Katherine P Himes, MD, MS

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Katherine P Himes, MD, MS

Assistant Professor, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences

Contact

UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
300 Halket Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Phone: 412-641-4874
Email: himekp@upmc.edu

Administrative Contact
Denise Chizmar
Email: chizmardl@upmc.edu

Area of Research

Pregnancy & Newborn Medicine

Education

BA, History, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Post Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA

MD, Harvard University, Boston, MA

Residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital

Masters of Science in Clinical Research, University of Pittsburgh

Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital

Research in Brief

Dr. Himes graduated from Yale University in 1995 with a degree in History and received her MD from Harvard University in 2002. She completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Magee-Womens Hospital in 2006 and 2009. While in fellowship, she also completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Research. After fellowship, she was awarded a NIH career development award (K12). The objective of this award was to interrogate the role of genomic imprinting in placental metabolic function and fetal growth. Since completing her K12 award, Dr. Himes has focused on clinically and translationally oriented research.

The primary focus of Dr. Himes’ clinical research is to improve counseling and decision making for women at high risk for obstetrical complications. She is currently developing a decision support tool to improve counseling and decision making by families facing periviable birth. This work involves both qualitative and quantitative studies of decision making at the cusp of neonatal viability. She is also engaged in research aimed at defining optimal fetal growth for multiple gestations, incorporating both short and long-term outcomes. Finally, Dr. Himes is a Co-Investigator on two NIH funded cohort studies to inform optimal gestational weight gain for singleton and multiple gestations.

Selected Publications

Himes KP, Simhan HN. Time from cervical conization to pregnancy and preterm birth.
Obstetrics and Gynecology 2007; 109(2 Pt1): 314-9.
Himes KP, Simhan HN. Risk of recurrent preterm birth and placental pathology, Obstetrics and Gynecology 2008; 112(1): 121-126.
Himes KP, Simhan HN. Plasma Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone and Cortisol Concentrations and Perceived Stress among Pregnant Women with Preterm and Term Birth. American Journal of Perinatology 2010;28(6):443-8.
Himes KP, Handley D, Chu T, Burke B, Bunce K, Simhan HN, Peters DG. Comprehensive analysis of the transcriptional response of human decidual cells to lipopolysaccharide stimulation. J Reprod Immunol. 2012; 93(1): 17-27.
Himes, KP, Koppes E, Chaillet JR. Generalized disruption of inherited genomic imprints leads to wide-ranging placental defects and dysregulated fetal growth. Dev Biol. 2013; 373(1): 72-82.
Bodnar LM, Pugh SJ, Abrams B, Himes KP, Hutcheon JA. Gestational weight gain in twin pregnancies and maternal and child health: a systematic review. J Perinatol. 2014; 34(4): 252-63.
Schummers L, Hutcheon JA, Bodnar LM, Lieberman E, Himes KP. Risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes by prepregnancy body mass index: a population based cohort study to inform prepregnancy weight loss counseling. Obstet Gynecol. 2015;125(1):133-43.
Himes KP, Young A, Koppes E, Stolz D, Barak Y, Sadovsky Y, Chaillet JR. Loss of inherited genomic imprints in mice leads to severe disruption in placental lipid metabolism. Placenta. 2015; 36(4): 389-96.
Shivkumar S, Himes KP, Hutcheon JA, Platt RW. An ultrasound-based fetal weight reference for twins. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2015; 213(2): 224.
Koppes, E, Himes KP, Chaillet JR. Partial loss of genomic imprinting reveals important roles for Kcnq1 and Peg10 imprinted domains in placental development. PLoS One. 2015; 10(8): epub.

For additional publications, visit Pubmed.