Elisha M. Wachman, MD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Wachman is a Professor of Pediatrics at the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and attending neonatologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC). She is currently the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics at BMC and the Co-Director of Workforce Development for the BU CTSI. She is an internationally recognized clinical and translational researcher with expertise in neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) and substance use disorders in pregnancy. Her specific research interests include the genetics and epigenetics of NOWS, treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy, and the use of non-pharmacologic care methods to improve NOWS outcomes. She is currently the principal investigator on multiple NIH studies examining opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy, genetic markers, placental biomarkers, and long-term maternal and infant outcomes. She also leads several other NIH and foundation funded studies involving pregnant individuals with OUD / infants with NOWS. Dr. Wachman is one of the Multi-PIs of the BU BIRCWH (Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women's health) K12 Program, the BU Women's Health Research Affinity Research Collaborative (ARC), and co-leads of the Massachusetts Perinatal Neonatal Quality Improvement Network Perinatal Opioid Project (PNQIN POP). Dr. Wachman is also a facilitator of the BU Medical Campus Mid-Career Faculty Leadership Program.

Publications

  • Published 2/10/2026

    Herning A, Turcu R, Bleiler C, Slater C, Froman A, Mannan J, Wachman EM. Correlation of NICU Withdrawal Assessment Scale with the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring Tool in a Cohort of Critically Ill Infants with Opioid Withdrawal. Am J Perinatol. 2026 Feb 10. PMID: 41610874.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/14/2026

    Dorsey AN, Rasmussen SA, Cragan JD, Kim SY, Sanjuan PM, Wright T, Williams C, Woodworth K, Smid MC, Terplan M, Seligman NS, Thomas SA, O'Connor TG, Wachman E, Leeman LM, Henninger ML, Benninger KL, Rood KM, Shakib JH, Davidson A, Board A. Descriptive Exploration of Features Among Infants With Prenatal Fentanyl Exposure in a Multisite Cohort of Maternal-Infant Dyads Affected by Opioid Use Disorder. J Addict Med. 2026 Jan 14. PMID: 41530901.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/1/2025

    Thomas SA, Board A, Pabst L, Dorsey A, Deputy NP, Terplan M, Kariisa M, Chen MH, Wachman EM, Wright TG, Smid M, O'Connor TG, Sanjuan PM, Ko H, Seligman NS, Shakib JH, Benninger KL, Rood KM, Chaphalkar C, Henninger ML, Davidson A, Kim SY. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in the MATernaL and Infant clinical NetworK. Hosp Pediatr. 2025 Dec 01; 15(12):e591-e593. PMID: 41224120.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/1/2025

    Ouyang L, Gupta M, Cox S, Barfield W, Ko JY, Pollack L, Chen J, Riehle-Colarusso T, Wachman EM, Diop H. Population-Level Changes in Infant Outcomes Associated With State "Eat Sleep Console" Initiative. Hosp Pediatr. 2025 Aug 01; 15(8):e371-e376. PMID: 40721219.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/15/2025

    Wingfield KK, Misic T, Miracle SA, McDermott CS, Jain K, Abney NM, Richardson KT, Rubman MB, Beierle JA, Wachman EM, Bryant CD. The acoustic properties, syllable structure, and syllable sequences of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during neonatal opioid withdrawal in FVB/N mouse substrains. Addict Neurosci. 2025 Sep; 16. PMID: 40948693.

    Read at: PubMed

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Other Positions

  • Co-Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • Boston University School of Medicine, MD
  • Georgetown University, BS

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