About

Sagori Mukhopadhyay, MD, MMSc, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics specializing in Neonatology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She provides critical care to high-risk infants with conditions such as infection, respiratory distress, and complications of prematurity. Her clinical expertise focuses on neonatal intensive care, and she is involved in the care of newborns at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research interests include neonatal infectious disease epidemiology, the developing microbiome, and the impact of early-life factors on later childhood health outcomes. Dr. Mukhopadhyay has contributed to understanding the impact of early-onset sepsis and antibiotic use on neurodevelopmental outcomes in extremely preterm infants, neonatal intestinal dysbiosis, and the role of microbiological tests and biomarkers in antibiotic stewardship. She is actively engaged in advancing neonatal care through both clinical practice and research.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Pediatrics
• Intensive care medicine
• Obstetrics
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Utility of biomarkers in VLBW sepsis evaluations: the implementation gap

  Pediatric Research · 2026-05-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Long-term sustainability and safety of a delivery-based early-onset sepsis evaluation strategy for very low birth weight infants

  Journal of Perinatology · 2026-03-13

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Authors’ reply to: Todd et al., prenatal and intrapartum antibiotic exposure and childhood infections: considerations and complexities

  The Lancet Regional Health - Americas · 2026-01-09

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We appreciate the interest from Todd and co-authors regarding our paper, entitled “Perinatal antibiotic exposure and risk of childhood infections: a retrospective cohort study”.1 We wish to respond to the following points:

  PublisherDOI

• Gut microbiome in preterm infants with different weight gain outcomes

  Gut Microbiology · 2026-05-04

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of metrics of neonatal intensive care unit antibiotic use

  Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology · 2025-08-19

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To compare temporal trends, variation, and correlations between antibiotic use metrics across U.S. neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and assess associations with mortality. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 438,156 infants admitted to 272 NICUs from 2017 to 2021 using the Premier Health Database. Antibiotic use rate (AUR), days of therapy (DOT), and antibiotic spectrum index (ASI) per 1,000 patient or therapy days were calculated both cumulatively by year and at the center level. Mixed-effects models adjusted for center-level characteristics were used for all analyses. RESULTS: < 0.001). None were significantly associated with center-level mortality. ASI had the least variability, indicating more uniform antibiotic selection and lower center-level discriminatory value. CONCLUSIONS: DOT and AUR were comparable measures of antibiotic consumption, both showing significant declines. ASI exhibited the least variability, reflecting more consistency in antibiotic selection. The similarity in dispersion and decline between AUR and DOT suggests that neonatal antibiotic exposure is primarily influenced by initiation and discontinuation decisions rather than regimen complexity. Given its ease of calculation, AUR may be the most practical metric for evaluating the impact of antibiotic stewardship interventions at the center level.

  PublisherDOI

• Late-Onset Sepsis Among Extremely Preterm Infants During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  PEDIATRICS · 2025-01-23 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: To compare incidence of late-onset sepsis (LOS) among extremely preterm infants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Multicenter cohort study of infants with birthweight 401 to 1000 g or gestational age 22 to 28 weeks. LOS was defined as a bacterial or fungal pathogen isolated from blood or cerebrospinal fluid culture obtained after 72 hours of age. Primary outcome was LOS incidence calculated as incidence proportion (LOS cases among all admissions) and incidence rate (LOS events/1000 patient days). A multivariable Poisson regression model was used to compare the adjusted risk of LOS incidence proportion before (1/1/18-3/31/20) and during the pandemic (4/1/20-12/31/21). An interrupted time series analysis using a generalized linear mixed model with center as a random effect was used to compare LOS incidence rates during the 2 periods. RESULTS: Among 6509 eligible infants, LOS incidence proportion was not different before (18.2%) and during the pandemic (16.9%; P = .18). The adjusted relative risk (95% CI) for LOS was 0.93 (0.82-1.05) and for LOS or mortality was 0.98 (0.88-1.08) during the pandemic compared to the period before the pandemic. In the interrupted time series analysis, there was no significant change in LOS incidence rates at the start of the pandemic (0.219, 95% CI, -0.453 to 0.891) or microbiology of LOS, and change in trends of LOS incidence rates before and during the pandemic was not significant (-0.005, 95% CI, -0.025 to 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: In a large multicenter study of extremely preterm infants, rates of LOS remained unchanged during the pandemic.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Perinatal and Neonatal Infections

  Clinics in Perinatology · 2025-01-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Multicenter Evaluation of a New Strip-Based Blood Glucose System for Point-of-Care Testing in Critical and Non-Critical Care Settings

  Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology · 2025-05-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background: Evaluation of the performance of Cobas ® Pulse (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany), a new blood glucose (BG) monitoring system (BGMS; referred to here as BGMSA) intended for point-of-care testing using samples from patients in diverse clinical settings by intended point-of-care test operators. Methods: Arterial, capillary, venous, or heel stick whole blood (WB) samples from patients in non-critical and critical care settings were collected and analyzed using BGMSA and the Nova StatStrip ® BGMS (Nova Biomedical, Waltham, MA; referred to here as BGMSB), and a hexokinase comparator (Cobas 6000 Analyzer Series; Roche Diagnostics GmbH). The blood glucose measurement accuracy was assessed by the Food and Drug Administration guidance criteria. Results: Two studies are presented. In the first, 2678 samples (622 arterial, 706 capillary, 1203 venous, 147 heel stick) were collected from 1577 patients in 14 US and three European sites. All accuracy criteria were met for arterial and venous samples considering all data combined. BGMSA showed better accuracy than BGMSB for arterial, venous, and heel stick, and similar results to BGMSB for capillary WB vs venous comparator. No endogenous interference from pO 2 , hematocrit, and sodium was identified. BGMSA was also accurate when analyzing contrived samples used to show accuracy over a wide range of glucose concentrations, alone and when combined with extreme hematocrit. In the second study, 117 capillary fingerstick samples collected at one US site were measured on both BGMSA and the comparator, and all accuracy criteria were met. No clinically significant medical risks were observed via Diabetes Technology Society Error Grids. Conclusions: BGMSA was effective for determining blood glucose in venous, arterial, neonatal arterial, neonatal heel stick, and capillary WB samples.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Contributions of delivery mode and intrapartum antibiotic exposure to body mass index among children through 5 years of age

  European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology · 2025-04-20

  articleOpen access

  <h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Objective</h3> To investigate independent effects of group B Streptococcus (GBS) intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) and cesarean delivery (CD) on body mass index (BMI) during early childhood. <h3>Study design</h3> Retrospective cohort study of infants (n = 157,820) born 2007–2015 in an integrated healthcare system. Exposures were delivery mode (CD or vaginal delivery [VD]) and GBS IAP exposure. CD was further divided into elective CD (without labor or rupture of membrane [ROM]) or unscheduled CD (following labor and/or ROM). BMI over 5 years was compared using non-linear multivariate models with B-splines, adjusted for demographics, maternal medical and obstetrical factors, and childhood antibiotic exposure. <h3>Results</h3> At age 5 years, unscheduled CD without GBS IAP (Δ BMI 0.11 kg/m², 95 % CI 0.06 to 0.16, p < 0.0001) and unscheduled CD with GBS IAP (Δ BMI 0.24 kg/m², 95 % CI 0.11 to 0.36 kg/m², p = 0.0002) were positively associated with higher BMI compared to their VD counterparts, respectively. No BMI difference was observed between children born by elective versus unscheduled CD. GBS IAP exposure was positively associated with increased BMI compared to non-exposed births in both VD (Δ BMI 0.07 kg/m², 95 % CI 0.02 to 0.13 kg/m², p = 0.0125) and CD (Δ BMI 0.22 kg/m², 95 % CI 0.09 to 0.35 kg/m², p = 0.0009). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Based on our findings, the widespread administration of GBS IAP and birth by cesarean delivery independently contribute to a significant upshift in body weight early in life that compares to or is higher than the annual increase in BMI in U.S. children on a population level.

  PublisherDOI

• Maternal Coronavirus Disease 2019 Test Positivity and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Outcomes for Infants Born Extremely Preterm

  The Journal of Pediatrics · 2025-09-27

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To describe the neonatal intensive care unit outcomes of infants born extremely preterm to mothers who test positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study (March 1, 2020-April 30, 2023) at 16 Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network centers of inborn infants (birth weight 401-1000 g and/or gestational age <29 weeks) born to mothers tested for SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy. Frequency of maternal SARS-CoV-2 detection, vertical transmission rate, and association of maternal SARS-CoV-2 positivity during pregnancy with infant outcomes were determined. RESULTS: During the 38-month study, 4548 extremely preterm infants were born to 4072 mothers tested for SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy. Overall, 7% (297/4072) of mothers had a positive SARS-CoV-2 test; 1% (2/181) of tested infants were positive at age <72 hours. The majority of outcomes (eg, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity) did not differ between infants of test-positive vs test-negative mothers. Infants of test-positive mothers were more likely to be diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) than those of test-negative mothers (14% vs 11%; P = .03). In adjusted analyses, infants born to test-positive mothers were more likely to develop NEC (risk ratio [RR] 1.40; 95% CI, 1.03-1.89; P = .03) or the combined outcome of death within 12 hours of age or NEC (RR 1.33; 95% CI, 1.09-1.62; P < .01) but not death within 12 hours of age (RR 1.22, 95% CI, 0.92-1.62; P = .16) or before discharge (RR 0.83, 95% CI, 0.55-1.26; P = .38). CONCLUSIONS: Among infants <29 weeks' gestation, vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was infrequent. Maternal SARS-CoV-2 positivity was associated with NEC but not with other infant outcomes or mortality. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID. Generic Database: NCT00063063. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT00063063.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Incidence of atopy and childhood infections in uninfected term newborns with perinatal antibiotic exposure

  NIH · $790k · 2017–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Karen M. Puopolo

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  253 shared

• Dustin D. Flannery

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  113 shared

• Jeffrey S. Gerber

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  97 shared

• Miren B. Dhudasia

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  72 shared

• Kelly C. Wade

  28 shared

• Emily C. Woodford

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  27 shared

• Madeline R. Pfeifer

  26 shared

• Scott E. Hensley

  University of Pennsylvania

  21 shared

Education

• MD, Pediatrics

  Sawai Man Singh Hospital

  2006

• MBBS

  Burdwan Medical College

  2002