About

Kelsie D. Kelly, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia's School of Medicine. Her research focuses on examining health disparities among minority populations in urban and rural communities, utilizing qualitative approaches to develop tools and interventions in partnership with community members. Dr. Kelly's work includes exploring the impacts of racism, stress, and trauma in public housing residents through community-based participatory research (CBPR), as well as implementing health education programs in underserved communities. She is also the Director of the Pathways Scholars Program, which recruits minority students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Virginia. Her expertise encompasses health behavior and health education, sexual health education, and culturally respectful research methods in community and global health. Dr. Kelly teaches methodology courses, advises MPH students, and conducts research that highlights the lived experiences of minority populations concerning culture, housing, and health disparities.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Demography
• Sociology
• Environmental health
• Psychology

Selected publications

• US-Born Black Women and Black Immigrant Women: an Exploration of Disparities in Health Care and Sociodemographic Factors Related to Low Birth Weight

  Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · 2022-11-30 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Exploring perceptions of stress factors among transnational West African immigrant women

  SN Social Sciences · 2020-11-09 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• It’s Not What You Say, It’s What You Do: A CBPR Approach Using Qualitative Interviews

  2020-01-01

  bookSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Prevalence and Correlates of Tobacco Smoking During the Perinatal Period Among Women Enrolled in a Midwestern WIC Program

  Community Mental Health Journal · 2020-01-02 · 5 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Type 2 Diabetes Prevalence, Distribution and Risk Factors in St. Kitts and Nevis, West Indies

  International Journal of Diabetes and Clinical Research · 2019-11-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVES: This study in collaboration with the St. Kitts & Nevis Ministry of Health (MOH) investigated the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and its risk factors, the second leading cause of death in the country. METHODS: Medical records of patients between the ages of 18 and 75 as of January 1, 2010 treated between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2015 in the government-funded health centers (HCs) were eligible for inclusion (N = 2737). All HC visits (n = 4169) generated by a representative sample of patients (n = 761) were evaluated using Caribbean Public Health Association Public Health Association (CARPHA) guidelines for risk ranges. RESULTS: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is 23% and is concentrated in the 45-64 year-old cohort. Though women outnumber men 3:1 in the sample, gender-prevalence rates are similar (23% and 22% respectively). There is also evidence that comorbidities are prevalent among diabetics (76%) and many nondiabetics are at risk of diabetes (20%). CONCLUSION: This study confirmed the MOH's concerns that type 2 diabetes presents local risk and brings into question historic assumptions that women are at greater risk of diabetes than men.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Swimming Upstream: The Need to Resolve Inconsistency in the FDA's Fishy Regulatory Scheme

  Journal of law and policy · 2018-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The citizens of the United States rely on the federal government to maintain the safety of their food through effective regulation. As the technology used to develop food has advanced, the outermost limits of the current regulatory framework are being tested. The result has been a circuitous and ineffective attempt to regulate transgenic organisms, intended for human consumption, using multiple agencies and a patchwork of laws. The ability to incorporate DNA from nearly any organism into the genome of another provides immense potential for innovative new food products, but may also allow for unintended health and environmental consequences. Proper regulation of genetically engineered organisms is necessary in order to safely and effectively utilize biotechnology to benefit the American people.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Kelechi Ibe-Lamberts

  University of Illinois Chicago

  3 shared

• Jeanita W. Richardson

  2 shared

• Hsiang Huang

  Huangshan University

  2 shared

• Syed Abbas Mehdi

  NorthShore University HealthSystem

  1 shared

• Trina Kumodzi

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  1 shared

• Anuoluwapo Osideko

  1 shared

• Yang Wang

  Geological Exploration Institute of Shandong Zhengyuan

  1 shared

• Nicole Slack Liburd

  World Health Organization Regional Office for the Americas

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Agriculture Safety and Health Traineeship Fellow, UIUC NIHLB…