Featured Researcher: Sarah A. Keim, PhD, MA, MS

Read on to learn more about Dr. Keim’s work and research career.

How/why did you decide to pursue a career in your field? 

I was always interested in biology and became curious about why things in the environment, particularly kids’ environments, affected their health and what we could do to prevent those effects. I wanted to learn more and discovered quickly that that’s a perspective of public health, and that might suit me to pursue that pathway as a career. That led to my interest in epidemiology, which really is the basic science of public health. I wanted to combine epidemiology with understanding environmental exposures – whether those are exposures during fetal development, or in the home or from things like the diet — and use the outcomes effectively to improve kids’ health.

How does your research serve our patients and our community? 

My research involves kids and their families locally, but I also do research involving families across the country. It’s a great combination because we can look at research questions that are very specific to our area, the patients who come here, the families who live here, but also think about how we can apply this nationwide, and vice versa. For instance, one part of my research is leading a series of clinical trials to determine the best nutrition for kids at risk of neurodevelopmental conditions, which is mostly done here locally. It involves large numbers of patients who come to Nationwide Children’s, so we expect those results could be translated into clinical practice at the hospital. We’re also analyzing data and applying it as part of our participation in the ECHO program, Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes, funded by NIH. I’m one of the co-principal investigators of our ECHO project. It’s a great national effort with over 50 sites across the country conducting this big longitudinal study, and we’re the only site in Ohio. We’re enrolling pregnant women here in Columbus, and then the mothers and their children will participate until the kids are 21 years old. We’re going back and forth, translating what we learn in ECHO nationwide, and then bringing it back here and vice versa. It’s special that our community is contributing nationally, and our participants are proud to be nationally represented. Working at multiple levels feels incredibly impactful.

What do you think is the best way to recognize Women’s History Month within the science area? 

One of the best things we can do is recognize women at all career stages and all parts of our research pipeline for their contributions and help them consider the possibilities for their future careers. I devote a lot of time to mentoring scientists in that pipeline, from undergraduate students to postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, all along the way. That pipeline can be bumpy or twisty, and there may be many places where people are at risk of falling out of it. Sometimes women must make tough choices because of life circumstances, or they encounter barriers in their training. I think it’s important to recognize and appreciate how difficult these choices are and how far each individual has had to come. We want to help them explore all possibilities for their future as well. Therefore, Women’s History Month is a good time to pause, reflect, and support women in science.

The interview for this article occurred in March, and this question was written in reflection of Women’s History Month.