Directory

Kelly Gallagher
PhD, CNM

Assistant Research Professor

University Park

Phone: 814-865-8499

Email: kfg5272@psu.edu

Gallagher is a certified nurse-midwife with nearly two decades of clinical experience supporting women through pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. In addition to her clinical work, she served in hospital leadership roles, helping to guide maternity care quality and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Currently she is part of a multidisciplinary research team developing and innovative AI-driven tool designed to analyze placental images and integrate placental assessment into routine clinical care. Her research interests include maternal nutrition, gestational diabetes mellitus, and women’s health – particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Gallagher’s  work is grounded in a commitment to improving pregnancy outcomes, advancing health equity and bringing research into practice.

Education

• PhD, University of North Dakota
• MS, University of California San Francisco
• BSN, University of Minnesota
• BA, The Evergreen State College

Teaching

Courses Taught

• N835: Doctor of Nursing Practice Project
• N841: Assessment and Evaluation in Nursing Education
• N501: Issues in Nursing and Healthcare
• N200W: Principles of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice
• N494: Honors Thesis (Research)

Clinical Expertise and Areas of Specialization

CERTIFICATIONS:

• American Midwifery Certification Board
• Certified Nurse-Midwife, experienced in Centering Pregnancy. Completed subspecialty training in alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Mentorship

• Multiple DNP students (current and past)
• One current PhD student in nursing
• Special advisor/committee member for two PhD Nutritional Science students (one past, one present)

Research

Research Interests and Areas of Expertise

PRIMARY

• The placenta, maternal nutrition

SECONDARY

• Weight and pregnancy outcomes

Presentations and Conference Involvement

• (2025). AWHONN. The forgotten organ: Placental health, maternal-child outcomes and the promise of PlacentaVision.
• (2023). American Society for Nutrition. The effect of balanced energy protein supplementation provided to lactating women on maternal and infant. outcomes: A prospectively planned IPD meta-analysis.
• (2023). American Society for Nutrition. The relation between pre-pregnancy BMI or race/ethnicity and iron status in US pregnant women: Results for the NHANES (1999-2010).
• (2023). American Society for Nutrition. Measuring plasma volume in women of reproductive age.
• (2021). ACNM 66th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Placental pathology report utilization by clinicians and influences on maternal and neonatal care.

Research

Research Funding and Grants

ONGOING

• AI-driven placental imaging tool to reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes through prediction of neonatal sepsis. Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
  Role: Co-Investigator.
• Development of software to rapidly assess placenta images at birth. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
  Role: Co-Investigator.
• Exploring the impact of glucose values in pregnancy on placental features. CON/CNR. (PI).

COMPLETED

• Maternal nutrition trials harmonization. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  Role: Co-Investigator.
• Optimizing maternal nutrition: Adaptive trials and molecular methods to improve maternal and newborn health. Goerge Washington University/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  Role: Co-Investigator.

Publications and Scholarly Work

• Habashy MR, Moran KM, Gallagher K, Halbruner S. Evaluation of universal screening for substance use risk on a labor and delivery unit in rural Pennsylvania. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2025 Feb 27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2025.01.005
• Pan, Y., Mehta, M., Goldstein, J.A., Ngonzi, J., Bebell, LM., Roberts, D.J., Carreon, C.K., Gallagher, K., Walker, R.E., Gernand, A.D., Wang, J.Z. Cross-modal contrastive learning for unified placenta analysis using photographs. Patterns. 2024 Vol 5(12). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2024.101097
• Goldstein, J.A., Gernand, A.D., Gallagher, K., Shanes, E.D., Bebell, L.M Yee, L.M. Defining appropriate comparator populations for placental pathology for pregnant people with HIV. International Journal of Surgical Pathology. 2024;0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/0668969241295351
• Ciulei, M.A., Gallagher, K., Ba, D.M, Beck, C., Pobee, R.A., Gernand A.D., Walker, R.E. Iron status and anemia in a representative sample of US pregnant women is not associated with pre-pregnancy BMI: results from the NHANES (1999-2010) study. PLoS One 19(9):e0300912. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300912
• Arcot, A., Walker, R.E., Gallagher, K., Klatt, K.C., Gernand, A.D. Maternal vitamin B12 in pregnancy and placental development. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. Vol 2024 (1). https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/3439995
• Pan, Y., Tongan, C., Mehta, M. Gernand, AD, Goldstein, J., Mithal, L., Mwinyelle, D., Gallagher, K., Wang, JZ. Enhancing automatic placenta analysis through distributional feature recomposition in vision-language contrastive learning. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) Volume 14225 LNCS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43987-2_12
• Gallagher K, Aruma JC, Oji-Mmuo CN, Pauli JM, Curtin WM, Goldstein JA, Stuckey HL, Gernand AD. Placental pathology reports: A qualitative study in a US university hospital setting on perceived clinical utility and areas for improvement. PLoS One. 2023 Jun 8;18(6):e0286294. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286294
• Gernand, A.D., Gallagher, K., Bhandari, N…. Maternal BEP Studies Harmonization Initiative. Harmonization of maternal balanced energy-protein supplementation studies for individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses – Finding and creating similarities in variables and data collection. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. Feb 11;23(1):107. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-023-05366-2
• Beck, C., Gallagher, K., Taylor, L.A., Mithal, L.B., Gernand, A.D. Chorioamnionitis and risk for maternal and neonatal sepsis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obstetrics and Gynecology (2021). Vol 137 (6):  1007-1022.
• Taylor, L.A. Gallagher, K., Ott, K.A., Gernand, A.D. How often is the placenta included in human pregnancy research? A rapid systematic review of the literature. [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. Gates Open Research (2021). Mar 3; 5:38.
• Goldstein, J.A.*, Gallagher, K.*, Beck, C., Kumar, R., Gernand A.D. Maternal-fetal inflammation in the placenta and the developmental origins of health and disease [Review]. Frontiers in Immunology (2020). Nov 13; 11:531543 https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.531543

Editorial and Peer Review Roles

• BMC Women’s Health, reviewer
• Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, reviewer
• Scientific Reports, reviewer
• Journal of Perinatology, reviewer

Service

Professional Organization Involvement and Fellowships

• American College of Nurse-Midwives
• PSU Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing
  • DNP admission committee
  • DNP qualitative exam committee

Download Gallagher’s Curriculum Vitae »
Last updated 8/24/2025