Kelly K. Ferguson
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Kelly K. Ferguson | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Michigan School of Public Health |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | NIEHS |
| Thesis | Environmental phthalate exposure, oxidative stress, and preterm birth (2014) |
Kelly K. Ferguson is an American public health researcher who is a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She leads the Perinatal and Early Life Epidemiology Group, which studies how maternal exposure to chemicals impacts pregnancy and development. In 2021, she was awarded the inaugural Lou Guillette Jr. Outstanding Young Investigator Award.
Ferguson earned her Master's of Public Health in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology at the University of Michigan.[citation needed] She stayed in Michigan for her doctoral research, where she studied preterm birth in the United States. Preterm birth contributes to neonatal mortality and children's long-term health conditions.[1] Her research showed that prenatal exposure to phthalates increased the likelihood of preterm birth.[2] She used mass spectrometry to measure phthalate levels in urine samples.[2]
Research and career
Ferguson was appointed to the faculty at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 2015.[citation needed] She studies how exposure to chemicals in common consumer products impacts prenatal development. She has shown that these chemicals can cross placental and blood–brain barriers.[3] She showed that phthalates, plasticizers found in commercial products (e.g. shampoos, soaps) impact birth outcomes.[4] She has studied oxidative stress – imbalances between reactive and antioxidant oxygen species. Exercise can result in elevated levels of oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity describes how people respond to it.[5] Ferguson believes that higher levels of phthalates and emotional stress during pregnancy elevates oxidative stress.[5]
Ferguson has focused on complex mixtures of chemicals that often have different effects than the individual chemicals.[6] To evaluate mixtures of chemicals, Ferguson developed an analytical method called "quantile g-computation,".[7]
