Meet the IMPROVE-CIP Teams

Arizona State University 

Listen to the Villages: A community-engaged process to promote maternal and 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)