Thomas H. Shaffer

Director of Nemours Research Lung Center
Professor of Pediatrics
Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine
Member of the INBRE Research Committee

Nemours Biomedical Research

Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
1600 Rockland Road
Wilmington, DE 19803

Email: tshaffer@nemours.org
Phone: (215) 707-3239

Education:

  • Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, Drexel University, 1972
    M.S., Applied Mathematics, Drexel University, 1970
    B.S., Mechanical Engineering & Mathematics, Drexel University, 1968

Research Overview:

Thomas H. Shaffer, MS.E., Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Pediatrics.  He also holds the position of Professor of Pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson Medical College.  Dr. Shaffer received his doctorate from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and has been a member of the faculty of the Temple University School of Medicine since 1976. Dr. Shaffer has 28 years of experience as an active scientist in pulmonary research with special attention to the needs of the neonatal and pediatric populations.  Dr. Shaffer’s revolutionary work with the use of perfluorochemicals for liquid ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome, blood substitutes and imaging is known worldwide, and he is considered an international expert in this field.  In addition, he is renown for his work in developmental airway physiology and clinical pulmonary function evaluation in neonates.

Since 1974, Dr. Shaffer has been continuously supported by NIH grants (17) and academic, corporate and private institutional awards (42 total).  His early NIH grants were awarded during a period when corporate sponsors were not readily supporting work in his area of interest, and the resultant science acted as a catalyst for procuring many other grants from the private and corporate sectors.  The excellence of his corporate-sponsored research has resulted in 12 licensed patents.   In September 2004, Dr. Shaffer was awarded a Center for Biomedical Research Excellent (COBRE) grant from the National Institutes of Health for the development of a Center for Pediatric Research at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.  He serves as the Director of the new Center and administers its staff, revenues and research.  Dr. Shaffer clearly understands translational research, having moved multiple intellectual properties from the bench top to the clinic and on to industry.

Dr. Shaffer’s contribution to the literature has been significant.  He has published 67 book chapters, 220 peer-reviewed manuscripts (with another 20 in review or in press), and 460 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 Journal of Applied Physiology, the American Journal of Physiology, and the American Journal of Circulatory Research.  He serves on the Editorial Boards of three scientific journals and is a journal reviewer for another 22 publications.