Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Chair of Pediatrics

Overview

Phyllis A. Dennery is the Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld Chair of Pediatrics at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University, Pediatrician-in-Chief, Rhode Island Hospital and Medical Director of Hasbro Children’s Hospital.  She is also a Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University.

She obtained her B.S. in Biology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  After receiving her medical degree from Howard University in Washington, DC, Dr. Dennery completed a residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center also in Washington, DC and a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Case Western Reserve University (Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital) in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Dr Dennery is an active member of many professional and scientific societies.  She served as the President of the Society for Pediatric Research in 2007-08 and as the President of the International Pediatric Research Foundation in 2010-11. She has served as the Chair of the Credential Committee for the Neonatal/Perinatal Sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics and has served as an Associate Editor for the scientific journals Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine and Pediatrics, where she oversaw the State of the Art series.  She was also appointed to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality and served on the Community Action Team of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Philadelphia focused on infant mortality.

Dr. Dennery  was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014, elected as a fellow of the Society for Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine in 2014 and to the Association of American Physicians in 2015.

Dr. Dennery’s laboratory research is focused understanding mechansisms of neonatal lung injury and repair.  Her clinical interests are in neonatal jaundice, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and the long-term consequences of prematurity as well as on perinatal health disparities and the impact of race in Medicine.  She leads a Pediatric clinical trials network funded by the NIH.

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas