Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics

Virender Rehan, M.D.
Chief, Division of Neonatology
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Training Program

Contact Information:
Walter P. Martin Research Center
1124 West Carson Street, RB-1
Torrance, CA 90502

Phone: (310) 222-1975
Fax: (310) 222-3887

Research Focus:
Dr. Rehan has been a faculty member of the Division of Neonatology since 2000. He serves as the director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and is on several institutional committees including the Neonatal Steering Committee, Pediatric Critical Care Committee and the Research Committee at the Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He is also the Director of the combined Harbor-UCLA/CHOC Neonatal Fellowship program.

Rehan serves as a mentor and supervisor for neonatal fellows, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. His research interests include neonatal lung injury/repair with a special emphasis on lung injury repair following exposure to insults such as hyperoxia, infection, and nicotine. These studies have provided novel insights to the pathogenesis of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) and have created innovative strategies to prevent BPD, which still results in significant morbidity and mortality for the premature infant.

In addition, he co-authored a book entitled "Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease" (JS Torday and VK Rehan, Wiley-Blackwell, January 24, 2012). The volume is a ‘primer’ for mechanistic thinking in evolution and medicine. It is intended for both established investigators and those in training.

Certifications:
American Board of Pediatrics

Training:
Residency in Neonatology, Health Sciences Center, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Education:
M.D., University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India

Selected Publications:
1. Rehan VK. Prevention of Bronchopulmonary dysplasia: Finally, Something that Works. Indian J Pediatr. 2006;73(11):1027-32.

2. Lakshmanan J, Ahanaya S, Rehan VK, Oyachi N, Ross MG. Elevated plasma corticotrophin release factor levels and in utero meconium passage. Pediatr Res. 2007;61(2):176-9.

3. Rehan VK, Wang Y, Sugano S, Santos J, Patel S, Sakurai R, Boros LG, Lee WP, Torday JS. In utero nicotine exposure alters fetal rat lung alveolar type II cell proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007; 292(1):L323-33.

4. Rehan VK, Sakurai R, Wang Y, Huynh K, Torday JS: Reversal of nicotine-induced alveolar lipofibroblats-to-myofibroblast transdifferentiation by stimulants of parathyroid hormone-related protein signaling. Lung. 2007;185(3):151-9.

5. Rehan VK, Dargan-Batra SK, Wang Y, Cerny L, Sakurai R, Santos J, Beloosesky R, Gayle D, Torday JS. A paradoxical temporal response of the PTHrP/PPARgamma signaling pathway to lipopolysaccharide in an in vitro model of the developing rat lung. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007;293(1):L182-90.

6. Torday J, Rehan VK. The Evolutionary Continuum from Lung Development to Homeostasis and Repair. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007;292(3):L608-11.

7. Torday JS, Rehan VK, Hicks JW, Wang T, et al. Deconvoluting lung evolution: from phenotypes to gene regulatory networks-Introduction to the Symposium. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Integrative & Comparative Biology. 47(4):601-609, 2007 Oct.

8. Rehan VK, Torday JS. Exploiting the PTHrP Signaling Pathway to Treat Chronic Lung Disease. Drugs of Today. 2007;43(5):317-331.

9. Torday JS, Rehan VK. A paracrine model for lung development, disease, and treatment-perspective. Pediatr Res. 2007;62(1):2-7.

10. Cerny L, Torday JS, Rehan VK. Prevention and Treatment of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: Contemporary Status and Future Outlook. Lung-2008;186(2):75-89.

11. Yee JK, Mao CS, Hummel HS, Lim S, Sugano S, Rehan VK, Xiao G, Lee WN. Compartmentalization of Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase Enzyme-1 in HepG2 Cells J Lipid Res. 2008 Jul 3. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 18599738.

12. Wang Y, Sakurai R, Cerny L, Torday JS, Rehan VK. “Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor (PPAR) γ Agonist Enhance Lung Maturation in a Neonatal Rat Model” (Pediatric Research 2009;65(2):1-7).

13. Torday JS, Rehan VK. Exploiting Cellular-Developmental Evolution as the Scientific Basis for Preventive Medicine" (Medical Hypotheses, 2009).

14. Torday JS, Rehan VK. Leptin stimulates lung development – “Evolution in a Petri Dish”. (Evolution and Development, 2009).

15. JS Torday and Rehan VK. Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication and Complex Disease. Wiley-Blackwell, January 24, 2012. (Book)

Pubmed Search:
PubMed Search for Virender K. Rehan