Assistant Professor
Department
Department of Health Behavior and Clinical Sciences
University Affilliations
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Department of Nutritional Sciences
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Contact
University of Michigan School of Nursing
400 North Ingalls Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5482
Olivia Halabicky is accepting new PhD students.
In the News
Feb 8, 2024: National Geographic "This is what you need to know about lead and your health"
Interests
Environmental exposures
Child health and development
Global health equity
Cardiometabolic health and biological stress
Longitudinal cohort studies
Academic nurse and student mentorship
Dr. Halabicky is a children’s environmental health nurse scientist who studies early life environmental and social determinants of health and human development. Her research focuses on how inequitable exposures in the global sphere (e.g., toxicants, adversity, nutrition) at sensitive periods shape 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.
Current Research Grants and Programs
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R00 ES036294). The joint effects of early life lead exposure, and psychosocial co-exposures, on physiological stress and cardiometabolic health across the life course. Role: PI.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R21 ES036682). Early life toxicant and psychosocial adversity co-exposure on adolescent and young adult mental health. Role: MPI
National Institute of Nursing Research (2L30 NR020943). The role of early life toxicant and psychosocial exposures on young adult cardiometabolic health. Role: PI.
Teaching
Dr. Halabicky has formal teaching and mentorship experience in both the Schools of Nursing and Public Health. She has delivered a number of guest lectures in undergraduate (NURS 496) and graduate courses (NURS 589, 596) on topics related to environmental toxicant and adversity exposure and their impacts on child health and development and instructed a graduate course in the School of Public Health focused on community programming and evaluation (PUBHLTH 511). Currently, she teaches in the undergraduate program (NURS 233). She works to ensure that students are well-prepared to thrive in interdisciplinary environments. In her roles as an instructor or guest lecturer, she leverages her clinical experience as a pediatric nurse and her scholarly work in public health to cultivate skills within the classroom environment.
Affilliations/Service
Member, Center for Global Health Equity, University of Michigan, 2024 - present
Member, International Society for Children’s Health in the Environment, 2023 – present; (Board Member 2026-2028)
Member, Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research, 2022 - 2024
Member, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, 2020 - present
Member, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, 2020 - present
Member, Society for Research in Child Development, 2019 - present
Member, Midwest Nursing Research Society, 2015 - present; (Chair of Engagement Committee, 2025-2027; Chair of Emerging Scholars Network, 2023-2025; Chair of Population Health RIIG 2024-2025; Member DEI Taskforce 2024)
Member, Sigma Theta Tau International, 2014 - present; (Theta Chi Chapter 2014-2022; Rho Chapter 2022 - present)
Notable Awards/Honors
Leadership Academy Fellow, Midwest Nursing Research Society, 2026-2027
Scholar, Michigan Program for Advancing Cultural Transformation (M-PACT), University of Michigan, 2024
Center Scientist, Michigan Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease (M-LEEaD) Center, 2024-2025
Award, Rising Star, Rho Chapter Sigma Theta Tau International, 2023
Fellow, Early Career Interdisciplinary Scholars, Society for Research in Child Development, 2023
Future of Nursing Scholar, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2018-2021
Award, Young Alumni, Saginaw Valley State University, 2018
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 2024
PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 2021
MSc, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin Ireland 2018
BSN, Saginaw Valley State University, Saginaw, MI 2015
Publications Highlights
Halabicky, O.M. (2026) Nursing science and environmental determinants of health: A call for environmental health nurse scientists and educators. Nursing Research, 75(2), 83-87. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000871
Halabicky, O.M. & Porat-Dahlerbruch, J. (2026). What we know—and need to know—about nursing PhD program components and influences on the PhD–Faculty Pipeline: A scoping review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, special edition: Doctoral Nursing Education, 82(5), 4134-4152. doi: 10.1111/jan.70506. PMID: 41618500.
Halabicky, O.M., Cui, N., & Liu, J. (2025). Impact of early adolescent lead exposure on brain function and response: Findings from a Chinese cohort. Neurotoxicology, 110, 23-30. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2025.06.007
Halabicky, O.M., Scott, P.W., Carpio, J., & Porat-Dahlerbruch, J. (2024). Examining observed and forecasted nursing PhD enrollment and graduation trends in the United States: Implications for the profession. Journal of Professional Nursing, 55, 81-89. doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.09.006
Yuan, A., Halabicky, O.M., & Liu, J. (2024). Association between air pollution exposure and brain cortical thickness throughout the lifespan: A systematic review. Neuroscience, 559, 209-219. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.08.040. PMID: 39236801
Dai, Y., Halabicky, O.M., Ji, X., & Liu, J. (2024). Childhood lead exposure and sleep problems in adolescents: A longitudinal cohort study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 97(9), 959-970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-024-02099-3
Halabicky, O.M., Giang, C., Miller, A.L., & Peterson, K.E. (2024). Lead exposure, glucocorticoids, and physiological stress across the life course: A systematic review. Environmental Pollution, 345, 123329. doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123329
Halabicky, O.M., Téllez-Rojo, M.M., Goodrich, J.M., Dolinoy, D.C., Mercado-García, A., Hu, H., & Peterson, K.E. (2024). Prenatal and childhood lead exposure is prospectively associated with biological markers of aging in adolescence. Science of the Total Environment, 913, 169757. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169757
Halabicky, O.M., Téllez-Rojo, M.M., Miller, A.L., Goodrich, J.M., Dolinoy, D.C., Hu, J., & Peterson, K.E. (2023). Associations of prenatal and childhood Pb exposure with allostatic load in adolescence: Findings from the ELEMENT cohort study. Environmental Research, 235, 116647. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116647
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., Cantoral, A. Desai, G., Halabicky, O.M., Signes-Pastor, A., Téllez-Rojo, M.M., Peterson, K., & Karagus, 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, J.A., Compton, P., & Liu, J. (2022) Low level lead exposure in early childhood and parental education on adolescent IQ and working memory: A cohort study. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 33(2), 168–176. doi.org/10.1038/s41370-022-00450-9
Halabicky, O.M., Pinto-Martin, J.A., 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/26896583.2022.2060689
Halabicky, O.M., Pinto-Martin, J.A., Compton, P., & Liu, J. (2022). Early childhood lead exposure and adolescent heart rate variability: A longitudinal cohort study. Environmental Research, 205, 112551. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112551
Porat-Dahlerbruch, J., Halabicky, O.M., Lamoureux, J., Flores, D., & Hodgson, N. (2021). Implementation and preliminary evaluation of a nursing PhD Constellation Mentorship Model. Nursing Outlook, 69(6), 1090-1110. doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.05.013