Alan Flake

Alan Flake is an attending surgeon in the Division of General Thoracic & Fetal Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he is Vice Chair of Research, holds the Ruth and Tristram C. Colket, Jr. Endowed Chair in Pediatric Surgery and acts as Director of the Center for Fetal Research. He is also Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Dr. Flake has led a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research laboratory directed toward surgical correction of fetal anomalies and fetal stem cell and gene therapy for over 20 years. Under Dr. Flake's leadership, the Center for Fetal Research is exploring innovations in prenatal treatment, particularly in the areas of gene and stem cell therapy, and for life-threatening anatomic malformations and diseases. Recently, the Center has developed new technology for physiologic support of the extreme premature infant, a development that could have major implications for the treatment of prematurity.

Dr. Flake has published extensively with authorship of over 350 peer-reviewed publications and over 100 review articles and book chapters. Clinically, Dr. Flake actively participates as a Fetal Surgeon in the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with interests in fetal diagnosis and therapy, in utero stem cell and gene therapy, extracorporeal support of the extreme premature infant (the artificial placenta/uterus), hepatobiliary surgery, and minimally invasive neonatal and pediatric surgery.