New Leader for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute Has Unique Journey in Medical Career
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital named Linda Van Marter, M.D., M.P.H., director and chair of the Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She also serves as a professor of Pediatrics (PAR) in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Van Marter’s medical career was inspired by her father, a family and occupational health doctor. She first became a nurse, training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and both the women physicians she met there and her father inspired her to pursue a medical degree, which she earned from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine before returning to Boston for pediatric and neonatal-perinatal medicine training.
“My former career as a nurse gave me a great appreciation for all that nurses bring to the care of our patients,” Dr. Van Marter said. “Their role is pivotal in ensuring the best of bedside care, patient safety, and outcomes for our tiny patients. I have taken many lessons from the bedside from my time as a nurse and also from nurses whom I worked alongside as a doctor. My nursing background laid the foundation for my dedication to family-focused newborn care. The goal of achieving the best for the baby and the family is at the center of everything we do in neonatal-perinatal medicine. I am very fortunate to be working with a talented team of professionals at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, each of whom is deeply committed to family and baby centered care.”
After completing a pediatric internship and residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and a research and clinical fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine with the Harvard Medical School Joint Program in Neonatology, Dr. Van Marter also earned a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She most recently served as an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the associate chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH). She has held numerous clinical and administrative leadership roles, including as director of clinical research for the Harvard Academic Program in Newborn Medicine and, at BWH, vice chair of the Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine and associate program director for NICU Research in the Center for Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Van Marter also served as a past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, and was a founder and mentor for its Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists Group that has fostered leadership development of individuals at early stages of their neonatology careers. She was elected to a number of honorary societies including the Society for Pediatric Research, the Perinatal Research Society, and the American Pediatric Society.
