Michelle Kelly, PhD
Co-director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment and Associate Professor | M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing | Villanova University
VIllanova, PA, UNITED STATES
Michelle Kelly, PhD, CRNP, is an expert in children's health, neonatal intensive care, and long-term health effects of premature birth.
Spotlight
Areas of Expertise (5)
Children's Health
Neonatal Intensive Care
Nurse Practitioner Education
Pediatrics
Premature Births
Biography
As the survival rate for premature births has increased over the past few decades, new challenges have arisen with managing the potential life-long health problems associated with premature birth. Dr. Michelle Kelly has extensive experience working in neonatal intensive care units and has dedicated much of her research to better understanding the long-term health effects of premature birth. As a pediatric nurse practitioner, she can also speak more generally to her experiences in caring for children and the common maladies that result to a trip to the doctor’s office including concussion, varying illnesses, and injury.
Education (4)
Villanova University: PhD
Thomas Jefferson University: Post-Masters MSN
University of Pennsylvania: MSN
Villanova University: BSN
Select Accomplishments (1)
American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Fellow (professional)
2023 Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.
Affiliations (3)
- President, Pennsylvania Delaware Valley Chapter, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
- Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, The Clinic, Phoenixville, PA
- Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, Alpha Nu, Vice-President
Select Media Appearances (8)
When Do Babies Start Smiling? Everything to Know About This Sweet Social Milestone
Care.com online
2024-07-24
“Physical milestones are those events such as rolling over or crawling that occur when the infant has the muscle coordination or strength to perform the tasks,” explains Michelle M. Kelly, a certified registered pediatric nurse practitioner and associate professor of nursing at Villanova University. On the other hand, social milestones are those associated with interactions and emotions, including behaviors such as smiling, laughing and mimicking facial expressions, she says. Between 6-12 weeks, both physical and social milestones occur which help us understand why this is the time babies start to smile. “The visual acuity of infants improves during this period to allow the infant to recognize caregivers’ faces,” Kelly says. “Emotional development also progresses during this stage. Positive reinforcement from the parent in the form of cuddling, smiling or comforting words and sounds teaches the infant that smiling is good.”
Q&A: What Does an Increase in Preterm Births Mean?
Healio online
2024-02-09
Preterm and early-term birth rates in the United States rose from 2014 to 2022 while rates of late- and post-term births declined, according to a report published this week by the CDC. Specifically, data showed that preterm and early-term birth rates rose by 12% and 20%, respectively, and full- and late-term or post-term births declined by 6% and 28%. We spoke with Michelle M. Kelly, PhD, CRNP, CNE, an associate professor in the Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at and frequent researcher of issues related to preterm birth, about the new report.
States Should Require a Coronavirus Vaccine For Kids to Attend School, Some Experts Say
Newsweek online
2020-08-21
Multiple polls indicated roughly one-third of American adults won't get a coronavirus vaccine if it becomes available. To convey the need to get vaccinated is something that requires public health officials, church and community leaders, school officials, health care providers, advocacy groups and social media influencers, on target, Kelly said. "The health care community in the U.S. has not always done a good job of spreading one message through many voices," Kelly said. " We must do so now."
District Plan Has Most Philly Students in School Twice a Week, Pushes Start to Sept. 2
KYW News Radio radio
2020-07-15
With schools making reopening plans, parents may want to check their children's health records — and their own — to make sure vaccinations are up to date. “We still have parents and the general public who are still afraid to go to primary care offices,” Kelly said. And, she said, “fall means flu.” Adding all these events together could mean a bad flu season this fall, she explained, unless there is a “very large uptick of influenza vaccines across children and adults.” Kelly said all health care providers can set up “catch-up” vaccinations to get kids back on schedule, and adults should also make sure they have all their shots.
Abandoned Baby Investigation
NBC 10 tv
2019-07-31
Abandoned Baby Investigation As the search continues for the parents of the newborn baby who was left on the porch of a Delaware County home, some are calling the state’s Safe Haven laws into question. … Dr. Michelle Kelly is an assistant professor Villanova University’s Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. She believes more awareness of Pennsylvania’s Safe Haven law is necessary.
