Training Program

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PROJECT SUMMARY: Training Program Despite the urgent need to address maternal mortality, severe morbidity, and disparities, previous efforts have failed to improve maternal health outcomes. Notably, most research efforts to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity have focused on clinical care and have not addressed the role of the maternal health workforce in the community. To effectively reduce maternal health inequities and improve outcomes, more research focused on structural and social determinants maternal health is needed, especially research conducted in underserved areas by researchers from those communities. To this end, our proposed Mississippi Delta Research Center of Excellence for Maternal Health will include a training program for early-stage investigators focused on addressing the interpersonal and structural factors that affect maternal health outcomes in at-risk communities. In meeting the challenges posed by the social determinants of health, there is increasing recognition of the importance of research conducted with people and in places with the greatest vulnerability. This includes valuing the potential of scientists working in historically under-resourced institutions and with underserved communities, such as researchers at institutions located in limited-resource regions of the Southern United States and at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the rural–urban continuum. Our proposed training program will focus on early-stage investigators at two Mississippi HBCUs, Jackson State University and Alcorn State University, and will leverage existing resources in maternal health training within these universities, at the Southern Rural Development Center based at Mississippi State University, and at Harvard University. Our collaborative approach will capitalize on the expertise of our program leads and community partners in maternal health systems and the strong existing relationships among the various participating institutions. The overarching goal of our research training program is to foster culturally responsive research that addresses maternal health disparities. We will achieve this goal through (1) increasing the number of postdoctoral trainees, junior faculty, and other early-stage investigators engaging in research related to biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and/or structural factors that affect pregnancy-related and pregnancy-associated morbidity and mortality and severe maternal morbidity in the Mississippi Delta; (2) providing applied research experiences to predoctoral fellows as the next generation of maternal health research professionals; and (3) providing outreach opportunities to reach a broader audience. Our extensive research training program will support the goals of the center’s research projects, address the interpersonal and structural factors that affect maternal health outcomes, and prepare the next generation of clinical researchers focused on maternal health outcomes and equity. 1