Professor Ela Chakkarapani

Ela is an Associate Professor of Neonatal Neuroscience and a consultant neonatologist at the Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit, St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol. He is the Director of the Centre for Academic Child Health and is passionate about improving brain development in children exposed to adversities around birth, e.g. birth asphyxia, perinatal infections and prematurity.

His research is focused on preventing brain injuries in newborn babies using a team science approach, by developing new technologies and interventions and understanding brain development and repair following brain injuries as children grow. His collaborative efforts span work with researchers in engineering, mathematics, psychology, neurophysiology, neuromonitoring, neuroimaging, qualitative and clinical trial methodology, experimental medicine, and intensivists.

His current projects include

  1. Babywaves- NIHR-funded project to evaluate a wireless compact EEG device for remote monitoring of brain activity in infants at risk of developing brain injury
  2. HIEConnect -MRC funded project to characterise the brain connectivity in early infancy after hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and examine its relationship with cognitive development.
  3. EPICafterHIE: British Paediatric Surveillance Unit-sponsored study to establish the epidemiology of epilepsy after neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy treated with cooling therapy. This is a national study capturing the characteristics of epilepsy in children treated for neonatal HIE aged below 18 years.
  4. FUTURE study: Retrospective cohort study to identify predictors of outcomes in infants with perinatal asphyxia with or without hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
  5. COMET trial: Co-investigator in the national trial investigating therapeutic hypothermia versus standard care for infants with mild hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. Funded by NIHR.
  6. BRAHMS study: Co-lead for developing music therapy to enhance sleep for moderate to late preterm infants. Funded by NIHR.Completed Projects

1. CoolCuddle: Nurse-led intervention enabling parents to cuddle their babies while undergoing cooling therapy and intensive care.

Findings: CoolCuddle did not impact the cooling therapy or intensive care and improved mother-infant bonding. Resources developed to instruct nurses to help implement CoolCuddle in the neonatal intensive care units (https://youtu.be/dC7SriN99SA )and inform parents about CoolCuddle to help them experience CoolCuddle (https://youtu.be/ZVN83K0xp7g).

2. SINEPOST study: National population-based study that showed children exposed to SARS-CoV-2 (wild type and Alpha) antenatally had delayed socioemotional development, increased respiratory symptoms and healthcare usage. 

10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102628; 10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001571; 10.1038/s41390-023-02954-y

3. CoolMRI study: A series of imaging and developmental studies that defined the brain structural and microstructural development and its association with childhood cognitive, communication and motor development after neonatal HIE.