Catherine Mary Healy, MD

Dr. Healy is interested in the clinical practice of pediatric infectious diseases. She is also interested in preventing infections through immunization of all age groups. She is investigating the challenges in preventing severe pertussis in infants. She is examining the challenges in implementing pertussis immunization in pregnancy and targeted immunization strategies such as cocooning. She is also performing studies assessing the efficacy of these strategies in preventing pertussis in young infants. She has completed studies quantifying pertussis-specific antibodies in maternal and infant sera both in mothers who did and did not receive pertussis booster vaccine. In addition, Dr Healy is examining factors that affect parental and provider beliefs and decisions regarding immunization and how these factors influence provider and parental compliance with the recommended immunization schedule. Dr. Healy has investigated invasive straphylococcal infections in the neonatal intensive care unit and the impact of fluconazole prophylaxis on invasive candidiasis in extremely low birth weight neonates.