Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the Perinatal Origins of Disparities (POD) Center! Please forward this along to colleagues and community partners whose work aligns with the POD Center.
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Welcome new POD Center Faculty & Member Associates!
As the POD Center grows, we're very pleased to welcome:
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Ameer Taha, PhD, Associate Professor, Food Science and Technology
Camelia Hostinar, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychology; Director, Social Environment and Stress (SES) Lab
Carolyn Slupsky, PhD, Professor, Food Science and Technology; Endowed Chair in Food, Nutrition, and Health
Christine Stewart, PhD, Professor, Nutrition; Endowed Chair in Applied Human Nutrition
Deborah Bennet, PhD, MS, Professor, Public Health Sciences, Division of Epidemiology
Enkhmaa Byambaa, MAS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism
M. Jane Heinig, PhD, Academic Administrator, Nutrition; Director, Human Lactation Center
Jennifer Karlin, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Medical Anthropology, Co-Director, FCM Med Student Ed
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Jennifer Smilowitz, PhD, Faculty Affiliate, Food Science and Technology; Associate Director, Human Studies Research, Foods for Health Institute
Judy Van de Water, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine; Co-Investigator, Conte Center; Co-Director, MIND Institute IDDRC
Laura Kair, MD, MAS, Associate Professor, Clinical Pediatrics; Medical Director of Well Newborn Care at UC Davis Children’s hospital
Mary Gallagher, MSN, MPH, CPNP-PC, Assistant Clinical Professor, BIMSN
Meghan Miller, PhD, Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Chief of Psychology
Melissa Bauman, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry; Director, Women in Medicine and Health Sciences
Peng Ji, PhD, Assistant Professor, Nutrition
Sarah Haynes, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Shannon Clark, MD, Perinatal Psychiatrist, OBGYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine
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Also welcome to new trainees Dorothy H. Hoang and Zoe Baysdorfer Kaplan!
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May is Maternal Mental Health Month &
Preeclampsia Awareness Month
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1 in 3 pregnant people experience clinically significant anxiety or depression symptoms during or after pregnancy. In honor of these observances, the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Division of CDPH has developed social media and graphics to create awareness of these important topics.
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#MaternalMentalHealth #MentalHealthMatters #maternalmentalhealthCA
#PreeclampsiaAwarenessMonth
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Thu, May 12, 2022, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Woodland Community Center
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The theme of the 2022 Resilient Yolo Summit is: “Resilience through Healing | Healing through Resilience.” There will be a full day of panels, workshops, and presenters with a focus on health equity, resilience from trauma, and improved community outcomes. Registration is free and includes a complementary breakfast and lunch.
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New Funding Opportunities
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- Due dates: June 16, 2022; July 5, 2022; July 16, 2022
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NIH has announced a new Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone Program (IMPROVE) NOSI (NOT-OD-22-125) that aims to stimulate dissemination and implementation research on innovative approaches built on evidence-based findings from foundational research on factors that contribute to maternal morbidity and mortality (MMM).
- This funding opportunity seeks to support dissemination and implementation research that:
- Improves preconception, prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum care and advance maternal health and maternal health equity
- Disseminates/implements evidence-based interventions or practices in public health, clinical, and community settings
- Addresses MMM related to social determinants of heath, stress, cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious, mental health, and immunity-related causes.
- Due dates: June 16, 2022; July 5, 2022; July 16, 2022
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The purpose of this NOSI (NOT-HD-19-019) is to encourage research on the processes that facilitate or hinder the achievement of healthy interbirth intervals and promote healthy birth outcomes This NOSI invites research applications that assess the causal social and behavioral processes that facilitate or hinder the achievement of healthy interbirth intervals and to identify mechanisms that can be modified by public health interventions at the levels of the dyad, family, community, or other population aggregates.
- Studies of how social and economic norms influence the achievement of healthy birth intervals are of particular interest. Applications that propose secondary analyses of existing data from randomized control trials, natural experiments, or public health interventions are welcomed, as are proposals that would help improve or assess future clinical trials.
