Kelsey Thompson, PhD, CCC-SLP

RESeARCH SCIENTIST
COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLNESS RESOURCE TEAM

Dr. Kelsey Thompson is a licensed speech language pathologist and Research Scientist with the Community Health and Wellness Resource Team at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Her research centers around supporting caregivers in navigating the introduction to complementary (‘solid’) foods to prevent chronic pediatric feeding disorder. In particular, she has worked with families of infants who were born premature, infants with Down syndrome, as well as infants with other developmental delays, as these groups are at higher likelihood of long-term feeding problems.

To achieve these aims, Dr. Thompson has used qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches with the goal of research grounded in the needs of families and clinicians. She has also investigated feeding guidelines, policies, and the influences of these as well as other resources on family decision making around early childhood feeding. Her current work centers on implementation of feeding resources that support families of children with differing feeding needs and experiences, culturally responsive feeding practices, and different approaches to complementary feeding (e.g., baby led weaning).

In addition to her research, Dr. Thompson is actively involved with Feeding Matters, a non-profit organization advancing care for children with pediatric feeding disorder and their families.  She is a member of the Feeding Flock research group, engaged with abstract review for the pediatric feeding topic area of the American Speech Language Hearing Association, and teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses at various universities.

Dr. Thompson completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Speech Language Pathology at Northeastern University in Boston, MA and her doctorate in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.