Diomel de la Cruz, MD, BS

Dr. Diomel de la Cruz is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He serves as Program Director of the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship and Director of the UF Neonatal Nutrition Team. He co-directs the UF Neonatology Simulation Program and is a key member of the UF Pediatrics Intestinal Rehabilitation Team. His clinical leadership spans neonatal nutrition, intestinal rehabilitation, and simulation-based education. Within the NICU, he leads quality improvement efforts focused on standardized nutrition protocols, metabolic bone disease prevention, and multidisciplinary care coordination. He also plays a central role in graduate medical education, serving on the Pediatric Fellowship Advisory Committee and the UF Graduate Medical Education Committee. Dr. de la Cruz’s research portfolio is anchored in translational science and multicenter clinical trials aimed at improving outcomes for high-risk and critically ill neonates. He has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals including The Journal of Pediatrics, Neonatology, Scientific Reports, and Pediatric Research, and contributed chapters to key neonatal texts such as Fanaroff and Martin’s, Avery’s Neonatology, and Fetal and Neonatal Physiology. His recent scholarship addresses early feeding strategies, the effects of antibiotics on enteral tolerance, sex-specific nutritional outcomes, and disease prediction using unsupervised machine learning. He is a site co-investigator on a funded study evaluating the neonatal and pediatric SOFA scores, and a contributor to the multicenter HIP Trial published in JAMA, which examined timing of inguinal hernia repair in preterm infants. His recent work includes high-resolution illness profiling using nSOFA and VIS scores to track evolving organ dysfunction in neonates with sepsis and NEC. His studies on hourly nSOFA kinetics and predictive analytics have laid the groundwork for real-time clinical risk models in the NICU. Over the last three years, he has published extensively on necrotizing enterocolitis, parenteral nutrition-associated complications, sepsis, lipid tolerance, and intestinal disease stratification. With over 25 national abstract presentations and ongoing mentorship of residents, fellows, and junior faculty, Dr. de la Cruz continues to bridge data-driven innovation with frontline neonatal care. His work reflects a focused commitment to improving neonatal outcomes through science, systems, and education.