Biography

Dr. Kirby is a doctorally-trained human geographer with extensive training and experience in public health practice, academic medicine, and academic public health. From 1981 to 1991, Dr. Kirby worked as a health statistician, focusing on maternal and child health in two state public health agencies, Wisconsin and Arkansas. From 1989-2002, he was a professor in two medical schools, The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Milwaukee Clinical Campus, University of Wisconsin Medical School, rising from the rank of instructor to professor during the period. From 2002-2008, Dr. Kirby was professor and vice chair of the Department of Maternal and Child Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Joining the USF faculty in 2008, Dr. Kirby is the Marrell Endowed Chair at the College of Public Health, with a joint appointments in several departments in the College of Medicine. While his research interests in maternal and child health are quite broad, he focuses on population-based research in birth defects and developmental disabilities epidemiology and prevention, as well as on risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Scholarly Activity and Interests

• Epidemiology and prevention of birth defects and developmental disabilities (e.g. syndrome, cerebral palsy, autistic spectrum disorders)
• Population-based research focused on risk and protective factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes
• Application of geographic information systems and spatial analysis in maternal and child health
• Population health informatics, record linkage and data integration

Research Funding

Dr. Kirby serves as principal investigator on several contracts through the Florida Department of Public Health for birth defects surveillance and prevention, and collaborates in national and international networks on birth defects and developmental disabilities epidemiology, perinatal outcomes of women receiving assisted reproductive technology, and international migration and pregnancy outcomes.