John Donald E Barks, MD

John Barks, M.D. is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, the Director of the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (since 2009) and is a member of the multidisciplinary Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center.

Dr. Barks earned his Medical Degree from Queens University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1980. After residency training in Pediatrics in Halifax and Toronto, he undertook fellowships in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (Neonatology) at the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan. Dr. Barks is board certified in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. His clinical practice encompasses all aspects of neonatal intensive care medicine, with a particular interest in neonatal neurology and neurocritical care.

Dr. Barks' clinical research and laboratory research interest is in neonatal neurology. Dr. Barks participated in some of the ground-breaking clinical research that led to the establishment of therapeutic hypothermia as the standard treatment for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy for term and near-term infants. 

Neonatology and neonatal neurology

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Clinical research: neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, hypothermic neuroprotection, neonatal seizures, neonatal sleep. Laboratory research: mechanisms of neonatal hypoxic ischemic brain injury, neuroprotective strategies, impact of maternal dietary fat intake on recovery from neonatal brain injury. 

Over the past 25 years Dr. Barks’ laboratory research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation, by a University of Michigan Dept. of Pediatrics Woodson Acceleration Award and by a University of Michigan Dept. of Pediatrics Holden Fund Investigator Research Award.