Robert M. Ward

Robert M. Ward, MD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Pediatrics

Divisions: Neonatology

Board Certification

  • American Board of Pediatrics (Pediatrics)
  • American Board of Pediatrics (Sub: Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine)
  • American Board of Clinical Pharmacology
  • National Board of Medical Examiners

Robert Ward, MD is director of the Pediatric Pharmacology Program at the University of Utah School of Medicine and an attending neonatologist. He conducts studies of medications in pediatric patients and coordinates a group of clinical coordinators who assist other faculty with medication trials. His current studies involve analgesia in newborns and the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome as well as airway drug metabolism and its potential impact on asthma treatment in children.

Research Statement

Dr. Ward's research focuses on perinatal, neonatal and pediatric pharmacology as well as fetal urinary tract obstruction. Early studies focused on treatment for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and developmental cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology. From 1989-1997, he served as medical director of the Primary Children's Medical Center NICU. From 1997-2001, he chaired the AAP Committee on Drugs and participated in the drafting of the FDA Modernization Act, the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act and the Pediatric Research Equity Act. Since 1999, he has directed the University of Utah Pediatric Pharmacology Program that has coordinated over 70 pediatric studies of all classes of medications in over 900 pediatric patients by over 100 pediatric faculty. From 2003-2009, he served as PI for one of 13 U. S. sites in the NICHD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit network. His clinical studies in newborns have ranged from the kinetics of antimicrobials to the effectiveness and safety of proton pump inhibitors to the developmental pharmacology of narcotic analgesics. Along with Steven Kern, PhD and Ralph Lugo, PharmD, he helped design studies of inositol for the NICHD Neonatal Research Network.

