Saving Babies: Behind the Doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Offering a rare, behind-the-scenes look into the emotional, medical, and human realities of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, this riveting book captures the moments that define neonatal care—from emergency interventions and sleepless nights to the quiet power of listening carefully to babies and families. Through first-person stories, poignant reflections, and hard-earned physician wisdom about the NICU environment, readers come to understand not only how fragile life can be, but how deeply resilient it is. Written by a seasoned neonatologist with more than three decades of experience, Saving Babies: Behind the Doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit brings to life a world that many parents never expected to enter and, for medical professionals, one they must learn to navigate with both skill and deep compassion.

With chapters on everything from decoding the NICU environment to conversations about loss, hope, and life after discharge, Saving Babies is both a personal memoir and a professional meditation. The work honors the unsung heroes—families, clinicians, and especially the newborns—who inspire us every day.  For parents thrust into the NICU experience, this book serves as a compassionate guide through a tense and unfamiliar landscape. For medical trainees and clinicians at all levels, it is a powerful introduction to the emotional and ethical dimensions of neonatal medicine—grounding clinical care in empathy, humility, and humanity.

This concise title is not only a major contribution to the parenting and pediatric healthcare literature, but also a fascinating and compelling work that allows for easy, absorbing reading. Whether you’re a parent seeking reassurance, a caregiver striving to understand, or a trainee preparing to enter or progress in this field, Saving Babies: Behind the Doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will stay with you long after you leave the NICU.

Tarek Nakhla is a practicing, board-certified, physician specializing in neonatology and working in a NICU in southern New Jersey. He was born in Egypt and moved to the United States in 1990, where he received training and went on to practice. During his 30 years of experience in this field, he has enjoyed the advantage of working in several hospitals and within several units. In the medical field, he has authored and co-authored scientific articles, which are listed in the Marketing Plan section of this proposal. Among the awards he has received are a Fellowship Research Award from the Maimonides Society and Main Line Health (Philadelphia) Top Doc of 2017. On a personal level, he lives with his wife and two sons in New Jersey.

Hallam Hurt is an American neonatologist. She is the medical director of Special Babies Clinic and an attending neonatologist at CHOP Newborn Care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently the Professor in Neonatology Endowed Chair at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hurt received her B.S. in government from Sweet Briar College and her M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Prior to working at CHOP, she was the chair of neonatology at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has received numerous teaching awards, including the McLemore Birdsong Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Virginia, the Albert Einstein Healthcare Foundation Physicians Award for Excellence, and the Maimonides Society Award from the Albert Einstein Medical Center. Her research has been recognized by the Maimonides Society, and she received the J. Stanley and Helene M. Cohen Award in Recognition of Outstanding Research Contributions from the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network.