Dr. Surendra Sharma honored by professional association

Surendra Sharma, MD, PhD, a research scientist and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, was recently presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Immunology (ASRI). This award is given to a member of the ASRI who has provided distinguished service to advance the goals and mission of the society.

Founded in 1981, the American Society for Reproductive Immunology fosters the development of reproductive immunology research, increases intellectual exchange between clinical and basic branches of reproductive immunology, and provides mentoring for new scientists interested in reproductive immunology.

Dr. Sharma's career has spanned three decades. His laboratory has a multifaceted research program focused on trying to answer the question of why some women have babies that are born too soon as well as why some women have problems with their pregnancy, such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

"We believe that these problems may originate from abnormal immune responses during the pregnancy, but we would like to know how the immune system changes during normal and adverse pregnancy outcomes," said Dr. Sharma. "Some pregnancy-associated complications are diagnosed after 20 weeks of gestation. However, the onset of the related pathology probably occurs much earlier in pregnancy, which may have its origin in unregulated immune responses, protein structures, and vascular activities. These changes, if detected early in pregnancy, may be able to help predict who will develop the disease."

Provided by Women & Infants Hospital