Daniel J. Licht, BA, M.D.

Child neurologist

Daniel J. Licht, BA, M.D., is a child neurologist who specializes in the care of infants and children with critical illness who joined the Prenatal Pediatrics Institute (PPI) at Children’s National in July 2023. Specifically, Dr. Licht is an expert in the risks for brain injury in infants diagnosed with severe congenital heart defects who require surgery in the first weeks of life. His research has led to changes in the timing of surgery and exploration of how the fetal environment affects these infants’ long-term brain development. Currently, Dr. Licht’s research is to develop instruments that use light to probe brain blood flow and oxygen demand.

Dr. Licht got his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at New York University and his medicine degree at New Jersey Medical School. His internship and residencies were completed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where Dr. Licht was an attending neurology consultant to CHOP’s Neurology intensive care unit, Neuro-Cardiac Care Program and Fetal Neurology Program prior to joining PPI.

View Publications

Address: 111 Michigan Ave NW, Washington, DC 20010

Email: fetalbrain@childrensnational.org

Department: MRI Lab

Recent Publications & Presentations

2023 Shaw K, Mavroudis CD, Ko TS, Jahnavi J, Jacobwitz M, Ranieri N, Forti RM, Melchior RW, Baker WB, Yodh AG, Licht DJ, Nicolson SC, Lynch JM. The use of novel diffuse optical spectroscopies for improved neuromonitoring during neonatal cardiac surgery requiring antegrade cerebral perfusion. Front Pediatr. 2023 Jun 23;11:1125985. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1125985. PMID: 37425272; PMCID: PMC10327557. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37425272/
2023 Forti RM, Hobson LJ, Benson EJ, Ko TS, Ranieri NR, Laurent G, Weeks MK, Widmann NJ, Morton S, Davis AM, Sueishi T, Lin Y, Wulwick KS, Fagan N, Shin SS, Kao SH, Licht DJ, White BR, Kilbaugh TJ, Yodh AG, Baker WB. Non-invasive diffuse optical monitoring of cerebral physiology in an adult swine-model of impact traumatic brain injury. Biomed Opt Express. 2023 May 2;14(6):2432-2448. doi: 10.1364/BOE.486363. PMID: 37342705; PMCID: PMC10278631. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37342705/
2023 Licht DJ. Qp:Qs, Should It Really Be Qp:Qbrain? J Pediatr. 2023 Jul;258:113413. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113413. Epub 2023 Apr 6. PMID: 37028753. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37028753/
2023 Licht DJ, Jacobwitz M, Lynch JM, Ko T, Boorady T, Devarajan M, Heye KN, Mensah-Brown K, Newland JJ, Schmidt A, Schwab P, Winters M, Nicolson SC, Montenegro LM, Fuller S, Mascio C, Gaynor JW, Yodh AG, Gebb J, Vossough A, Choi GH, Putt ME. Impaired Maternal-Fetal Environment and Risk for Preoperative Focal White Matter Injury in Neonates With Complex Congenital Heart Disease. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Apr 4;12(7):e025516. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.025516. Epub 2023 Mar 28. PMID: 36974759; PMCID: PMC10122900 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36974759/
2023 Licht DJ. Life at all cost?! What life? What cost? Resuscitation. 2023 Mar;184:109706. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109706. Epub 2023 Jan 27. PMID: 36717054 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36717054/
2022 Gaynor JW, Burnham NB, Ittenbach RF, Gerdes M, Bernbaum JC, Zackai E, Licht DJ, Russell WW, Zullo EE, Miller T, Hakonarson H, Clarke KA, Jarvik GP, Calafat AM, Bradman A, Bellinger DC, Henretig FM, Coker ES. Childhood exposures to environmental chemicals and neurodevelopmental outcomes in congenital heart disease. PLoS One. 2022 Nov 17;17(11):e0277611. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277611. PMID: 36395323; PMCID: PMC9671412 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36395323/
2022 Meyers B, Lee VK, Dennis L, Wallace J, Schmithorst V, Votava-Smith JK, Rajagopalan V, Herrup E, Baust T, Tran NN, Hunter J, Licht DJ, Gaynor JW, Andropoulos DB, Panigrahy A, Ceschin R. Harmonization of Multi-Center Diffusion Tensor Tractography in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: Optimizing Post-Processing and Application of ComBat. Neuroimage Rep. 2022 Sep;2(3):100114. doi: 10.1016/j.ynirp.2022.100114. Epub 2022 Jun 20. PMID: 36258783; PMCID: PMC9575513. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36258783/
2022 Ayaz H, Baker WB, Blaney G, Boas DA, Bortfeld H, Brady K, Brake J, Brigadoi S, Buckley EM, Carp SA, Cooper RJ, Cowdrick KR, Culver JP, Dan I, Dehghani H, Devor A, Durduran T, Eggebrecht AT, Emberson LL, Fang Q, Fantini S, Franceschini MA, Fischer JB, Gervain J, Hirsch J, Hong KS, Horstmeyer R, Kainerstorfer JM, Ko TS, Licht DJ, Liebert A, Luke R, Lynch JM, Mesquida J, Mesquita RC, Naseer N, Novi SL, Orihuela-Espina F, O'Sullivan TD, Peterka DS, Pifferi A, Pollonini L, Sassaroli A, Sato JR, Scholkmann F, Spinelli L, Srinivasan VJ, St Lawrence K, Tachtsidis I, Tong Y, Torricelli A, Urner T, Wabnitz H, Wolf M, Wolf U, Xu S, Yang C, Yodh AG, Yücel MA, Zhou W. Optical imaging and spectroscopy for the study of the human brain: status report. Neurophotonics. 2022 Aug;9(Suppl 2):S24001. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.9.S2.S24001. Epub 2022 Aug 30. PMID: 36052058; PMCID: PMC9424749 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36052058/
2022 Lafontant A, Mahanna Gabrielli E, Bergonzi K, Forti RM, Ko TS, Shah RM, Arkles JS, Licht DJ, Yodh AG, Kofke WA, White BR, Baker WB. Comparison of optical measurements of critical closing pressure acquired before and during induced ventricular arrhythmia in adults. Neurophotonics. 2022 Jul;9(3):035004. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.9.3.035004. Epub 2022 Aug 25. PMID: 36039170; PMCID: PMC9407009 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36039170/
2022 Ko TS, Mavroudis CD, Benson EJ, Forti RM, Melchior RW, Boorady TW, Morano VC, Mensah-Brown K, Lin Y, Aronowitz D, Starr JP, Rosenthal TM, Shade BC, Schiavo KL, White BR, Lynch JM, Gaynor JW, Licht DJ, Yodh AG, Baker WB, Kilbaugh TJ. Correlation of Cerebral Microdialysis with Non-Invasive Diffuse Optical Cerebral Hemodynamic Monitoring during Deep Hypothermic Cardiopulmonary Bypass. Metabolites. 2022 Aug 10;12(8):737. doi: 10.3390/metabo12080737. PMID: 36005609; PMCID: PMC9416552 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36005609/