Katie Kivlighan, CNM

Biography

Katie T. Kivlighan, PhD, RN, CNM is an assistant professor and certified nurse midwife at The University of New Mexico (UNM) College of Nursing. Her research interests focus on developing accessible, non-invasive screening tools and targeted treatments to address suboptimal lactation outcomes. Kivlighan’s doctoral and postdoctoral work focused on salivary biomarkers of stress during pregnancy and early childhood and the implications for fetus, infant, and the mother-child relationship.

Since 2014, Kivlighan has practiced as a certified nurse midwife with the University Midwifery Associates in the UNM Department of OB/GYN, working with both rural and underserved populations. She teaches antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care in the Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) Nurse-Midwifery Concentration. She is also a co-coordinator of the UNM Hospital Volunteer Birth Companion Program, a birth-justice focused program that aims to provide respectful, compassionate, and non-judgmental care to birthing people who may not otherwise be able to access continuous birth support.

Kivlighan earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Biobehavioral Health from The Pennsylvania State University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She earned a Post-Master’s Certificate in Nurse-Midwifery from UNM, a Master’s of Science in the Clinical Nurse Leader Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Biology from the College of the Holy Cross.

Education

Graduate
Clinical Nurse Specialist
2010
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Graduate
Nurse Midwife
2014
University of New Mexico

Certification
American Midwifery Certification Board
2014-05-23

Gender

Female