Nhu Tran, PhD

Dr. Nhu Tran, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at University of Southern California (USC) and a certified Neonatal Intensive Care Unit critical care nurse at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Her integrated clinical and research program focuses on improving neurodevelopmental outcomes and addressing health inequities among high-risk neonates and infants. Dr. Tran received her PhD from University of California, Los Angeles as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar and holds BSN and MSN degrees from USC. She has secured funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, chairs the Research Committee of the National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative, and co-directs the Southern California Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute’s Introduction to Clinical and Translational Research Study Design course. She has published in journals like Pediatric Research, presented at multiple national conferences, and has received multiple early-career awards.

Dr. Tran’s leads the Brain Development Lab at CHLA which seeks to improve health outcomes and quality of life of vulnerable pediatric patients and families. She currently examines cerebrovascular and neurodevelopmental physiology using innovative, noninvasive biomarkers such as cerebrovascular oxygenation (rcSO2), cerebral fractional tissue oxygen extraction (FTOE), and the cerebrovascular stability index (CSI)—an original metric developed by her team. CSI uses near-infrared spectroscopy during position changes to assess autoregulatory function, addressing ethical and practical gaps in traditional invasive monitoring. This approach aims to establish a rapid, bedside tool for identifying infants at increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, enabling earlier intervention and improved developmental trajectories. Her lab also implements a Parent Navigator Program (PNP) aimed at enhancing access to neurodevelopmental services for Latinx and underserved families. This pilot initiative informs a planned multisite randomized controlled trial focused on reducing disparities in high-risk infant follow-up and early intervention. Dr. Tran’s work seeks to elucidate mechanisms of developmental delay, develop scalable tools for early identification, and build equitable care pathways for fragile infant populations.