Meet the IMPROVE-CIP Teams
Arizona State University
Listen to the Villages: A culturally responsive, community-engaged process to promote maternal-infant health.
Academic Lead: Cady Berkel, Ph.D. (Multi-Principal Investigator)
Community Lead: Jennie Bever, Ph.D., IBCLC (Multi-Principal Investigator)
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Verifying and Implementing evidence-Based pRograms Addressing Needed Transformations for Maternal health Outcomes, Measures, and Support (VIBRANT MOMS) focuses on prevention (with low-dose aspirin), screening, and blood-pressure management to address preeclampsia in the most affected women in rural and urban counties of the Texas Panhandle.
Academic Leads: Christine D. Garner, Ph.D., M.S., R.D. (Principal Investigator); Julie St. John, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., CHWI; and Stephanie Stroever, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Community Leads: Casie Stoughton, M.P.H., R.N.; and Nancy Zamora, B.S.W.
Thomas Jefferson University
Adaptation of the Centering Pregnancy model to enhance prenatal care in pregnant women with opioid use disorder in Philadelphia, PA.
Academic Leads: Vanessa Short, Ph.D., M.P.H. (Principal Investigator); Diane Abatemarco, Ph.D., M.S.W.; Meghan Gannon, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.; and Dennis Hand, Ph.D.
Community Leads: Nicole Leighton, CRNP, PMHNPBC, Lead Nurse Practitioner; Kimberly McLaughlin, Ph.D., Executive Program Director; and Kelliann O’Hare, Program Manager at Maternal Addiction Treatment Education and Research (MATER), Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Wellness Advocacy Zones: Opportunities for Kinship Involvement (WAZOKI) focuses on kinship involvement to improve maternal health outcomes, including the mental health of pregnant women in the Winnebago Tribe (Nebraska).
Academic Lead: Regina Idoate, Ph.D., M.A. (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
Community Lead: Mona Zuffante, Ph.D., M.P.H., CPH (Seneca–Cayuga Nation)