Stephenson Awarded $700,000 from The Duke Endowment to Expand Statewide Care for Infants and Children with Premature Lung Disease

UNC Children’s is proud to announce that The Duke Endowment has awarded $700,000 to launch “Expanding Care for Infants and Children with BPD across North Carolina – an Interdisciplinary Care and Outreach Program”, a new statewide initiative led by Nicole Stephenson, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a lung disease that affects premature babies with underdeveloped lungs and is one of the leading causes of long-term respiratory and developmental challenges for children. Each year, approximately 500 infants across North Carolina are diagnosed with BPD. Families often face prolonged hospitalizations, fragmented follow-up care, and limited access to pediatric subspecialists—challenges that are magnified in rural communities and regions with fewer healthcare resources.

Dr. Stephenson is joined by co-director Susan Lynch, MD, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, who brings over 30 years of expertise in treating patients with severe BPD and a decade of leadership experience as the director of a large BPD center. Together, Drs. Stephenson and Lynch lead the UNC Children’s BPD program, one of the state’s leading programs for the care of infants with severe BPD.

Building on UNC Children’s successful interdisciplinary BPD program, this three-year initiative will expand access to coordinated, high-quality BPD care through two major efforts:

1. Launch of a comprehensive outpatient BPD clinic at UNC Children’s, bringing together pulmonology, neonatology, cardiology, nutrition, developmental therapy, social work, and care coordination to support families after NICU discharge.
2. A statewide outreach and training partnership with regional NICUs and pediatric centers—including Duke Children’s, UNC Health Rex, WakeMed, Novant Health Hemby, Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, Moses Cone Health, and Novant New Hanover Regional Medical Center, and others—to strengthen local interdisciplinary care models and increase access to BPD expertise closer to home.

The program will provide telehealth consultation, hands-on training, standardized clinical guidelines, and continuing medical education, creating a cohesive network of BPD care teams across the state. Additionally, the project will establish North Carolina’s first BPD patient registry, enabling long-term tracking of clinical outcomes and supporting data-driven quality improvement and research.