The Incubator
A weekly discussion about new evidence in neonatal care and the fascinating individuals who make this progress possible. Hosted by Dr. Ben Courchia and Dr. Daphna Yasova Barbeau.
Episodes
925 episodes
#456 - 📑 Journal Club - The Complete Episode from August 1st 2026
Which babies with critical congenital heart disease face the highest risk of brain injury, and does earlier surgery actually help? Why is infant CHD mortality climbing again after years of decline, and who's most affected? Can a mother's cardio...
#456 - [Neo News] - 📌 Why Did the US Fund a Hepatitis B Trial That Withheld the Birth Dose?
In this episode of Neo News, Ben and Eli break down a troubling story in vaccine policy: an unsolicited $1.6 million CDC grant funding a Danish research group's trial in Guinea-Bissau, one designed to withhold or delay the hepatitis B birth dos...
#456 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Do These Newborns Have Diastolic Dysfunction, or Just Different Physiology?
In this prospective study, Adrianne and Nim dig into an area with almost no normative pediatric data: right ventricular diastolic function. Comparing 57 infants with RV pressure overload after intervention for pulmonic stenosis or tetralogy of ...
#456 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Why Does a Sicker Mom Sometimes Mean a Stronger Neonatal Heart?
In this small prospective pilot study, Adrianne and Nim explore a domain rarely discussed on rounds, how a mother's cardiovascular function in preeclampsia shapes her newborn's circulatory transition. Using maternal echo and neonatal electrical...
#456 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Why Is CHD Mortality Rising Again After 15 Years of Progress?
In this retrospective national study, Adrianne and Nim look at 25 years of congenital heart disease mortality in the US using CDC WONDER data. Infant mortality remains staggeringly high (54 per 100,000), and after years of steady decline, it ha...
#456 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Should an Abnormal Brain MRI Change the Decision to Operate in Critical CHD?
In this systematic review and meta-analysis, Nim and Adrianne dig into just how common brain injury really is in neonates with critical congenital heart disease. Pooling 31 studies spanning two decades, the authors found that nearly 70% of thes...
#455 - [Neo News] - Is Communication a Procedural Skill We're Failing to Train?
What if communication were treated as a procedure, something we train for and get feedback on, just like an intubation? In this episode of Neo News, Eli Cahan talks with Dr. Jessica Fry of Northwestern University and Lurie Children's Hosp...
#454 - PEEP, Tidal Volume, and Physiology, How Far Has Resuscitation Science Traveled? (ft Dr. Charles Roehr)
How far has delivery room ventilation really come? In this special episode, recorded in collaboration with the Neonatal Resuscitation Symposium, Ben sits down with Dr. Charles Roehr, professor of neonatology and perinatal medicine at the Univer...
#453 - 📑 Journal Club - The Complete Episode from July 18th 2026
Which PDAs actually need treatment? Can maternal voice and scent shape language outcomes? Should we cool at 35 weeks? And did stepping away from probiotics come at a cost? This week’s Journal Club takes on five papers that push back on standard...
#453 - [Neo News] - 📌 Are You Still Assuming Every Newborn Got Vitamin K?
Vitamin K refusal has crossed 5%. That's one in twenty babies, and the curve is bending the wrong way. Ben and Eli work through a new Pediatrics case review that opens with a warning shot, that hemorrhagic presentation in an infant should no lo...
#453 - [Journal Club] - 📌 What Happened to NEC When Centers Stopped Using Probiotics?
When the FDA warning landed in late 2023, probiotic use in high-use NICUs collapsed from 86% to under 7% almost overnight. What happened to NEC? This week Daphna brings Tolia and Patel's new Journal of Perinatology analysis of the Pediatrix Cli...
#453 - [Journal Club] - 📌 Should We Cool 35 Week Infants with Encephalopathy?
Cooling works at 36 weeks. At 35 weeks, nobody is sure. Ben brings a new Journal of Perinatology analysis of the National Inpatient Sample, covering 1.4 million infants from 2016 to 2022, asking what happens when therapeutic hypothermia is offe...
#453 - [Journal Club] - 📌 Can We Rewire a Preterm Baby's Brain for Language?
