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Research

Kelley Baumgartel

Baumgartel Human Milk Research Lab

Mission, Vision, Values

Mission: To examine the concept of personalized human milk, wherein infants receive human milk that meets their unique needs while hospitalized. We hope to minimize disease and optimize long-term growth in vulnerable infants.  

Vision: Our vision for healthcare is driven by our passion for precision medicine and health equity. Our conceptual model is informed by the Development Origin of Health and Diseases (DOHad) hypothesis and Hinde’s theory on Lactational Programming of Infant Behavior.  

Values: We aim to understand molecular underpinnings of human milk variability with the intent to one day provide all infants with this life saving care. We support access to donor human milk when maternal milk is unavailable, providing all infants with life-saving treatment. Our focus is on maternal/infant dyads who are being cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. New mothers with a critically ill child face challenges that are unlike the biological norm of having a healthy term infant. One of the major challenges of caring for maternal/infant dyads is to promote human milk feedings which minimize the risk of common infant morbidities, and even death.  

 

Meet the Team

Kelley Baumgartel holding milk

Kelley Baumgartel, PhD, RN -- Principal Investigator/ Lab Director

Dr. Baumgartel is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing. She attended the University of Pennsylvania (BSN) and the University of Pittsburgh (PhD), where she was immersed in human milk and genomics research and received a minor in Healthcare Genetics. Her research interests include molecular mechanisms for human milk compositional variability and whether these differences are clinically relevant. Her goal is to one day provide all infants with human milk that is manipulated, screened, and/or matched to provide personalized needs of critically ill infants. She is currently studying the influence of circadian or diurnal patterns in human milk components that may promote infant sleep.  

Nisha Vijayakumar

Nisha Vijayakumar, BDS, MPH

Nisha is the Graduate Research Assistant in the Baumgartel Human milk Research Lab. She is a doctoral candidate in the school of public health and attended the JSS Dental College and Hospital (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) and the University of South Florida (MPH). She is interested in the impact of environmental contaminants on human milk composition.  

Join our Team

If you would like to join the Baumgartel Human Milk Lab, please send a cover letter outlining your experience and research interests, and your CV/resume to Dr. Baumgartel at kbaumgartel@usf.edu.

  • Agency: The University of South Florida College of Nursing, Dean’s Award
    Title: The Impact of Maternal Sleep on Human Milk Oligosaccharides and the Milk Microbiome
    Role: PI
    Dates: 2021-ongoing

    Agency: The University of Pittsburgh Francis Perkins Kuehn Award
    Title: The Administration of Time-Matched Milk: Infant Sleep Protection and Promotion
    Role: PI
    Dates: 2022-ongoing

    Agency: University of South Florida Microbiome Institute (IGNITE award)
    Title: Rhythmicity of the Human Milk Microbiome among Breast Milk Donors
    Role: PI
    Dates: 10/2022-6/2023

  • Agency: NIH/NINR
    Title: The Sleep Experience of Mothers with Hospitalized Preterm Infants and Subsequent Breast Milk Profiles
    Role: PI
    Dates: 8/2017-7/2018 

    Agency: Association for Womens’ Health Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nursing
    Title: The Sleep Experience Among Mothers with Hospitalized Preterm Infants
    Role: PI
    Dates: 2016-2017 

    Agency: NIH/NINR
    Title: The Sleep Experience of Mothers with Hospitalized Preterm Infants and Subsequent Breast Milk Profiles
    Role: PI
    Dates: 2017-2018 

    Agency: Duquesne University Faculty Development Fund
    Title: Human Milk Metabolites in Daytime versus Nighttime Milk
    Role: PIDates: 5/2018-5/2019

    • Baumgartel: 40 under 40 Award
    • Outstanding Young Alumni, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing
    • Founder and President, Human Milk Science Institute and Biobank (2017) Human Milk Science Institute & Biobank, Pittsburgh
    • Invited Guest, American Academy of Nursing Expert Breastfeeding Panel (2013, 2022)
    • Task Force, Human Milk Banking Association of North American Human Milk Analyzers

  • Baumgartel, K., Stevens, M., Vijayakumar, N., Saint Fleur, A., Prescott, S., Groer M. The Human Milk Metabolome: A Scoping Literature Review, Journal of Human Lactation 39(2):255-277.

