The National Institutes of Health has awarded two new grants to expand its Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence. Launched last year as part of NIH’s Implementing the Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for All (IMPROVE) initiative, the Center of Excellence will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity.
“The increased IMPROVE funding in the FY 2024 federal budget will enable us to expand the reach of the Maternal Health Research Center to additional communities across the U.S. that bear the greatest burden of serious pregnancy-related complications and deaths,” said Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The two new research centers, selected from initial applicants after a competitive peer review process, are located at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Each will receive approximately $2 million in first-year funding, and the grants are expected to last for six years. The UIC Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence will be led by principal investigator Rachel Caskey, M.D. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dara Mendez, Ph.D., will lead the Maternal and Birth Outcomes and Reproductive Health Equity through Community Engagement Project.
With these additions, the Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence will include 12 research centers, a Data Innovation and Coordination Hub, and an Implementation Science Hub. Working together and with community partners, these institutions will design and implement research projects that address the biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and structural factors that influence pregnancy-related complications and deaths. Their research focuses on populations who experience health disparities, including racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, people living in underserved rural areas, and people with disabilities.
NICHD, the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health, and the National Institute of Nursing Research are co-leading the IMPROVE initiative, with engagement from other NIH institutes, centers, and offices.