Thomas H. Shaffer, MSE, PhD
Primary Title: Program Director and Principal Investigator
Additional Title(s): Associate Director, Nemours Biomedical Research
Director, Nemours Lung Center Director, Technology Transfer Professor of Physiology and Pediatrics
Bio: Thomas H. Shaffer, MS.E., Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Pediatrics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He also holds the position of Professor of Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Shaffer received his doctorate from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where he was promoted to Assistant Professor of Physiology and Medicine. He was recruited as an Associate Professor at Temple University School of Medicine in 1977. Dr. Shaffer has 40 years of experience as an active scientist in pulmonary research with special attention to the needs of the neonatal and pediatric populations. His revolutionary work with treatments for respiratory distress syndrome is known world-wide, and he is considered an international expert in this field. In addition, he is renowned for his work in developmental airway physiology and clinical pulmonary function evaluation in neonates. Professor Shaffer has academic experience as a scientist in applied mechanics, engineering, physiology, and pediatrics. Also, he has extensive industrial and pharmaceutical consulting experience in instrumentation and drug development. Since 1968, he has been supported by ONR, DOD, NIH and academic, corporate and private institutional awards. In 2004, Dr. Shaffer was awarded a ($10 million) Center for Biomedical Research Excellence grant from the NIH for the development of a Center for Pediatric Research at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. In the fall, 2009, Dr. Shaffer, Director, the Center for Pediatric Research program received an additional $1.6 million in supplemental ARRA funding to bridge COBRE funding during the review of the COBRE Phase II proposal. In September, 2010, the Center for Pediatric Research (http://centerforpediatricresearch.org/), under the direction of Dr. Shaffer, secured an additional 5-year NIH COBRE competitive grant renewal of $9.5 million to continue with COBRE Phase II and August, 2015, an additional 5-year NIH COBRE grant renewal of $ 5million was awarded to continue with COBRE Phase III. Dr. Shaffer’s contribution to the literature has been significant. He has published 77 book chapters, 289 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and 588 abstracts. His clinical manuscripts have been published in Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine and many more highly respected and well-read periodicals. In addition, he has published basic science manuscripts in the J of Applied Physiology, the Am J of Physiology, the Am J of Circulatory Res, J of Biomechanics, and IEEE Trans on Biomed Eng. He serves on the Editorial Boards of three scientific journals and is a journal reviewer for another 22 publications.