New Investigator: Kristina Bailey, M.D.

This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2017 Scientist Laureate, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator Award recipients.

• Name: Kristina Bailey, M.D.
• Title: Associate professor, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine
• Joined UNMC: 2008
• Hometown: Schuyler, Neb.

Research focus:
Pneumonia in older people

The goal of my research is: To understand how our lung’s natural defenses change as we age. The lung is exposed to the outside world with every breath and needs a complex, redundant system to fight off infection. Understanding how these defenses change with aging is the first step to better prevention or treatment of pneumonia.

My research will make a difference because: Pneumonia has very high rates of morbidity and mortality associated with it in older people. If we could prevent it, we could prolong the healthy life span.

The best advice I’ve ever been given is:
When I was an undergrad at Creighton, I worked in a research lab. I was trying to decide whether to go to UNMC or Creighton Medical School. My PI flippantly said: “Go to the half-price medical school. You won’t regret it.” He was certainly correct. I have been on campus now for 20 years and I don’t regret a minute.

Three things you may not know about me are:

• I attended a two-room school house from kindergarten through eighth grade, just outside of Schuyler, Neb.
• On our third date, my now husband took me fishing with his friends. After I caught the largest walleye and kissed it at their insistence, they proclaimed me a “keeper.”
• I didn’t want to give my twins “cutesy” names, so I decided on William and Kate. Two months after they were born, the royal couple announced their engagement. My twins wore crowns to daycare on the day of the royal wedding.