Dr. Charles Rosenfeld, who estimates he has participated in the care of 500,000 newborn babies since joining UT Southwestern in 1973, has been named a Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics.

“Dr. Rosenfeld is a respected national figure in the fields of newborn medicine and fetal integrative physiology,” said Dr. Julio Pérez Fontán, Chair of Pediatrics. “Together with Obstetrics and Gynecology colleagues, he brought the concept of perinatal medicine to Dallas, establishing an innovative neonatal intensive care program at Parkland Hospital that for many years has served as a reference in clinical excellence for the international neonatal community.”

“The most unique aspect of the Medical Center is its open-door policy. People with expertise were always willing to share their knowledge to help you advance your own career.”

Dr. Rosenfeld, reflecting on the past 46 years spent working at UT Southwestern, said he joined the University at a momentous time.

“The University was expanding, and construction of the South Campus was nearing completion,” he said. “I had two unique opportunities that few will ever have – the development of the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, both academically and clinically, and the initiation of a large clinical service at Parkland Hospital that did not exist – a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit closely integrated with the outstanding obstetrics program that already existed at UT Southwestern.”

For more than three decades, Dr. Rosenfeld served as Chief of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. His research efforts included establishing a perinatal biology laboratory to examine cardiovascular changes during pregnancy and, in particular, the study of uterine-placental and umbilical-placental blood flows. These investigations received National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for almost 40 years, resulting in discoveries to benefit mothers, newborns, and unborn children.

“I was given every opportunity at UT Southwestern to develop my career as a teacher, investigator, and clinician under the mentoring of many outstanding faculty who would become friends,” Dr. Rosenfeld said. “The most unique aspect of the Medical Center is its open-door policy. People with expertise were always willing to share their knowledge to help you advance your own career.”

He in turn has provided research training and mentoring to numerous fellows, postdoctoral researchers, and medical students. Dr. Rosenfeld has written more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, plus chapters in several textbooks. His recognitions include the 2005 Founders Award from the Southern Society for Pediatric Research and election that same year as a Fellow in the Section of Heart and Circulatory Physiology of the American Physiological Society.

“He is an example of what an academic physician should be, combining clinical skill, compassion, and research to produce a perfect feedback between the knowledge acquired in the laboratory and its daily application to patient care,” Dr. Pérez Fontán said. Dr. Rosenfeld graduated from Emory University School of Medicine and completed pediatrics training at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He then received additional training, first as a pediatric pulmonary fellow at Albert Einstein, followed by two years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center’s Perinatal Research Program.

In retirement, Dr. Rosenfeld and Ann Marie, his wife of 46 years, hope to spend more time with their three sons and their families, including seven grandchildren. “Ann Marie is my greatest colleague who provided me insight into who I am,” he said. “We both love to travel and plan to continue seeing the world and learning about others.”