ERIC REYNOLDS, MD, MPH
“Being elected as the SSPR President would afford me the opportunity to give back to the organization that has certainly had the greatest impact on my professional trajectory as an academic Neonatologist.”
Dr. Eric Reynolds, a candidate for SSPR President, is a Professor in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston/McGovern Medical School. He earned a BS in Chemistry and MD from the University of Louisville, and completed Pediatric Residency at NEOUCOM in Youngstown, OH. He began his Neonatology Fellowship at the University of Maryland and completed training at the University of Kentucky. In addition to his medical training, Dr. Reynolds has earned a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research and a Master of Public Health with Concentration in Health Services Management from the University of Kentucky and a Chief Medical Officer Training Certificate from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He is the Associate Medical Director for NICU/Pediatric Surgery Affairs at UT Houston.
Dr. Reynolds has been awarded an NIH grant to study the development of infant feeding and is the author/co-author of more than 30 published manuscripts on suck-swallow-breath coordination and various topics affecting neonatal care. He has delivered over 100 scientific presentations at regional, national and international meetings. Dr. Reynolds was a finalist for the SSPR Young Investigator Award in both 2004 and 2008 and received the SSPR Young Investigator Travel Award and Young Faculty Travel Award in 2005 and 2006, respectively. He founded the first successful Physician Assistant Post-Graduate Residency in Neonatology to help mitigate the staffing shortage experienced by NICUs across the country.
From 2011 to 2016, Dr. Reynolds joined a hospital-owned neonatology group. Despite the non- academic setting, he continued his research efforts and involvement with the SSPR. In 2016, essentially due to relationships fostered at the SSPR, he returned to academic medicine by joining UT Houston. He has continued to participate in research and teaching and has mentored Graduate Students, Pediatric Residents and Neonatal Fellows through their own successful research projects, many of which have been presented at the SSPR.
Dr. Reynolds is active in several professional organizations. In addition to AAP, SSPR and SPR memberships, he is the CME Liaison for the Southeastern Association of Neonatologists and the Texas Neonatology Conference. He served as a member of the SSPR Council from 2007- 2011, representing the University of Kentucky, and again from 2017-2023 representing UT Houston.
Dr. Reynolds feels a special connection to the SSPR, with over 20 years of continuous attendance at the annual meeting and recurrent involvement as a session moderator, poster mentor and judge for the Young Investigator Award Clinical Section. He is grateful to the organization for providing the networking opportunities that made his current job at UT Houston available to him. He is committed to SSPR’s continued excellence and growth. He is dedicated to providing trainees with a collegial environment to present their projects, network with other researchers and grow into better researchers, teachers and mentors themselves.