UW–Madison is a now a major hub for research on reproductive health, with scholars from across campus working to address important demographic changes and pressing social issues, including the alarming race gap in maternal morbidity and mortality in the U.S., reductions in Title X funding and the accessibility of reproductive health care, and declining access to abortion services, among many others.
UW’s institutional investment in these areas led to three recent faculty hires (all new CDE affiliates) as part of a Reproductive Equity cluster: Christine Durrance (public affairs), Tiffany Green (population health sciences and obstetrics & gynecology), and Kelly Marie Ward (sociology and gender & women’s studies).
Reproductive health remains a major research theme at CDE. Over the past year, CDE affiliates have undertaken new research and community outreach initiatives that explore topics in reproductive health as well as their broader implications for individuals, communities, and populations.
At the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (UW CORE), Director Jenny Higgins leads an interdisciplinary group of investigators who conduct rigorous, policy-relevant, and community-engaged research on reproductive health and health care in Wisconsin. CORE shares its findings widely to inform policies and programs so that all Wisconsin residents and families may live with reproductive autonomy—the ability to make decisions about their reproductive health and access needed services without interference or coercion. A number of UW CORE investigators are CDE affiliates, including Jason Fletcher, Katherine Magnuson, Jenna Nobles, Green, and Ward, and at least five CDE predoctoral trainees collaborate on these currently underway projects. CORE investigators recently published a piece in the American Journal of Public Health that addressed physicians’ perceptions of abortion access, using Wisconsin as case study.
Deb Ehrenthal, Director of the new CDC-funded UW Prevention Research Center, and Lonnie Berger began the NICHD-funded project “Prenatal Opioid Exposure: Birth, Health, Socioeconomic, and Educational Outcomes.” The researchers assembled a multisource longitudinal administrative birth cohort for all ~800,000 live births across Wisconsin from 2007 to 2018. By linking data at the individual level, the dataset allows the researchers to study the individual factors—and the influence of health care and community characteristics—needed to better understand and address the effects of the opioid epidemic on women and their children. Co-Investigators on this grant include CDE affiliates Durrance, Nobles, and Jessica Pac.
Tiffany Green, whose research explores topics related to racial/ethnic disparities in access to healthcare and reproductive health, is serving as inaugural co-chair for the Black Maternal and Child Health Alliance of Dane County (BMCHA). Launched by the Dane County Health Council and the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, the BMCHA is focused on creating community-informed strategies to improve birth outcomes of Black mothers and babies in the county. The BMCHA’s current priorities include: 1) collaborating with community members to identify existing pre-existing assets and needed resources for residents living in high need zip codes, 2) creating a community data portal to educate stakeholders about Black maternal and child health and health disparities, and 3) launching the first-ever Wisconsin Black Maternal and Child Health Summit in 2021.
Jenna Nobles, CDE associate director for training, has embarked on an exciting line of work on prenatal demography. Supported by an NICHD R01, the project “Conception Failure and Pregnancy Loss in the U.S.” combines the tools of data science and social science. Nobles and collaborators (including Ehrenthal) will analyze innovative data from mobile apps about women’s menstrual cycles, ovulation, pregnancy, and live births with the ultimate goal of providing new estimates of the fundamental determinants of populations.
Jessica Pac and Alejandra Ros Pilarz received a grant from the UW–Madison Prevention Research Center to examine how laws that require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant women have the potential to prevent maternal and infant morbidities and mortality though prolonged employment and earnings, the retention of health insurance, and maternity leave eligibility.
We’re looking forward to following this exciting work over the coming years!