Appointment(s):

Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics
Policy Fellow, Institute of Public Health Research and Policy

College(s): Public Health and Medicine

Without early prenatal care, it was impossible to tell if a low-birth weight newborn was premature or full term. Or it was until Kelli Ryckman and colleagues found a reliable metabolic profile for estimating an infant’s gestational age using only a drop of blood. With almost a million dollars in funding from the Gates Foundation and the University of California, San Francisco Preterm Birth Initiative, Ryckman and a team of national and international researchers are conducting a metabolic-testing trial on 800 newborns in Uganda and Malawi to identify and ultimately prevent preterm birth. Ryckman is also currently serving as the 2016 – 2017 State Hygienic Laboratory Environmental and Public Health Ambassador.

Banner location: not on display—Old Capitol Town Center, 201 S. Clinton St.