The NEC Society, a 501(c)(3) patient-led organization, is honored to welcome Dr. Hala Chaaban to the organization’s Scientific Advisory Council. Dr. Chaaban is a neonatologist at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Chaaban’s research is dedicated to identifying pre- and postnatal factors that play a role in the development of the small intestine in preterm infants, and the contribution of those factors to the development of NEC. 

Dr. Chaaban will help expand the NEC Biorepository, and in 2019 served as faculty at the NEC Symposium in Ann Arbor, MI. Jennifer Canvasser, founder and executive director of the NEC Society, shares, “We are honored and thrilled to welcome Dr. Chaaban to our team. Her extraordinary commitment to improved understanding and prevention of NEC, along with her dedication to patient-family engagement, will strengthen our capacity to build a world without this devastating disease.” 

Dr. Sheila Gephart served on the Scientific Advisory Council for years and recently transitioned to lead the College of Nursing at the University of Arizona. As our newest Council member, Dr. Hala Chaaban joins a team of diverse, renowned clinicians and researchers who have dedicated their careers to NEC and who are committed to partnering with families personally affected by this disease. The 12-seat Scientific Advisory Council is critical to all of the NEC Society’s projects, events, resources, and content. To learn more, visit NECsociety.org 

Necrotizing enterocolitis is a devastating intestinal disease that primarily affects premature and medically fragile infants during their first weeks and months of life. The NEC Society was established in 2014 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a world without NEC.