Joan Combellick, PhD, MPH, MSN, CNM, FACNM

Assistant Professor in Nursing and Nurse-Midwifery Specialty Co-Director

Yale School of Nursing 

email: joan.combellick@yale.edu

About

Dr. Combellick is a certified nurse midwife and graduate of the Yale School of Nursing midwifery program. In addition to a master’s degree in nursing/midwifery from Yale, she holds a master’s degree in Global Public Health and a PhD from New York University. Her program of practice-based research includes her doctoral dissertation which investigated the impact of common birth interventions on the neonate’s fecal microbiome. She has completed an Advanced Women’s Health Fellowship at the Veterans Health Administration in West Haven, CT. Her post-doctoral work focused on improving maternity and reproductive health care for high-risk individuals, particularly those who experience psychological trauma or whose care is suboptimal due to mental health problems.  She also focuses on investigating care models and practices that promote and protect undisturbed biological, social, and psychological processes during pregnancy and birth.

Research Interests

Dr. Combellick’s program of research focuses on building the evidence for best clinical practice in the areas of women’s health, high quality maternity care, and healthcare delivery to groups that have been disproportionately marginalized. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and practice-based research. Currently her research focuses on designing health services to meet the needs of women who have experienced chronic stress and trauma and the impact of interventions during pregnancy and birth on mental and physical health outcomes. 

Selected Publications

Combellick, J., Basile Ibrahim, B., Esmaeili, A., Phibbs, CS, Johnson, A., Patton, E.W., Manzo, L., Haskell, S. (2024). Improving the Maternity Care Safety Net: Establishing Maternal Mortality Surveillance for Non-Obstetric Providers and Institutions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 21(1):37. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21010037.

Basile-Ibrahim B, Combellick J, Mead TL, Sorensen A, Batten J, Schafer R. (2024). The Social Context of Pregnancy, Respectful Maternity Care, Biomarkers of Weathering, and Postpartum Mental Health Inequities: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(4):480. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21040480.

Manzo, L., Dindinger, R.A., Batten, J., Combellick, J., & Basile Ibrahim, B. (2023). The Impact of Military Trauma Exposures on Service Women’s Perinatal Outcomes: A Scoping Review. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. Feb 21. doi: 10.1111/jmwh.13620. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38384111.

*Combellick, J., Esmaili, A., Phibbs, C., Johnson, A., Haskell, S., Manzo, L. & Miller, L.J. (2023). Perinatal Mental Health and Pregnancy-Associated Mortality: Opportunities for Change. Archives of Women’s Mental Health. doi: 10.1007/s00737-023-01404-2. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38172275.

Domenicano, I., Combellick, J., Warren, A.R., Kyriakides, T.C., Brandt, C., Haskell, S., & Goulet, J. (2023) Cervical Cancer Prevention Among Veterans: What Is the Impact of Military Sexual Trauma, PTSD, and Women’s Health Primary Care Providers on Screening and Prevention? Military Behavioral Health, doi: 10.1080/21635781.2023.2246884. 

Combellick, J., Telfer, M., Basile Ibrahim, B., Novick, G., Morelli, E., James-Conterelli, S., & Kennedy, H.P. (2023).  Midwifery care during labor and birth in the United States. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 228(5), S983–S993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2022.09.044

Combellick, J., Basile-Ibrahim, B., Scharer, K., Julien, T., Brickley, T., Mininberg, L., & Kennedy H.P. (2023). Applying lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic to future threats to the maternity care system. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. 68(3): 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13481. 

Bukowski, H., & Combellick J. (2022). Midwifery care of pregnant individuals experiencing opioid use disorder: changing regulations, complexities, and call to action. The Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health,  67(6), 770-776. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13415

Combellick, J., Basile-Ibrahim, B., Julien, T., Scharer, K., Jackson, K., Kennedy, & H.P. (2022)/ Birth during the covid-19 pandemic: What childbearing people in the U.S. needed to achieve a positive birth experience. Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, 49(2), 341-351.  https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12616. 

Song, S.J., Wang, J., Martino, C., Jiang, L., Thompson, W.K., Shenhav, L., Mcdonald, D., Marotz, C., Harris, P.R., Hernandez, C.D., Henderson, N., Ackley, Nardella D., Gillihan, C., Montacuti, V., Schweizer, W., Jay, M., Combellick, J., & Dominguez-Bello, M.G. (2021). Naturalization of the microbiota developmental trajectory of Cesarean-born neonates after vaginal seeding. Med, 2, 951-964. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2021.05.003

Germack, H.D., Combellick, J., Cooper, M.,  Koller, K., & McMichael, B. (2021). As perinatal depression rates are increasing, antidepressants are the most likely to be discontinued during pregnancy. Women’s Health Issues, 32(3), 241-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2021.10.004. 

Basile-Ibrahim, B., Kennedy, H., & Combellick, J. (2021). Experiences of quality perinatal care during the 2020 U.S. COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, 66(5), 579–588. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13269

Combellick, J., Gaffey, A., Driscoll, M.A., Foley, T., Ronzitti, S., Dziura, J., Bastian, L., Zephyrin, L., Mattocks, K.M., Haskell, S.G. (2020) Trauma and Postpartum Depression in a Cohort of Women Veterans. Military Behavioral Health. 8(14),1-8. DOI:10.1080/21635781.2020.1751351

Relyea M, Portnoy GA, Combellick JL, Brandt C, Haskell SG. (2020) Military Sexual Trauma and Intimate Partner Violence: subtypes, associations and gender differences.  Journal of Family Violence. 35(4).  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-019-00079-7. 

Combellick J, Bastian LA, Altemus M, Womack JA, Brandt CA, Smith A, Haskell SG. (2019) Severe maternal morbidity in a cohort of post-9/11 women veterans. Journal of Women’s Health.  29(4):577-584. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2019.7948. 

Combellick, J., Dziura, J., Portnoy, G., Mattocks, K., Brandt, C., & Haskell, S. (2019). Trauma and sexual risk: do men and women veterans differ? Women’s Health Issues, 29 (supp.1):574-582. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2019.04.014.

Ronzitti, S., Gross, G.M., Combellick, J., Decker, S., Goulet, J., Mattocks, K., Hoff, R., Haskell, S.G., & Brandt, C.A. (2019). Gender differences in military sexual trauma and severe self-directed violence. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Suppl 1:S94-S102, doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2019.04.010. 

Combellick, J., Shin, H., Shin, D., Cai, Y., Hagan, H., Lacher, C., Lin, D.L.,  McCauley, K.,  Lynch, S.V., & Dominguez-Bello, M.G. (2018). Differences in the fecal microbiota of neonates born at home and in the hospital. Nature - Scientific Reports, 8:15660, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33995-7. 

Mueller, N.T., Bakacs, E., Combellick, J., Grigoryan, Z., & Dominguez-Bello, M.G. (2015). The infant microbiome development: mom matters. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 21(2), 109-117. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2014.12.002.