NEONATAL FUNDAMENTALS SERIES

Melody Thompson is a clinical nutrition specialist in Pediatric Scientific and Medical Affairs at Abbott. For more than 20 years, she has worked with term and preterm babies to evaluate and recommend neonatal nutrition therapies to help them get the best start in life and achieve healthy growth and development. Her expertise in neonatal nutrition has helped support many innovative products for neonatal intensive care (NICU) units.

Melody joined Abbott in 1997 and has assumed increasing roles of responsibility as a clinical nutrition expert. Prior to joining Abbott, Melody was the neonatal nutritionist for 20 years in NICUs at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She continues as a clinical consultant there. She is also a Clinical Instructor in the Medical Dietetics Division of the School of Allied Medical Professions at The Ohio State University. She is a guest lecturer at SAMP and also in the OSU College of Nursing – for Neonatal and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner students.

As a nutrition expert, she has co-authored and co-edited the seminal neonatal nutrition book, Nutritional Care for High-Risk Newborns (3 editions) and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Pocket Guide to Neonatal Nutrition, as well as numerous papers and book chapters. Melody earned a bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Food Science from The University of Kentucky and completed a Dietetic Internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She has a Master of Science degree in Medical Dietetics from The Ohio State University. She is a registered dietitian and a licensed dietitian in the state of Ohio.

Janice Cox, MS, RD received her B.S. and M.S. in Nutrition from Notre Dame and Case Western Reserve University, respectively. She recently retired from a 42-year career as a Registered Dietitian. For most of her career, Cox worked at Bronson Methodist Hospital in a variety of areas including the NICU, pediatric unit, pediatric intensive care unit, and pediatric subspecialty outpatient clinics. Cox was the Clinical Nutrition Manager during her final 4 years at Bronson Methodist. Cox continues to contribute to the profession of dietetics through consulting and publishing to promote neonatal and pediatric nutrition. Most recently, she has been a key contributing author on the Pediatric Nutrition Care Manual and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Pocket Guide to Neonatal Nutrition, 2nd ed.

Sharon Groh-Wargo is a Neonatal Nutritionist in the Department of Pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center and an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. Sharon has over 40 years of experience, is a nationally known speaker and researcher, and has authored numerous publications on neonatal nutrition. She is an editor of both editions of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Pocket Guide to Neonatal Nutrition. She is a contributor to the Academy’s online Pediatric Nutrition Care Manual and she authored a new chapter on “Lactoengineering” for the 3rd edition of “Infant and Pediatric Feedings: Guidelines for Preparation of Human Milk and Formula in Health Care Facilities”. Dr. Groh-Wargo participates in the Pre-B Project, sponsored by the NIH in cooperation with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which was convened to perform systematic reviews of neonatal nutrition and to set national dietary guidelines for the premature infant.