TJU-JNMC Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research Unit

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Project Summary/Abstract Building on a history of more than two decades of successful collaboration among Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), and the NICHD Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research, we seek to ensure the continued growth, development, and sustainability of our partnership via the next cycle of the Global Network (GN). Specific project aims include: • Provide experienced leadership within the GN fostering innovation, research excellence, and conduct of common protocols addressing major causes of maternal/child morbidity/mortality in LMICs, and incorporating implementation research aiming to scale up successful interventions and influence public health policy; • Identify and address gaps in maternal and child health research, utilizing a team-based approach to design, develop, implement, and evaluate promising health interventions, focusing on those addressing public health crises that impact the health of pregnant/lactating women and their offspring, and promoting progress toward achievement of the NICHD Strategic Plan 2020 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for maternal, newborn, and under-5 mortality, and, as appropriate, health financing, and workforce development; • Engage local stakeholders by continuing to involve the Ministries of Health at the local, state, and national level; incorporating ASHA workers and auxiliary nurses into the research team (with approval of the MOH); and establishing a local Community Engagement Board comprising lay community members to provide local perspective on research outcomes of most benefit to participants, support dissemination of research findings, and promote translation of research evidence into practice; • Expand research capacity and catchment areas within Karnataka, as well as to other states in India – specifically Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Odisha – resulting in greater generalizability of findings to all regions and populations of the country and other low resource settings globally; • Conduct GN approved common protocols with high recruitment and retention rates encompassing a range of study designs (e.g., RCTs, formative, translational, mixed methods, observational, and implementation research) initiated by GN investigators, as well as those proposed by outside investigators; • Apply the guiding principles of NICHD-supported multi-site clinical research which are: 1) Enhance rigor and reproducibility, 2) Promote greater availability of multisite clinical trial infrastructure to support trials from a wider range of investigators, 3) Facilitate data sharing and access to biospecimens, 4) Facilitate greater involvement of diverse populations in multisite clinical trials; • Disseminate research findings with the goal of influencing health policy and system changes and to scale up evidence-based interventions to promote meaningful and sustainable health improvements.