Faculty Profile

Olivia Halabicky

Olivia Halabicky, M.Sc., PhD

  • Postdoctoral Fellow with Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT)
  • Lecturer of Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Halabicky is a children’s environmental health nurse researcher who studies early life exposures and human development. Her research focuses on how environmental exposures (e.g., toxicants, adversity, nutrition) at sensitive periods shape neurodevelopment and health trajectories and influence health disparities, as well as physiological mechanisms that may mediate these effects. She employs methods from a variety of disciplines including nursing, environmental and social epidemiology, and developmental sciences. Dr. Halabicky conducts her research mostly within the ELEMENT cohort, a Mexican birth cohort that has been followed for over 30 years.

  • PhD, Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, 2021
  • M.Sc., Nursing, Child Health and Wellbeing, Trinity College Dublin, 2018
  • BSN, Saginaw Valley State University, 2015

Halabicky, O.M., Téllez-Rojo, M.M., Goodrich, J.M., Dolinoy, D.C., Miller, A.L., Mercado-García, A., Torres-Olascoaga, L.A., Hu, H., Peterson, K.E. (2023). Early life lead exposure and adolescent allostatic load: Findings from a Mexican cohort study. Environmental Research, 235, 116647. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116647

Halabicky, O.M. (2022). Childhood lead exposure: Ongoing exposures and health disparities. Workplace Health and Safety, 71(2), 96. doi.org/10.1177/21650799221138216

Halabicky, O.M., Ji, X., Gur, R.E., Gur, R.C., Yan, C., Chen, A., Liu, J. (2022) Childhood lead exposure and sex-based neurobehavioral functioning in adolescence. Neurotoxicology, 93, 1–8. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2022.08.008

Kordas, K., Desai, G., Cantoral, A., Halabicky, O.M., Signes-Pastor, A., Karagus, M., Peterson, K., Téllez-Rojo, M.M. (2022). Dietary exposure to toxic elements and the health of young children: Methodological considerations and data needs. The Journal of Nutrition, 152(11), 2572–2581. doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxac185

Halabicky, O.M., Pinto-Martin, JA, Compton, P, Liu, J. (2022) Longitudinal association of early childhood lead exposure and adolescent heart rate variability: Influence of parental education. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, 40(2), 133–153. doi:10.1080/26896583.2022.2060689

Areas of Expertise: Nutrition