Dr. McKinney is an Associate Professor in the Division of Craniofacial Medicine, Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at the University of Washington and an Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Oral Health Sciences in the School of Dentistry at the University of Washington. She is also an investigator in Seattle Children’s Research Institutes Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, and part of the Seattle Children’s Hospital Craniofacial Center.  

She received her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Washington in 2006. Her research interests are focused on craniofacial conditions including orofacial clefts, nutrition, feeding, and growth, and environmental exposures that impact oral health. Her work focuses on infants in the United States and internationally. Her global research collaborations have involved partners in Thailand, India, and Ghana.

She spearheaded the development of the NIFTY cup - an infant feeding cup for infants with breastfeeding difficulties such as infants with oral clefts and preterm infants in low resource settings - with a team of multidisciplinary experts from Seattle Children’s, PATH, the University of Washington, and Laerdal Global Health. She was named the 2017 Inventor of the Year for the University of Washington School of Medicine for this work. 

Research Interests

Dr. McKinney’s current work focuses on early experiences and environmental exposures that affect children with craniofacial differences. She is MPI of NIH/NIDCR funded study focused on examining how children with a cleft lip/palate feed and grow in early life.  Her work includes how children in low and middle-income countries with a cleft and how children with craniofacial microsomia grow in early life. Methodologically, her work leverages big data, and employs data science tools and methods to address scientific questions. Her work also focuses on developing and supporting processes and structures that facilitate learning health systems, particularly for children with cleft.