Kenny D. Kronforst received a B.S. degree in Microbiology, as well as, her MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology from University of Miami. She then completed her M.D. at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (now McGovern Medical School). She graduated medical school in 2006 and continued her intern year in Pediatrics at the same institution. In 2007, she transferred to Boston, MA, and became part of the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics. She successfully completed that program and transitioned to the Boston Children’s Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program at Harvard. She joined the faculty here at Northwestern in July 2012 following completion of her clinical training. She then received an MS in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety in 2016. In addition to providing care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern Medicine’s Prentice Women’s Hospital, she is a quality improvement specialist and part of the Telemedicine Program at Lurie Children’s. Her main clinical focus is quality improvement science and outreach.

I am interested in the quality and safety of neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and other stepdown nurseries. I believe that standardized, evidence-based care should be provided to all newborns such that outcomes are similar regardless of where that care is received. As part of this effort, I represent the Lurie Neonatology Outreach group and lead the division in neonate-specific quality improvement projects across all sites. Additionally, I am a champion for antimicrobial stewardship in all of our nurseries. I am also interested in the outcomes of the late preterm population and other high-risk infants. I am currently participating in a clinical research endeavor looking at microRNAs as early biomarkers of cerebral palsy in infants less than 32 weeks gestational age and less than 1500 grams. Lastly, I am interested in exploring the role of telemedicine in supporting outreach sites both in the delivery room and during the transport of high-risk infants.