Home History and Mission Statement Neonatal Fellowship Program Faculty Facilities Developmental Care Newborn Transport Team Research Employment Opportunities Neonatology Outreach Program

Provide the highest level of support for critically ill and preterm infants and their families through compassionate clinical care, neonatal-perinatal professional and family education and meritorious research.

The Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the Children's Hospital opened in 1971. Before the program's inception in 1971, the neonatal mortality rate in New Mexico was 15:1,000 live births, compared to 14.2 nationwide. By the mid-1980's, it had declined to 6.0 (7.0 nationwide) and in 1987, it was 5.0, the 6th lowest neonatal mortality rate in the entire United States. In 1996 the neonatal mortality rate in New Mexico was 3.9, 21% lower than the provisional national rate of 4.7. With the inauguration of the New Mexico Perinatal Regionalization Program in 1976, expertise in high risk newborn care was centralized and University of New Mexico Children's Hospital was identified as the statewide referral center. Over 56% of the infants admitted to the NBICU are transported in or delivered here after transfer of their mothers from community hospitals throughout New Mexico.

The impact of New Mexico's Perinatal Regionalization Program is evident in the over 14,200 admissions to the NBICU since 1976.