Amy D’Agata, PhD, RN

  • Associate Professor
  • College of Nursing
  • Phone: 401.874.9703
  • Email: amydagata@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Nursing Education Center, 350 Eddy St., Providence, RI 02903

Biography

Dr. Amy D’Agata’s scholarship is focused on the use of mechanistic strategies to study the developmental origins of health and disease for those born preterm. Understanding how early life exposures influence biological mechanisms across the lifecourse, creates opportunities to optimize health at multiple life stages. Her clinical work in the neonatal intensive care underpins her program of research, and informed coining the term Infant Medical Trauma in the NICU. 

Prior to assuming her faculty role, Dr. D’Agata completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of South Florida, mentored by Dr. Maureen Groer. Her postdoctoral work was focused on understanding the developing preterm infant gut microbiome from birth through 4 years of age. She has also quantified NICU stressors and investigated how early life NICU stress influences cortisol reactivity, gut microbiome signatures and gene x environment interaction with neurobehavior. Currently, she is a Co-Investigator on the only longitudinal U.S. study of adults born preterm. This NIH funded R01 study is investigating the adult effects of preterm birth on cardiovascular health and epigenetics at 30 years of age (Sullivan, PI). 

Dr. D’Agata is a member of the American Nurses Association, National Association of Neonatal Nurses, International Society of Nurses in Genetics, Council of International Neonatal Nursing, Eastern Nursing Research Society, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing. She holds an adjunct assistant professor appointment in pediatrics at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

Research

Preterm infants; adults born preterm; Developmental origins of health and disease; neonatal intensive care; stress; pain; maternal-infant separation; genetics; microbiome

Education

PhD, Nursing, University of Connecticut

MS, Nursing, University of Connecticut

BSN, Nursing, University of Saint Joseph

Selected Publications

Dutra, S. V. O., Gordon, J., Shaffer, E., Miller, E. M., Harville, C., Yoo, J. Y., Sarkar, A., Ji, M., D’Agata, A. L., Groer, M. W. (2021, in press). An exploratory principal factor analysis of very low birth weight clinical data and development-behavior outcomes at 4 years of age. Pediatric Nursing.

Kutahyalioglu, N. S., Scafide, K. N., Mallinson, K. R., D’Agata, A. L. (2021, in press). Implementation and practice barriers of family-centered care encountered by neonatal nurses. Advances in Neonatal Care.

Vittner, D. J., Young, H., D’Agata, A. L. (August 2021, under review). Stress and burnout influence NICU healthcare professionals’ decision-making on family-centered care delivery: An international survey. Journal of Neonatal Nursing.

Kutahyalioglu, N. S., Scafide, K. N., D’Agata, A. L., Mallinson, K. R. (July 2021, under review). “It takes a village” to implement family-centered care in the neonatal intensive care unit. Journal of Neonatal Nursing.

Vittner, D. J., D’Agata, A. L., McGrath, J. M. Young, E. E. (June 2021, under review). Oxytocin influences premature infant neurobehavioral patterns. Developmental Psychobiology.

Groer, M. W., Miller, E. M., D’Agata, A. L., Ho, T. B., Dutra, S. V. O., Yoo, J. Y., Yee, A. L.,

Gilbert, J. A., Dishaw, L. J. (May, 2020). Contributors to dysbiosis in very low birth weight infants. JOGNN, 49(3), 232-242. doi: 10.1016/j.jogn.2020.02.003

D’Agata, A. L., Wu, J., Welandawe, M. K. V., Dutra, S. V. O., Kane, B., Groer, M. (July, 2019). Effects of early life NICU stress on the developing gut microbiome. Developmental Psychobiology, 61, 650-660. 10.1002/dev.21826.

D’Agata, A. L., Roberts, M. B., Ashmeade, T., Dutra, S. V. O., Kane, B., Groer, M. (April, 2019). Novel method of measuring chronic stress for preterm infants: Skin cortisol. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 102, 204-211. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.12.22.\

D’Agata, A. L., Coughlin, M. (2019). Chapter 34: Touch a Life, Impact a Lifetime: Trauma Informed Care in the NICU. In C. Kenner, Boykova, M., Altimier, L. (Eds.). Comprehensive Neonatal Nursing Care (6th ed.). New York, New York: Springer Publishing.

D’Agata, A. L., Coughlin, M., Sanders, M. (October, 2018). Clinician perceptions of the NICU infant experience: Is the NICU hospitalization traumatic? American Journal of Perinatology, 35(12), 1159–1167. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1641747.

Provenzi, L., De Carli, P., Fumagalli, M., Giorda, R., Casavant, C., Beri, S., Citterio, A., D’Agata, A., Morandi, F., Mosca, F., Borgatti, R., & Montirosso, R. (August, 2018). Very preterm birth is associated with PLAGL1 gene hypomethylation at birth and discharge. Epigenomics, 10(8), 1121-1130. doi: 10.2217/epi-2017-0123.

Groer, M. W., Fuchs, D., Duffy, A., Louis-Jacques, A., D’Agata, A. L., Postolache, T. (May, 2018). Associations between obesity, inflammation, and tryptophan catabolism in pregnancy. Biological Research for Nursing, 20(3), 284-291. doi: 10.1177/1099800417738363.

Ramesh, D., D’Agata, A., Starkweather, A., Young, E. E. (January, 2018). Contribution of endocannabinoid gene expression and genotype on low back pain susceptibility and chronicity. Clinical Journal of Pain, 34(1), 8-14. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000508.

Young, E. E., D’Agata, A. L., Vittner, D., Baumbauer, K. (April/June, 2017). Neurobiological consequences of early painful experience: Basic science findings and implications for evidence-based practice. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, 31(2), 178-185. doi: 10.1097/JPN.0000000000000258.

D’Agata, A. L., Young, E. E., Walsh, S., Cong, X., McGrath, J. M. (April, 2017). FKBP5 genotype and early life stress exposure predict neurobehavioral outcomes for preterm infants.

Developmental Psychobiology, 59(3), 410-418. doi: 10.1002/dev.21507

D’Agata, A. L., Sanders, M., Grasso, D., Young, E. E., Cong, X., McGrath, J. M. (March, 2017). Unpacking the burden of care for infants in the NICU. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(2), 306-317. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21636

D’Agata, A. L., Young, E. E., Cong, X., Grasso, D., McGrath, J. M. (August, 2016). Infant medical trauma in the neonatal intensive care unit (IMTN): A proposed concept for science and practice. Advances in Neonatal Care, 16(4), 289-297. doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000309

D’Agata, A. L., McGrath, J. M. (Jul/Sept, 2016). A framework of complex adaptive systems: Parents as partners in the NICU. Advances in Nursing Science, 39(3), 244-256. doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000127

D’Agata, A. & McGrath, J.M. (2013). Explaining the relationship between illness and epigenetics to families. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews, 13(4), 148-150.

Hardy, W., D’Agata, A. L., & McGrath, J. M. (2016). Chapter 17: Identification of the Infant at Risk. In S. Matteson, & J. E. Smith (Eds.). Core Curriculum for Maternal Child Nursing (5thed). St Louis, MO: Elsevier, Saunders.