cascade in humans, and plays critical roles in neuroinflammation and repair. Our lab is interested in understanding the deleterious and homeostatic roles of the classical complement pathway in neonatal HIE. Using a well-characterized rodent model of neonatal HIE, our lab is elucidating key pathways that may be be instrumental in developing new therapies for this complex disease.
Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), the most common cause of cerebral palsy in prematurely born infants, is a multifactorial disease resulting in focal necrosis and gliosis of the periventricular white matter. Preterm infants are especially sensitive to Ischemic and inflammatory injuries to the developing brain, resulting in injury to the immature oligodendroglia in the cerebral white matter and subplate neurons immediately below the neocortex. There are currently no therapies for PVL, and the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. The focus of this research is to elucidate the mechanisms dictating the development of PVL, and to identify targets and pathways contributing to PVL to guide future pharmacological intervention
