Research Summary
Dr. Premkumar is a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist and a medical anthropologist, broadly interested in comprehensive reproductive health. His lab is focused on two goals:
1) Improving the quality of reproductive decision-making in the setting of prenatally-diagnosed congenital anomalies, especially those amenable to maternal-fetal surgery, and
2) Innovating methods to improve health outcomes of pregnant individuals who choose to proceed with different forms of management of prenatally-diagnosed congenital anomalies, inclusive of maternal-fetal surgery and abortion care.
Dr. Premkumar has been published widely in multiple peer-reviewed journals in the biomedical and social sciences. He has been funded by groups like the Society of Family Planning and the International Institute of Research in Paris, as part of the University of Chicago, for his work.
Main projects in the laboratory
- Understanding parental decision-making in the setting of congenital anomalies.
Advancements in prenatal diagnosis have ushered in the establishment of fetal treatment centers across the globe. In these centers, maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology, pediatric surgery, and other pediatric subspecialties engage in counseling, perioperative planning, and delivery coordination for pregnant people carrying a fetus (or fetuses) affected with prenatally-diagnosed congenital anomalies. Potential options for management include prenatal intervention (i.e., maternal-fetal surgery), expectant management, termination of pregnancy, and postnatal management, which may include postnatal palliative care. However, there islimited data in which to understand how people carrying pregnancies affected with fetal anomalies which are amenable to prenatal intervention pursue each of these strategies; how best to elicit parental desires for each strategy; and how to incorporate these strategies in clinical recommendations. - Improving care for pregnant people seeking medication abortion services at later gestations.
For individuals who ultimately decide to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal anomalies, a key consideration is the method of termination. In the U.S. and across the globe, a significant number of individuals who face termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomalies undergo medication abortion (MAB), or the use of medications to induce labor to expulse both the fetus and the placenta. However, when compared with other methods of abortion (e.g., dilation and evacuation), MAB has been associated with higher frequencies of maternal morbidity. Data from my research group demonstrates an association between the duration of labor during I/T and experiencing maternal morbidity. Therefore, we are investigating methods to shorten the duration of labor among people undergoing I/T should be investigated to optimize maternal outcomes and reduce the risk of morbidity.
Collaborations
- Necker Enfants du Maladies in Paris
- International Institute of Research in Paris
- Rush University
- Northwestern University
- Endeavor Health
- The North American Fetal Therapy Network
Lab Members
Join the Premkumar Lab
We have job openings for research assistants. Email us at premkumarlab@bsd.uchicago.edu with questions.
Funding
We currently have funding from the Society of Family Planning and the International Institute of Research in Paris, as part of the University of Chicago.