Dr. Souvik Mitra, Associate Professor, UBC, Neonatologist, BC Women’s Hospital
Name:
Dr. Souvik Mitra
Role:
Associate Professor, UBC
Neonatologist, BC Women’s Hospital
Qualifications:
MD, MSc, PhD
Biography:
Souvik Mitra (pronounced “Show-vik [rhymes with pick], Mit [rhymes with sit]- ra) will be joining our team on August 1st. Souvik, his wife Rona, 5-year-old son Adrish are excited to start their new adventure in Vancouver this August! He will be joining the BC Women’s Hospital as a staff Neonatologist, the UBC Department of Pediatrics as an Associate Professor and the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute as a Clinician-Scientist. Souvik has been a Neonatologist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University and IWK Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia for the past 7 years. He completed medical school and pediatric residency from Calcutta Medical College, India. After moving to Canada exactly 10 years back, he went on to complete his fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and MSc in Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University and then his PhD in Epidemiology and Applied Health Research from Dalhousie University. He is trained in targeted neonatal echocardiography (TNE), and serves as a member of the Royal College (RCPSC) Area of Focused Competence Subcommittee in Neonatal Hemodynamics and Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography.
His primary research interests revolve around improving patient and family-important clinical outcomes of extremely preterm babies with a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). His current CIHR-funded research projects include a pan-Canadian study on the comparative effectiveness of NSAIDs for treatment of PDA in preterm infants and a multicenter RCT on selective early treatment of the PDA in extremely low gestational age infants.
He serves as an Associate Editor for the Cochrane Neonatal Group and co-chair the Academic Committee of the Neonatal Hemodynamic Research Centre and the Evidence Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) Hemodynamic Group of the Canadian Neonatal Network. He is the chair-elect of the Fetus and Newborn Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society and also a member of several national grant peer-review committees such as CIHR.
Work aside, he loves to travel, explore new places with his family, both within and outside Canada. Within Canada, his favorite so far has been the Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, and is looking forward to exploring BC! He loves playing cricket and tries to make time for it despite his busy schedules. In the past 7 years, he has captained the Division 2 and 3 sides of his club, the Halifax Cricket Club in the Halifax Cricket League. Finding a club is indeed one of his top priorities when in Vancouver.
One of his personal quotes is: “Critical care decisions in the smallest and sickest newborns are often based on research that has rarely included such critically ill babies and has seldom explored outcomes that actually matter to families. As a neonatologist caring for the tiniest and most vulnerable humans, my research program aims to address these knowledge gaps through multicenter clinical trials and to incorporate the principles of practice of ‘evidence-based medicine’ in their care.”