Michigan Public Health Awarded $1.8 Million To Address Gaps In Maternal And Child Health Workforce

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been selected arsenic 1 of 13 Centers of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education, Science, and Practice by nan Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The five-year, $1.8 cardinal grant will found nan Center of Excellence for Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health astatine Michigan Public Health to reside captious gaps successful nan maternal and kid wellness workforce.

This grant recognizes our school's longstanding committedness to tackling nan urgent nationalist wellness challenges facing mothers, children, and families. We're excited to create caller pathways for students to go leaders successful maternal and kid wellness and to fortify partnerships pinch organization and authorities wellness organizations supporting maternal and kid health."

Kendrin Sonneville, subordinate professor of Nutritional Sciences and nan project's main investigator

The United States faces important maternal and kid wellness challenges, including nan highest maternal mortality complaint among developed nations. These disparities disproportionately impact Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women arsenic good arsenic women surviving successful agrarian areas. In Michigan specifically, pressing maternal and kid wellness challenges see precocious rates of cesarean deliveries among low-risk first-time mothers, persistent group disparities successful preventive dental attraction during pregnancy, and concerning rates of sleep-related babe deaths among Black infants.

The caller Center of Excellence will tackle these and different challenges by addressing maternal and kid wellness workforce improvement gaps, expanding academic-practice partnerships and processing a broad information and dissemination strategy to heighten nan effect of these efforts.

Providing interdisciplinary training successful maternal and kid health

Starting this fall, nan schoolhouse will motorboat a comprehensive, school-wide Certificate successful Maternal Child Health-the first of its benignant astatine Michigan Public Health. This interdisciplinary programme will train postgraduate students crossed nan school's six world departments successful specialized maternal and kid wellness competencies aligned pinch nationalist activity standards.

The certificate program, which intends to enroll astatine slightest 25 students annually, will harvester rigorous world coursework pinch hands-on acquisition done partnerships pinch organization wellness and section authorities organizations. 

All trainees will complete a maternal and kid health-focused believe aliases investigation experience, including internships pinch nationalist wellness agencies, investigation projects addressing maternal and kid wellness challenges, and organization work activities. These opportunities will beryllium supported done partnerships pinch organizations for illustration nan Washtenaw County Health Department and nan Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The Center of Excellence will supply broad support to guarantee student success, including targeted backing for students pinch financial request and those from underrepresented backgrounds. Support mechanisms will see internship stipends, PhD backing for dissertation research, tuition awards for master's students, and departmental backing allocations.

In summation to students enrolled successful nan certificate program, nan Center of Excellence intends to prosecute astatine slightest 50 students per twelvemonth successful maternal and kid wellness coursework, believe experiences aliases investigation activities.

The programme will besides heighten nan existing Maternal and Child Health Student Association, providing backing to destruct rank fees and grow programming focused connected activity development, organization building, and master networking.

"We are excited to support some students who want broad training successful maternal and kid wellness done nan caller certificate programme and those who are willing successful supplementing their acquisition pinch maternal and kid wellness coursework, applied believe aliases investigation experiences, aliases engagement successful a student organization," Sonneville said. 

Fostering academic-practice partnerships

A cardinal constituent of nan Center of Excellence involves strengthening collaborations betwixt nan schoolhouse and maternal and kid wellness practitioners. The programme will found aliases heighten partnerships pinch astatine slightest 10 maternal and kid wellness agencies to supply method assistance and support argumentation improvement done applied investigation and student-led initiatives.

Laura Power, head of nan school's Office of Public Health Practice and nan project's believe lead, will guarantee these partnerships supply meaningful real-world acquisition for students while addressing pressing organization needs. 

"Our academic-practice partnerships are basal for bridging nan spread betwixt investigation and practice," Power said. "Students will summation invaluable acquisition while helping agencies reside analyzable maternal and kid wellness challenges."

Tapping existing module activity and expertise

The programme will beryllium led by module experts crossed each six world departments astatine Michigan Public Health, pinch a designated Maternal and Child Health Departmental Faculty Lead from each section who is responsible for mentoring students and processing coursework. The inaugural will besides present a general Maternal and Child Health Public Health module nickname to admit and support module pinch important maternal and kid wellness expertise.

"The Center of Excellence draws connected nan unthinkable extent of maternal and kid wellness expertise crossed our schoolhouse and builds connected a bequest of captious maternal and kid wellness activity led by Michigan Public Health module and organization partners complete decades," said Karen Peterson, professor and chair of Nutritional Sciences astatine Michigan Public Health. "From our established investigation centers to module moving successful a wide scope of areas from nutrition to wellness behaviour to biology health, we're drafting connected heavy expertise to train nan adjacent procreation of maternal and kid wellness leaders."

Ensuring semipermanent effect and sustainability

The Center of Excellence intends to create a sustainable pipeline of well-prepared maternal and kid wellness professionals tin of addressing nan unsocial needs of mothers and children. The programme will way graduates' profession progression for 5 years to measure nan semipermanent effect of nan training.

Research findings, training methods, and program innovations will besides beryllium shared pinch different institutions to grow nan program's effect nationwide.

The University of Michigan joins an elite group of institutions selected for this competitory award, including nan University of California Berkeley, Harvard University, Emory University, and nan University of North Carolina astatine Chapel Hill. The backing originates successful 2025 and will proceed done 2030.

This inaugural is supported by nan Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of nan U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nether Grant Number HRSA-25-027, Centers of Excellence successful Maternal and Child Health Education, Science, and Practice.