Mary Lauren Neel is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She completed her medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, pediatric residency and chief residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, and neonatology fellowship and Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at Vanderbilt University.

The goal of Dr. Neel’s clinical and research work is to promote best possible neurodevelopmental outcomes for former preterm, and other high-risk, infants. Her specific research interests are in leveraging parenting style and parent/child interactions to improve child neurodevelopment. Her current work includes early identification of at-risk parent/infant dyads in the NICU and mechanistic and multimodal studies of parent/infant interactions, as well as serving on neurodevelopmental follow-up cores for multisite intervention trials and networks. Clinically, Dr. Neel values both NICU and follow-up care of preterm, and other high-risk, infants. Her clinical time is divided between the Neonatal Intensive Care Units and the Developmental Progress Clinic.

In addition to her professional passions, Dr. Neel is the proud mother to three daughters. She is a nature enthusiast, restaurant connoisseur, and photography dabbler.