In this Journal Club, Daphna takes the reins with the MIND randomized controlled trial from Nathalie Maitre and colleagues in The Journal of Pediatrics. Can a multisensory bundle, combining infant-directed voice, a parent's scent, holding, and ...
#453 - [Journal Club] - 📌 Should We Treat the PDA Based on Size Alone? (SMART PDA Trial)
In this Journal Club, Ben and Daphna dig into two new papers on PDA management in our smallest patients. First, the SMART-PDA pilot RCT from Souvik Mitra and colleagues, which uses comprehensive hemodynamic screening to selectively treat high-v...
#452 - 🚀 [Tech Tuesday] - Why Midline Positioning Matters More Than We Think
In this episode, Ben and Daphna sit down with Dr. Scott, pediatrician, neonatologist, and inventor of the Tortle. She shares how a simple observation in her Idaho practice, babies developing flat heads despite diligent parents, sparked a second...
#451 - On with VON (EPS 3) - Re-examining the Evidence for Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents in Preterm Infants
Does the latest Cochrane evidence finally tip the balance in favor of erythropoiesis stimulating agents in preterm infants? In this VON Grand Rounds follow-up episode, Ben sits down with Dr. Roger Soll and Dr. Souvik Mitra to review the 2026 Co...
#450 - 📑 [Journal Club] - 🫀From The Heart - The Complete Episode from July 4th 2026
Neonatal sepsis physiology, steroids, vasopressors, and moms.gov. A full week on The Incubator Journal Club.Adrianne and Nim open with a retrospective study from Toronto challenging the assumption that hypo...
#450 - [Neo News] - 📌 What Does the Launch of moms.gov Mean for Your Patients?
In this episode of Neo News, Ben and Eli discuss the federal government's Mother's Day press conference and the launch of moms.gov, a new website aimed at supporting new and expecting mothers. They examine what th...
#450 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Is Dopamine Still Defensible as First-Line for Neonatal Septic Shock?
In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, Adrianne and Nim examine whether norepinephrine outperforms dopamine as a first-line vasoactive agent in neonates with fluid-refractory septic shock. The primary outcome, shock reversal at 30 mi...
#450 - [Journal Club] - 🫀 From The Heart - Does Early Hydrocortisone Actually Move the Needle in Fluid-Refractory Shock?
In this double-blind randomized controlled trial from northern India, Nim and Adrianne review whether early hydrocortisone reduces 14-day all-cause mortality in preterm infants with fluid-refractory shock. The primary outcome showed no statisti...
#450 - [Journal Club] - 🫀From The Heart - When Nitric Oxide Fails: Is the Left Ventricle the Culprit in Septic Preterm Infants?
In this retrospective single-center study from Toronto, Adrianne and Nim explore the echo findings of preterm infants with septic shock and hypoxemic respiratory failure. Contrary to the common assumption that elevated pulmonary vascular resist...
#449 - What Do Division Heads Think About the Shortened Fellowship Proposal?
What would it really mean to shorten neonatology fellowship training to two years? In this episode, Ben and co-host Dr. Shetal Shah sit down with three division heads, Dr. Jill Maron (Brown), Dr. Patrick McNamara (University of Iowa), and Dr. S...
#448 - Are NICU Outcomes Actually Getting Better Over Time? (ft Dr. Joseph Kaempf)
What does it mean to truly improve outcomes for very low birth weight infants, and are we actually doing it? In this episode, Daphna sits down with Dr. Joseph Kaempf, neonatologist and Medical Director of Value Research and Innovation at Provid...
#447 - 📑 Journal Club - The Complete Episode from June 13th 2026
Phototherapy duration, jaundice and UTIs, extended CPAP, and The Pitt. A full week on the Incubator Journal Club.Ben opens with a nationwide Swedish cohort study from JAMA Network Open examining phototherapy duration in nearly 5,000 very...
#447 - [Neo News] - 📌 - Why Are Doctors Flocking to HBO Max's The Pitt?
In this episode of Neo News, Ben and Eli discuss the cultural phenomenon of HBO Max’s new hit medical drama, The Pitt. Sparked by an insightful critique in The New Yorker by Dr. Dhruv Khullar, they dive into why this Noah Wyle-led series is cap...