The National Institutes of Health to Establish Academic Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $24 million in first-year funding to establish Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence. The centers will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity. The grants are expected to last seven years and total an estimated $168 million.

“The magnitude and persistence of maternal health disparities in the United States underscore the need for research to identify evidence-based solutions to promote health equity and improve outcomes nationwide,” says Diana W. Bianchi, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. “Through collaborations with community partners and others, the Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence will generate critical scientific evidence to help guide clinical care and reduce health disparities during and after pregnancy.”

The centers of excellence include 10 research centers, a data innovation and coordinating hub and an implementation science hub. Together, these institutions will work to design and implement research projects to address the biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural and structural factors that affect pregnancy-related complications and deaths. They will focus on populations that experience health disparities, including racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, those living in underserved rural areas, sexual and gender minority populations, and people with disabilities.

Research centers will be established at Columbia University, Jackson State University in Mississippi, Medical College of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Stanford University, Tulane University. the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Utah. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore will serve as the data innovation and coordinating hub.