Dr. Yannekis completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as chief resident. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology and chemistry from Barnard College. She obtained her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During residency, she conducted a retrospective cohort study delineating the differential impacts of neonatal intensive care unit level and volume on morbidity of minority versus non-Hispanic white neonates, and evaluated effects of delivery hospital quality on neonatal outcomes. Her work was presented at multiple national conferences and published in the Journal of Perinatology. She concurrently completed the Harvard-wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship and is pursuing a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Yannekis’ fellowship research focused on the impact of delivery hospital NICU quality on neonatal outcomes and on evaluating barriers to universal access to high-quality care. She served as chief fellow. After graduation, Dr. Yannekis began working as an attending neonatologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with an appointment as an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Team: Neonatal Class of 2025
Uses slug [neonatal-class-of-2025]
Zoe Michael, MD
Dr. Michael completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She received her undergraduate and medical degree at the University of Athens School of Health Sciences. During residency, she worked under Dr. Sule Cataltepe at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in a retrospective study comparing the efficacy of hydrocortisone and dexamethasone for decreasing respiratory support in premature infants with developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). She previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Helen Christou’s lab and continued this collaboration during fellowship. Her fellowship research centered on basic science research in neonatal lung biology. Following graduation from fellowship, Dr. Michael joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital as an attending neonatologist with an appointment as an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Kelly McCullagh, MD
Dr. McCullagh completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program as chief resident. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College and obtained her medical degree at the Penn State University College of Medicine. During residency, she worked with a research team to develop an innovative, systems-based approach to address improved access to services that optimize care for infants followed in the NICU Growth and Developmental Support (GraDS) Program. She also worked to form a task force that will review previously collected data from interviews with families/staff and health literacy assessments. Her fellowship research interests centered on health services research and quality improvement with a focus on optimizing the outcomes for high-risk infants in the NICU GraDS program. She served as chief fellow. After graduating fellowship, Dr. McCullagh joined Albert Einstein College of Medicine Children’s Hospital at Montefiore-Einstein as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics.
Lillian Juttukonda, MD, PhD
Dr. Juttukonda completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and violin performance, and her medical degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She received her PhD in microbiology and immunology from Vanderbilt University. During residency, she was a research associate under Dr. Elisha Wachman and Dr. Elizabeth Taglauer, and investigated the placental immune response to COVID-19 using placental clinical samples. During fellowship, she conducted basic and translational research examining how early life inflammation from microbial infections can alter neonatal immune development and function, and to translate this information into clinical care in the NICU. After graduation, Dr. Juttukonda started a position as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and an attending neonatologist at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine.
