The health of the babies we care for drives us to find solutions in the lab.
Where I see patients (1)
Fetal surgery firsts
The first open fetal surgery in the world was performed at UCSF in the early 1980s.

Neonatologist
Early-life immune researcher and amateur gardener
Dr. Joanna Halkias is a neonatologist who cares for premature and critically ill newborns. Her research focuses on human immune development early in life. She studies the ways immune cells injure the developing brain, intestines and lungs in premature infants.
Halkias earned her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, an affiliate of the University of Southern California. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at the University of California, Berkeley.
In her free time, Halkias enjoys spending time outdoors, camping and hiking. She is a native Spanish speaker and also fluent in Greek.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, MD, 2001
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Pediatrics, 2004
University of Southern California, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, 2007
UC Berkeley, Immunology, 2013
Asst Professor In Residence
Fetal surgery firsts