Dr Doug Blank is a consultant neonatologist at Monash Newborn, Monash Children's Hospital and a research fellow at The Ritchie Centre, Department of Paediatrics, Monash University. He is a leader in neonatal resuscitation research and the principal investigator of several trials at birth in preterm and term neonates.

Dr Blank was born and educated in the USA. Between his residency and fellowship, he worked in eSwatini from 2009-2011 with the Baylor International Paediatric AIDS Initiative, providing care for children living with HIV and educating local providers, including creating national guidelines (https://bit.ly/2OYqyW9). He led a national support group for adolescents living with HIV, including a leadership program to train these teens to run the program (https://bit.ly/3tUushg). He returned to San Diego, California for his clinical fellowship in neonatology from 2011-2014, where he started to engage in neonatal resuscitation research.

Dr Blank moved to Melbourne in 2014, to pursue a PhD through the Ritchie Centre at Monash on the advice of a mentor who said, “there is no better place in the world I could send you to learn and you won’t find nicer people to work with.” During his PhD, Dr Blank received the “People’s Choice” award at the Monash University 3MT competition (https://bit.ly/3tCBJCc) and his thesis, “Umbilical cord management at birth” was awarded the Dean’s Award. In 2019, he joined the faculty at Monash Newborn as a consultant neonatologist and has continued his work at the Ritchie Centre.

Research interests:

Dr Blank’s current trials include resuscitating babies during delated cord clamping (https://bit.ly/3tHWvka), lung ultrasound to understand fetal to neonatal changes in the lungs and heart at birth (https://bit.ly/3c9x8l2), and improving team performance during neonatal resuscitation through video review of emergencies. He is involved in preclinical trials and working with the world-class scientists in the Ritchie Centre (https://bit.ly/2Oqecpd). He coordinates the education program for NICU trainees at Monash. Outside of work he enjoys exploring Melbourne’s excellent playgrounds with his 4 school aged sons.