URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2019_Melissa-McCarthy

INVESTIGATING THE EARLY LIFE

During her 10 years as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse, Amy D’Agata focused singularly on keeping premature infants alive. Now, as a researcher, the University of Rhode Island (URI) assistant professor examines the long-term impacts of this lifesaving care on infant development. As medical technology advances, increasingly more of the 10–12 percent of babies born prematurely each year go home with their parents after intensive care in a hospital’s NICU. One aspect of the NICU experience that currently is not tracked, however, is the amount of stress infants endure and how that stress can impact development. “As I was practicing, I paid little attention to the total burden of stress that these really vulnerable infants were experiencing,” D’Agata says. “As a team, we were focused on saving their lives, but not really pausing to think about their cumulative experience. In some cases, infants require ongoing medical care for weeks or months, during which they are exposed to a lot of negative stimuli.” The first step, she says, involves recognizing how stress can influence a developing baby. “These are pre-verbal human beings,” D’Agata says. “They can’t advocate for themselves. They can’t say no to care, they can’t push you away, they can’t stop anyone from doing something to them. I believe

written by ALLISON FARRELLY ’16

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