Penn Postdocs in the News: Elizabeth Kennedy, Ph.D., awarded Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
Penn Postdoctoral Fellow Elizabeth Kennedy receives Hartwell Foundation Fellowship for research on pregnancy and early-life health
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Elizabeth Kennedy, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, has been selected for a Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Kennedy conducts research in the laboratory of Kellie Ann Jurado, Ph.D., investigating neuroimmune interactions during pregnancy and their implications for fetal and neonatal health.
Dr. Kennedy joined the Jurado Lab in January 2023. Her Hartwell-supported research investigates how the peripheral nervous and immune systems communicate within the uterus and cervix during pregnancy, including how these interactions may contribute to healthy fetal development and the initiation of labor.
Her project addresses an important and comparatively understudied dimension of reproductive biology. By examining how nerves and immune cells interact throughout pregnancy, Dr. Kennedy’s work seeks to provide foundational knowledge that could ultimately inform new approaches to preterm birth and other adverse pregnancy outcomes affecting childhood health.
Dr. Kennedy earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Washington University in St. Louis in 2022, where her doctoral research with Megan Baldridge, M.D., Ph.D., examined norovirus infection, early-life immunity, and interactions between viruses and the gut microbiota. She earned her B.S. in Microbiology, summa cum laude, from Cornell University after earning an A.S. in Chemistry from Monroe Community College. Before graduate school, she also conducted postbaccalaureate research at the National Institutes of Health on the infant skin microbiome and atopic dermatitis.
The Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship provides two years of support to promising early-career biomedical researchers. Dr. Kennedy was one of two Penn postdoctoral researchers selected for the fellowship, alongside Nikhila Shree Tanneti, Ph.D.
We are proud to celebrate Dr. Kennedy and her innovative research aimed at improving our understanding of pregnancy, early-life development, and children’s health.