Ilhem Messaoudi, PhD

Dr. Messaoudi earned a BS in biochemistry from Lafayette College before pursuing a PhD at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and a postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon Health and Sciences University. She has held faculty positions at OHSU and the University of California before moving to the University of Kentucky. Dr. Messaoudi’s research program is centered on understanding disruptions at the maternal- fetal interface by various conditions including obesity, infection, and opioid use disorder. Her work integrates expertise from maternal-fetal medicine, pathology, immunology, neuroscience, and neonatology, and is supported by major funding from the National Institute of Health. For today’s lecture, Dr. Messaoudi’s laboratory is employing cutting-edge experimental and computational approaches to investigate how maternal opioid use alters the immune environment at the maternal-fetal interface, contributing to complications such as neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and increased risks of neurodevelopmental impairment in children. Her research not only deepens our scientific understanding but also aims to provide actionable insights for clinicians caring for pregnant individuals with substance use disorders.