Dr. Baack is a Professor and the Chair of Pediatrics at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and an Associate Scientist in the Environmental Influences on Health and Disease Group at Sanford Research. She received a BS in Pharmacy from South Dakota State University and an MD from USD SSOM. After a Pediatric Residency at Creighton – UNMC, she was a rural pediatrician for 10 years before returning to a Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine fellowship at the University of Iowa in 2008. There she developed a passion for research in fetal and neonatal nutrition and the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). In 2011, Dr. Baack joined Sanford Research where she leads basic, translational and clinical research. Her lab uses rat and cell models to understand the role of nutrition, metabolism and mitochondria in the developmental susceptibility to cardiometabolic disease. They also use placenta, umbilical cord blood, and tissue to derive human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and cytotrophoblasts which serve as translational models to predict disease risk and understand molecular mechanisms in high-risk populations. The overarching goal of the Baack Lab is to discover well-timed and clinically feasible interventions that improve reproductive and life-long metabolic health for not only one generation, but subsequent generations. In addition to basic research, Dr. Baack also leads clinical trials for NICHD's Neonatal Research Network as Sanford's site PI