Director, Division of Newborn Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis
Barbara Warner, M.D., M.Sci. graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.S. in Nutrition and received her M.Sci. in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts. She received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and remained at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for her pediatric residency, as well as her fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine. She stayed on as a William Cooper Procter Research Scholar, eventually joining the faculty in the Division of Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology and assuming several medical director positions. In 2007, she moved to St. Louis and joined the Washington University School of Medicine faculty. She now holds the rank of Professor of Pediatrics and serves as Division Chief of Newborn Medicine and Medical Director of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital NICU.
Her research focus has been more broadly on the role of the gut microbiome in infant health and disease, for which she has been funded through the NIH and private foundations. Her work examines the relationship of early microbial patterns following birth to early childhood outcomes in preterm and term infants.
Dr. Warner’s clinical interests in fetal care led her to co-direct the Fetal Care Center at Washington University’s BJH and SLCH from 2013-2019. Nationally, she is active on the Stearing Committee with the North American Fetal Therapy Network (NAFTNet), as well as the NAFTNet Scientific Oversight Committee, and an active participant in collabortive research efforts. She is also involved in the mentoring and receiving WUSM’s Academic Women’s Network Mentor Award in 2018. Nationally, she has served as a member of the planning committee for the AAP’s Central Conference on Perinatal Research, ultimately chairing the committee in 2019-2022. She became Chief of the Newborn Division in 2019, and was honored with the F. Sessions Cole Chair in Newborn Medicine in 2020.