    Baumgartel, K., Caplan, E., Glover, C., Louis, J. Schrieber, J. A Feasibility Study to Assess Sleep and Subsequent Breast Milk Volume Among Mothers with Hospitalized Infants. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing. 2023, in press.

    Prescott, S., Dreisbach, C., Baumgartel, K., Koerner, R., Gyamfi, A., Canellas, M., St. Fleur, A., Henderson, W., & Trinchieri, G. Impact of Intrapartum Antibiotic Prophylsaxis on Offspring Microbiota. Fron, Pediatri. 2021, 9:754013.

    Spatz D.L., Baumgartel, K. Not All Donor Milk is Equal: Impact of Processing Methods on Bioactive Compounds. Neonatal Intensive Care. 2021, 34(3):42-45.

    Davis J, Baumgartel K, Morowitz M, Giangrangrasso V, Demirci J. The Role of Human Milk in Decreasing Necrotizing Enterocolitis Through Modulation of the Infant Gut Microbiome: A Scoping Review. J Hum Lact., 2020, 36(4):647-656.

    Wen G, Baumgartel K, Alexander S. The Gut Microbiome as a Component of the Gut-Brain Axis in Cognitive Health. Biol Res Nurs. 2020, 22(4):485-494.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Deem, M. Promoting the Use of Pasteurized Human Donor Milk in the NICU: Benefits, Access, and Parental Choice. Nursing 2019, 49(12):11-13.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Facco, F. An Integrative Review of the Sleep Experiences of Mothers of Hospitalized Preterm Infants. Nursing for Womens Health. 2018 (4):310-326.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Sneeringer, L., Cohen, S.M. From Royal Wet Nurses to Facebook: The Evolution of Milk Sharing. Breastfeeding Rev J. 2016, 24(3):25-32.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Groer, M., Cohen, S.M., Ren, D., Spatz, D.L., Conley, Y.P. Maternal Interleukin Genotypes are Associated with NICU Outcomes Among Low Birthweight Infants. Biological Research for Nursing. 2016 19(1):36-44.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Groer, M., Cohen, S.M., Ren, D., Spatz, D.L., Conley, Y.P. The Impact of Promoter Polymorphisms on cytokine concentration in preterm breast milk and subsequent infant outcomes. Journal of Human Lactation. 2016, 32(3):425-37.

    Baumgartel, K.L., Spatz, D.L., American Academy of Nursing Expert Breastfeeding Panel. WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program of Women, Infants, and Children): Policy versus Practice Regarding Breastfeeding. Nursing Outlook, 2013, 61(6):466-70.

    Baumgartel, K.L. Terhorst, L., Conley, Y.P., & Roberts, J.M. Psychometric evaluation of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale in an obstetric population. Sleep Medicine, 2013, 14(1):116-21.Baumgartel, K.L. & Conley, Y.P. The utility of breast milk in genetic or genomic studies. Breastfeeding Medicine, 2012, 8(3): 249-256.

    Baumgartel, K., Zelazny, J., Timcheck, T., Snyder, C., Bell, M., Conley, Y.P.Molecular Genomics Research Designs, Annual Review of Nursing Research, 2011. Vol. 29. 

    Textbook Chapter:
    Baumgartel, K. & Spatz, D.L. Human Milk in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In Fetal and Nenatal Pharmacology for the Advanced Practice Nurse, 1e.

  • Kelley Baumgartel, PhD, RN
    Assistant Professor
    USF College of Nursing
    12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, MDC 22
    Tampa, FL 33612
    412-523-8731
    kbaumgartel@usf.edu