Phyllis Dennery, MD

Phyllis A. Dennery, MD, FAAP, is pediatrician-in-chief at Rhode Island Hospital and medical director of Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She is the Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld professor and the chair of pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where she also is a professor of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry. Previously, she served as director of neonatology research and associate division chief at Stanford University, and as division chief in neonatology at Children’s Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Dennery’s research has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health and her work has been published in top-tier medical journals. Her research is focused on oxidative stress-mediated neonatal lung gene regulation and on hyperoxic lung injury and repair. Her clinical interests are in neonatal jaundice, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and the long-term consequences of prematurity, as well as in improving pediatric health through community engagement.

Dr. Dennery is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Ross Young Investigator Award from the Western Society of Pediatrics, the Alfred Stengel Health System Champion Award from the University of Pennsylvania, an honorary doctorate of science from Ursinus College, election to the National Academy of Medicine and an appointment to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, among many others.

She is an active member of many professional and scientific societies, including the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Thoracic Society and the American Pediatric Society. Dr. Dennery served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research and the International Pediatric Research Foundation. She is now president of the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine and the North American president of the International Perinatal Collegium.