Kelsey Sullivan, MD

Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Division of Newborn Medicine and co-director of Neonatal Neurocritical Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. In this role, she is involved in multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental and neurocritical care initiatives across both institutions, with a focus on the diagnosis, management, and long-term outcomes of newborns with neurological conditions. Sullivan earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating summa cum laude with honors and membership in the Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Delta Phi honor societies, from the University of Vermont in Burlington, where she completed a major in French.

She received her medical degree from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Sullivan completed her pediatric residency at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, where she was recognized with the Pediatric Resident Teaching Award, and went on to complete a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Virginia Health Systems in Charlottesville. During her fellowship, she also completed a certificate in medical statistics through Stanford University and a certificate in clinical pediatric palliative care through the California State University Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care. Sullivan was honored with the Kendig Research Award from the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital in 2024. Sullivan’s clinical and research interests are centered on improving outcomes for the most vulnerable newborns, with particular focus on neurocritical and neurodevelopmental care in the NICU. She serves as principal investigator on a Scaife Foundation–funded study tracking the impact of emerging illicit substances on exposed newborns and as co-investigator on multiple clinical trials in the Magee NICU.

Sullivan is an active member of the Children’s Hospital Neonatal Consortium’s Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Focus Group, contributing to multi-center research on therapeutic hypothermia in preterm and term infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. She has published peer-reviewed research in journals including the American Journal of Perinatology, Early Human Development, and Hospital Pediatrics, and she is an active contributor to national collaborative research advancing neonatal neurology and brain health.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

• American Medical Association: Medical Student Section, 2015 - 2018
• American Academy of Pediatrics, 2018 - Present
• Society for Pediatric Research Junion Section, 2023 - Present
• Children's Hospital Neonatal Consortium, 2024 - Present
• Newborn Brain Society, 2025 - Present