Michelle Villegas-Downs: Caring for moms and babies after delivery

Michelle Villegas-Downs, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Nursing, focuses her work on caring for new moms and babies. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC) Listen to story summary

It was Michelle Villegas-Downs' first week working as a registered nurse. She had a new job in a new neighborhood and was in a new stage of her post-grad life.

"I was tasked with discharging a patient. All I had to do was assess and sign the paperwork. The assessment was within normal limits, but something still felt off," she said. "I couldn't let it go. I paged the on-call doctor, who discovered the patient was bleeding internally and may not have survived at home.

"I remember that moment when things aren't going how I want them to. It reminds me that the work I'm doing does matter."

With years as a clinician and scholar under her belt, Villegas-Downs is now a postdoctoral researcher in the UIC College of Nursing, where she blends real-world experience with patient-centered data to give new moms and their babies lifesaving care. Judith Schlaeger, a professor of human development nursing science, is her mentor.

"After a woman gives birth, they might not see a doctor again for six weeks," she said. "Unexpected complications can happen in the postpartum period, and sometimes women's symptoms are not taken seriously. If we can catch early warning signs that may lead to complications like hypertension or infection, we can step in and provide care."

Villegas-Downs earned her bachelor's in biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her master's in nursing from DePaul University. In grad school, she developed an interest in preterm and high-risk births and advancing equitable care in underserved communities.

Professional license in hand, Villegas-Downs embarked on her PhD in nursing in 2018. She studied with Barbara McFarlin, formerly a nurse-midwife and now a professor emerita of nursing at UIC. At the same time, Villegas-Downs started working as a registered nurse in obstetrics, focused on postpartum care.

Villegas-Downs practiced at two hospitals while working toward her PhD: Vista Medical Center in Waukegan and Endeavor Health in Evanston. Though balancing schoolwork and a patient caseload stretched her schedule to its limits, she said daily facetime with patients made her a better student.

"I like being a clinician and working with people. It's very near and dear to my heart. You get a lot of research ideas that way. Medicine and science change so quickly. Working on the floor helps you stay up to date."

Michelle Villegas-Downs will be an assistant professor in the College of Nursing beginning this fall. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)

In 2024, Villegas-Downs began her tenure as a UIC postdoctoral researcher in the Bridge to Faculty program, which transitions scholars from underrepresented backgrounds into tenure-track faculty positions. Villegas-Downs was one of nine postdoctoral researchers in the 2024 cohort.

"The first time the cohort got together, it was like we all already knew each other. A lot of times, you're not sure if you really fit in. The Bridge to Faculty program is about getting together and sharing resources - really feeling like you belong," she said.

In 2025, Villegas-Downs was one of 30 postdocs in the country to receive the Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The award supports career development for underrepresented postdoctoral fellows with $60,000 over three years.

She'll use the award money to fund her ongoing research project: monitoring the health of mothers and babies postpartum. New moms will use commercially available smartwatches - purchased with the award funds - to monitor their heart rates, respiratory health, blood pressure and other vital signs.

This project, centered on Black postpartum women in an urban area, asks two questions: first, are smartwatches a feasible way to monitor health in this population, and second, can wearable technology help predict warning signs that might otherwise go unnoticed?

If the smartwatch method proves successful, the next step is using the data to identify who is at risk for postpartum complications.

Villegas-Downs said her experience as a clinician is critical to executing this project with empathy and respect.

"Our research is very different from lab work," she said. "Partnering with new mothers and pregnant women is all about building trust and relationships. And, hopefully, we can help people along the way."

This fall, Villegas-Downs will add a new role to her diverse repertoire: assistant professor in the College of Nursing.