The Fighting Prematurity University Hospital Federation (FHU PREMA) brings together clinical teams (gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics) and research teams from different areas, each expert in its field, which share common research, teaching, and care themes around the causes and consequences of prematurity. It constitutes a unique, internationally recognized ecosystem of 12 research units and 5 clinical centers.
Five clinical services
Five university perinatal centers (maternity units, neonatal intensive care units or neonatology units) are involved, all in the Île-de-France region: 4 AP-HP (university hospital trust) centers (Port-Royal-Cochin, Louis Mourier, Armand Trousseau, Bichat) and the Paris Saint Joseph Hospital Group. There are 18 500 births a year, 2000 of them preterm, in these centers, which are staffed by 145 physicians and 220 midwives.
Research units
FHU PREMA comprises 12 research units with internationally recognized expertise in a wide range of fields (clinical, basic sciences, pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, human and social sciences, epidemiology). FHU PREMA shares concepts, technologies and innovative tools, and facilitates close collaborations between clinical and research teams for the benefit of patients. This pooling of expertise and experience underpins ambitious national and European research projects that will lead to the innovations of tomorrow.
Dedicated facilities for translational medicine
Dedicated facilities for translational medicine (from bench to bedside and back) support our clinical research: the AP-HP Maternal and Child Health Research Center, the Cochin-Pasteur Center for Clinical Vaccinology, the Cochin (AP-HP) National Reference Center for Streptococcus, and the Benin Clinical Research Institute.
Births per year
Preterm births / y
Physicians
Midwives
Aims of the FHU PREMA
The FHU PREMA project focuses on 2 main objectives: “Improvement of Knowledge” on prematurity and “Improvement of Care” provided to pregnant women and to babies born preterm:
- The first objective is to develop projects on the mechanisms and causes of preterm birth or delivery and on the short- and long-term harmful consequences.
- The second objective is to focus research on innovation and on the development of diagnostic tools and new therapeutic approaches. Dedicated research platforms are used to evaluate new procedures, therapies, devices, and digital solutions. Collaboration with the Research Development Institute (IRD) gives access to cohorts in Africa and the opportunity to test the applicability of FHU PREMA’s innovations to low-income countries.
The dissemination of effective and relevant practices in France and elsewhere is part of the objective to improve the health of premature newborns.
With regard to teaching, FHU PREMA aims to develop teaching programs for professionals and educational tools for the general public. FHU PREMA teams have already developed innovative programs with high-fidelity simulation techniques and MOOC. The objective is now to develop new ways of using communication technologies to disseminate knowledge.
The final goal of FHU PREMA is to become one of the world’s top 5 research and care centers for prematurity within 5 years.