Education History

Undergraduate Southern Methodist University
 BS
Professional Medical Johns Hopkins University
 MD
Internship University of Minnesota
 Intern
Residency University of Minnesota Hospitals
 Resident
Fellowship University of Minnesota
 Fellow
Fellowship University of Minnesota Hospitals
 Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Salaets T, Turner MA, Short M, Ward RM, Hokuto I, Ariagno RL, Klein A, Beauman S, Wade K, Thomson M, Roberts E, Harrison J, Quinn T, Baer G, Davis J, Allegaert K, International Neonatal Consortium (2019). Development of a neonatal adverse event severity scale through a Delphi consensus approach. Archives of disease in childhood, 104(12), 1167-1173.
  2. Deering-Rice CE, Shapiro D, Romero EG, Stockmann C, Bevans TS, Phan QM, Stone BL, Fassl B, Nkoy F, Uchida DA, Ward RM, Veranth JM, Reilly C (2015). Activation of Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin-1 by Insoluble Particulate Material and Association with Asthma. American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology, 53(6), 893-901.
  3. Dobson NR, Liu X, Rhein LM, Darnall RA, Corwin MJ, McEntire BL, Ward RM, James LP, Sherwin CM, Heeren TC, Hunt C (2016). Salivary caffeine concentrations are comparable to plasma concentrations in preterm infants receiving extended caffeine therapy. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 82(3), 754-61.
  4. Biltaji E, Enioutina EY, Yellepeddi V, Rower JE, Sherwin CMT, Ward RM, Lemons RS, Constance J (2020). Supportive care medications coinciding with chemotherapy among children with hematologic malignancy. Leukemia & lymphoma, 61(8), 1920-1931.
  5. Linakis MW, Roberts JK, Lala AC, Spigarelli MG, Medlicott NJ, Reith DM, Ward RM, Sherwin C (2016). Challenges Associated with Route of Administration in Neonatal Drug Delivery. Clinical pharmacokinetics, 55(2), 185-96.
  6. Roberts JK, Stockmann C, Ward RM, Beachy J, Baserga MC, Spigarelli MG, Sherwin C (2015). Population Pharmacokinetics of Darbepoetin Alfa in Conjunction with Hypothermia for the Treatment of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy. Clinical pharmacokinetics, 54(12), 1237-44.
  7. Ward RM, Varner M (2019). Principles of Pharmacokinetics in the Pregnant Woman and Fetus. Clinics in perinatology, 46(2), 383-398.
  8. Deering-Rice CE, Stockmann C, Romero EG, Lu Z, Shapiro D, Stone BL, Fassl B, Nkoy F, Uchida DA, Ward RM, Veranth JM, Reilly C (2016). Characterization of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) Variant Activation by Coal Fly Ash Particles and Associations with Altered Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin-1 (TRPA1) Expression and Asthma. The Journal of biological chemistry, 291(48), 24866-24879.
  9. Ward RM, Kearns GL, Tammara B, Bishop P, O'Gorman MA, James LP, Katz MH, Maguire MK, Rath N, Meng X, Comer G (2011). A multicenter, randomized, open-label, pharmacokinetics and safety study of pantoprazole tablets in children and adolescents aged 6 through 16 years with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Journal of clinical pharmacology, 51(6), 876-87.
  10. Brion LP, Phelps DL, Ward RM, Nolen TL, Hallman NMK, Das A, Zaccaro DJ, Ball MB, Watterberg KL, Frantz ID 3rd, Cotten CM, Poindexter BB, Oh W, Lugo RA, Van Meurs KP, O'Shea TM, Zaterka-Baxter KM, Higgins RD, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network (2021). Blood myo-inositol concentrations in preterm and term infants. Journal of perinatology, 41(2), 247-254.
  11. Constance JE, Reith D, Ward RM, Balch A, Stockmann C, Korgenski EK, Thorell EA, Sherwin CM (2017). Risk of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-associated renal dysfunction among neonates diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus and treated with gentamicin. Journal of perinatology, 37(10), 1093-1102.
  12. Ward RM, Benjamin DK Jr, Davis JM, Gorman RL, Kauffman R, Kearns GL, Murphy MD, Sherwin CM (2018). The Need for Pediatric Drug Development. The Journal of pediatrics, 192, 13-21.
  13. Ward RM, Stiers J, Buchi (2015). Neonatal medications. Pediatric clinics of North America, 62(2), 525-44.
  14. Ward RM, Benjamin D, Barrett JS, Allegaert K, Portman R, Davis JM, Turner M (2017). Safety, dosing, and pharmaceutical quality for studies that evaluate medicinal products (including biological products) in neonates. Pediatric research, 81(5), 692-711.
  15. Phelps DL, Ward RM, Williams RL, Nolen TL, Watterberg KL, Oh W, Goedecke M, Ehrenkranz RA, Fennell T, Poindexter BB, Cotten CM, Hallman M, Frantz ID 3rd, Faix RG, Zaterka-Baxter KM, Das A, Ball MB, Lacy CB, Walsh MC, Carlo WA, Sánchez PJ, Bell EF, Shankaran S, Carlton DP, Chess PR, Higgins R (2016). Safety and pharmacokinetics of multiple dose myo-inositol in preterm infants. Pediatric research, 80(2), 209-17.
  16. Baserga MC, Beachy JC, Roberts JK, Ward RM, DiGeronimo RJ, Walsh WF, Ohls RK, Anderson J, Mayock DE, Juul SE, Christensen RD, Loertscher MC, Stockmann C, Sherwin CM, Spigarelli MG, Yoder B (2015). Darbepoetin administration to neonates undergoing cooling for encephalopathy: a safety and pharmacokinetic trial. Pediatric research, 78(3), 315-22.
  17. Smits TA, Cox S, Fukuda T, Sherbotie JR, Ward RM, Goebel J, Vinks A (2014). Effects of unbound mycophenolic acid on inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibition in pediatric kidney transplant patients. Therapeutic drug monitoring, 36(6), 716-23.
  18. Constance JE, Balch AH, Stockmann C, Linakis MW, Korgenski EK, Roberts JK, Ward RM, Sherwin CM, Spigarelli M (2016). A propensity-matched cohort study of vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity in neonates. Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 101(3), F236-43.
  19. Roberts JK, Stockmann C, Balch A, Yu T, Ward RM, Spigarelli MG, Sherwin C (2015). Optimal design in pediatric pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic clinical studies. Paediatric anaesthesia, 25(3), 222-30.
  20. Ward RM, Sherwin C (2015). Ethics of drug studies in the newborn. Paediatric drugs, 17(1), 37-42.
  21. Davis MD, Donn SM, Ward R (2017). Administration of Inhaled Pulmonary Vasodilators to the Mechanically Ventilated Neonatal Patient. Paediatric drugs, 19(3), 183-192.
  22. Stevenson DA, Pysher TJ, Ward RM, Carey J (2006). Familial congenital non-immune hydrops, chylothorax, and pulmonary lymphangiectasia. American journal of medical genetics. Part A, 140(4), 368-72.
  23. Wagstaff JS, Durrant RJ, Newman MG, Eason R, Ward RM, Sherwin CMT, Enioutina E (2019). Antibiotic Treatment of Suspected and Confirmed Neonatal Sepsis Within 28 Days of Birth: A Retrospective Analysis. Frontiers in pharmacology, 10, 1191.
  24. Yu T, Balch AH, Ward RM, Korgenski EK, Sherwin C (2016). Incorporating pharmacodynamic considerations into caffeine therapeutic drug monitoring in preterm neonates. BMC pharmacology & toxicology, 17(1), 22.
  25. Ward RM, Sweeley J, Lugo R (2015). Inositol Analysis by HPLC and Its Stability in Scavenged Sample Conditions. Medicinal chemistry, 5(2), 077-80.

Editorial

  1. Ward RM, Sherwin C (2016). Newborns still lack drug data to guide therapy. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 82(6), 1410-1411.

Letter

  1. Stockmann C, Reilly CA, Fassl B, Gaedigk R, Nkoy F, Stone B, Roberts JK, Uchida DA, Leeder JS, Sherwin CM, Spigarelli MG, Yost GS, Ward R (2015). Effect of CYP3A5*3 on asthma control among children treated with inhaled beclomethasone. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 136(2), 505-7.