Vaccines are a Major Public Health Achievement | Opinion
The Philadelphia Inquirer online
2019-04-26
The View cohost Meghan McCain slammed the anti-vaccine movement in a tweet last week: “Dear (anti-vaxxers), your stupidity and arrogance are putting the lives of children in danger!” Her message was a retweet of CNN’s Jake Tapper sharing his segment about an Israeli mother whose 8-month-old baby, too young to receive the vaccine, developed complications from measles and was hospitalized. The mother, Fainy Sukenik, attributed her baby’s measles to an unvaccinated and infected child. In the U.S., as of last Wednesday, we are seeing the most cases of measles for any year since the disease was declared “eliminated” nationally in 2000. Measles is not the only disease that places children at risk when parents forgo routine childhood vaccinations. In lieu of vaccines, too many parents are returning to reckless and irresponsible practices, like chicken pox parties, that should be a thing of the past — a relic of a time when we could not prevent a disease that accounted for 11,000 hospitalizations and 100 deaths per year in the early 1990s, just before introduction of the vaccine. In March, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin went so far as to reveal that he took his nine children to chicken pox parties
Abandoned Infants Could Have Found Safe Havens | Opinion
The Philadelphia Inquirer online
2019-01-16
On Dec. 23, a woman in Manchester, Kentucky was charged with murder for leaving her infant in a trash bag. Five days later, a fire department in Carmel, Indiana installed its first Safe Haven “Baby Box,” a safe place for a parent to surrender an infant. Three days after that, on New Year’s Eve, a 15-year-old girl in Philadelphia discarded her infant in a dumpster. As pediatric health-care providers — one a pediatric nurse practitioner, one a pediatrician — we appeal to the news media, our colleagues, and the greater community to take action to prevent such senseless deaths. The needed mechanisms and laws already exist to protect these infants. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, in fact all 50 states and the District of Columbia have Safe Haven Laws that provide a safe, legal means for surrendering a newborn when the parents finds themselves unable or unwilling to care for the infant. Pennsylvania’s law, known as the Newborn Protection Act, was enacted in response to an infant found abandoned in 2001. Under the Pennsylvania Newborn Protection Act, infants less than 28 days old may be brought to a hospital or given to a police officer at a police station.
Zika Part 2: Nurses Address Questions About the Virus
Nurse.com online
2016-05-27
“We are seeing it across the age span — adults who have planned travel, adults who may or may not be considering starting or adding to their families in the near future,” Michelle M. Kelly, PhD, CRNP, assistant professor at Villanova University and a pediatric and neonatal nurse practitioner, said. “The biggest concern is what this means for themselves and their current or future families.”
Select Academic Articles (8)
Family experiences reported by healthcare worker parents during the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal of Pediatric NursingMichelle M. Kelly, Linda Copel, Janette E. Herbers, Abigail C. Knight, Michelle A. McKay, Amy McKeever, Christine Pariseault
2024
A test of differential susceptibility in behavior trajectories of preterm infants from preschool to adulthood
Research in Nursing & HealthMichelle M. Kelly, Kimberly Arcoleo, Amy L. D'Agata, Mary C. Sullivan
2022
Health and educational implications of prematurity in the United States: National Survey of Children's Health
Journal of the American Association of Nurse PractitionersKelly, MM
2018
Utilization of the Premature Birth Knowledge Scale to Assess Pediatric Provider Knowledge of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes
Journal of Pediatric Health CareKelly MM, Dean S.
2017
National Perspective of Health Outcomes of 8- to 11-Year-Old Children Born Prematurely and Their Full-Term Peers
Journal of Pediatric NursingKelly, MM
2016
Children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease: a population at risk for more than just kidney disease
Nephrology Nursing JournalKelly, MM
2016
Educational Implications of Preterm Birth: A National Sample of 8- to 11-Year-Old Children Born Prematurely and Their Full-Term Peers
Journal of Pediatric Health CareKelly, MM
2015
The school-age child with congenital heart disease
MCN: The American Journal of Maternal Child NursingBoyle, L., Kelly, MM, Reynolds, K et al.
2015
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