Sarah N. Taylor, MD, MSCR
Cards
About
Titles
Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine)
Chief, Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Pediatrics; Director of Clinical Research, Pediatrics; Professor, Chronic Disease EpidemiologyBiography
Dr. Sarah Taylor provides neonatal care and specializes in neonatal clinical research. Her research focuses on infant nutrition, growth, gastrointestinal health and especially human milk medicine. In human milk medicine, Dr. Taylor investigates disparities in lactation, the biology of milk production, and the role of human milk intake in preterm infant growth and development.
Appointments
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Acting Section ChiefDualNeonatal-Perinatal Medicine
ProfessorPrimaryChronic Disease Epidemiology
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- MSCR
- Medical University of South Carolina (2010)
- Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
- Medical University of South Carolina (2005)
- Pediatric Residency
- Medical University of South Carolina (2002)
- MD
- University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (1999)
Research
Overview
Dr. Taylor and the Yale NOURISH Team (Yale Neonatal Nutrition Outcomes Research In Sustaining mother and infant Health) studies health outcomes affected by pregnancy and lactation and specifically focuses on the mother/infant lactation experience and infant growth and development especially in the setting of growth restriction or prematurity. A sample of our current research:
Human milk feeding is associated with improved gastrointestinal health for preterm infants. We are investigating how the gut barrier and the gut inflammation is affected by early feeding versus delayed feeding and feeding mother’s milk or donor milk
Human milk, either mother’s own milk or donor human milk, varies in its nutritional composition. We use a mid-infrared human milk analyzer to investigate the energy and protein in human milk and correlate these results with infant health outcomes.
Woman with diabetes during pregnancy are more likely to experience lactation difficulties. We are studying the factors associated with maternal lactation choices and maternal experience to determine which factors serve as impediments to breastfeeding.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at YNHH is one of the first hospitals in the United States to have couplet care rooms where an infant receiving intensive care and a mother receiving postpartum care share a hospital room. We are investigating how to optimize the couplet care experience to support breastfeeding, bonding, satisfaction and avoid stress.
Infant growth trajectory is affected by exposure to maternal hormones both in fetal development and during lactation. We aim to determine the role of these hormones and how fetal/infant exposures differ due to maternal health.
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Clinical Care
Overview
As a neonatologist (a physician who takes care of premature or ill newborn infants), Sarah Taylor, MD, knows the importance of putting worried parents at ease.
“Having your newborn in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU, where Dr. Taylor practices] can be extremely difficult for families. They are trying to take in so much information and they’ve maybe never even heard of the word neonatology before,” Dr. Taylor says. “Plus, they have the emotional stress of a baby who is requiring medical support. I explain things over and over again because I know they may only take in 10 percent of what I say to them each time.”
Fortunately, advances in the field of neonatology and the high level of care at Yale New Haven Hospital means even the sickest babies often do just fine. And watching the littlest babies—some born weighing less than 1 pound—grow, continues to amaze Dr. Taylor. “They are so small and fragile, and then we get to watch them develop. They’ll come back and visit the unit, and they are running down the hall,” she says. “That is the best part of my job.”
Dr. Taylor says she knew from an early age that she wanted to be a doctor, but it wasn’t until she did a rotation in the NICU during her training that she realized neonatology was the subspecialty for her. “You can put your stethoscope on these pre-term babies and hear sounds from their lungs and their bellies at the same time and get so much information from one listen,” she says. “And to take care of these babies, we have to understand how every organ system works, and how it’s developed, because in some ways we are taking care of a fetus. I enjoy the complexity of all we have to consider.”
Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on helping babies grow in ways that optimizes their brain development. She is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine.
Clinical Specialties
Board Certifications
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
- Certification Organization
- AB of Pediatrics
- Latest Certification Date
- 2013
- Original Certification Date
- 2005
Yale Medicine News
Links & Media
News
- July 22, 2024
Yale Research Team Investigates Difference Between Baby Formula and Human Milk’s Effect on Intestinal Growth
- May 02, 2024
56 Yale Pediatricians Recognized by Connecticut Magazine's 2024 “Top Doctors” List
- February 28, 2024
Find Yale Pediatrics at the 2024 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting
- May 04, 2023
42 Yale Pediatricians Recognized by Connecticut Magazine's 2023 “Top Doctors” List
Get In Touch
Contacts
Yale School of Medicine
Dept of Pediatrics, Div of Neonatology, 333 Cedar St.
New Haven, CT 06520-8064
United States