Meet the IMPROVE-CIP Teams

Arizona State University 

Listen to the Villages is a culturally responsive, community-engaged process to promote maternal-infant health equity in Indigenous, Black, and Hispanic/Latino communities in Arizona. Doulas, with cultural connections and familiarity with the community, provide support to reduce issues causing stress in pregnant women, such as mental health challenges, drug use, and obesity.  

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 underserved 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., C.H.W.I.; and Stephanie Stroever, Ph.D., M.P.H. 

Community Leads: Casie Stoughton, M.P.H., R.N.; and Nancy Zamora, B.S.W. 

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 Leads: Regina Idoate, Ph.D., M.A. (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma); and Shannon Maloney, Ph.D., M.P.P. (Mohawk) 

Community Lead: Mona Zuffante, Ph.D., M.P.H., CPH (Seneca–Cayuga Nation)