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- LOI Deadline: Jun 1; Application Deadline: Aug 31
- This targeted PFA seeks to fund large randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and/or well-designed observational studies comparing multicomponent strategies to improve early detection of and timely care for complications up to six weeks postpartum for groups more often underserved or experiencing the greatest disparities in health outcomes, including Black, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Hispanic, rural, and low socioeconomic status (SES) populations.
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Funds available: $5 million (small studies) - $15 million (large studies)
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Max project period: 5 years
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- $150,000 grant, due June 30
- March of Dimes invites requests for applications for impactful research studies that will advance translational understanding of, or lead to improved clinical treatment of, any serious medical conditions that affect the health of a woman’s pregnancy and/or mothers and newborns within the first year postpartum. Applications focused on preterm birth and health equity are prioritized. All applications should clearly outline a path from discovery to functional studies to clinical translation. The eventual goal to cure or greatly mitigate conditions that adversely impact the health of pregnant women and newborns is required.
- Eligibility: This is an early career grant intended for young investigators who are just embarking on an independent research career. Each application should be accompanied by a Letter of Nomination from the applicant’s Dean, Chair, or Director of their affiliated Institute or Center
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If you need assistance finding funding for your research or support from the IRS team, contact Dr. Meg Sparling at msparling@ucdavis.edu.
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Recent POD Faculty Publications
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Zhu, Y.,…, Mouat, J.S., Williams, L.A., Walker, C.K., Hertz-Picciotto, I.H., Schmidt, R.J., LaSalle, J.M. Placental methylome reveals a 22q13.33 brain regulatory gene locus associated with autism. Genome Biol 23, 46 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-022-02613-1
Lyall, K,…, Hertz-Picciotto, IH,…, IH, Schmidt, RJ, on behalf of program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. Cardiometabolic Pregnancy Complications in Association with Autism-Related Traits as Measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale in ECHO. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwac061
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Co-Director, POD Center
Dr. LaSalle is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UC Davis and a Co-Director of the POD Center. She has leadership roles in several research centers on campus, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of her research program in epigenetics mechanisms at the interface of genes and environment in autism spectrum disorders. In addition to leadership of the POD Center, Dr. LaSalle serves as the Associate Director of Genomics at the UC Davis Genome Center, Deputy Director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the IDDRC at the MIND Institute.
The research focus in Dr. LaSalle’s laboratory is on epigenetics of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, Rett, Prader-Willi, Angelman, and Dup15q syndromes. Her lab uses genomic and epigenomic technologies to investigate the role of DNA methylation and MeCP2 in the pathogenesis of Rett syndrome and autism spectrum disorders. The LaSalle lab also takes integrative genetic and epigenomic approaches to investigate perinatal tissues such as placenta, cord blood, and newborn blood spots for prediction and prevention of health disparities.
Recent publications include:
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LaSalle JM and Mouat JS. The promise of DNA methylation in understanding multigenerational factors in autism spectrum disorders. Frontiers in Genetics, 13:831221. eCollection 2022.PMID: 35242170.
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Brown AP, Cai L, Laufer BI, Miller LA, LaSalle JM, Ji H. Long-term effects of wildfire smoke exposure during early-life on the nasal methylome in rhesus macaques. Environment International, Jan 2022.
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LaSalle JM. Placenta keeps the score of maternal cannabis use and child anxiety. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2021. Nov 23;118: e2118394118. PMID: 34789581.
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Breton CV,…, LaSalle JM, et. al. 2021. Exploring the evidence for epigenetic regulation of environmental influences on child health across generations. Commun Biol. 2021 Jun 22;4(1):769. PMID: 34158610.
Some additional fun facts about Janine:
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Where did you grow up? King George County, VA (a rural Tidewater area on the Potomac downriver from Washington DC)
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What drew you to this field? A desire to do research that matters. My mother was a public health nurse, my father a Cold War physicist, so I’m a hybrid of passions for both basic science and translation to societal impact.
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Where are you happiest at work? In our lab meetings, learning and discussing new findings with my team.
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Where are you happiest outside of work? Reading, running, dog adventures, family dinners.
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What is something your colleagues/students generally don’t know about you? I was into theater and acted in high school and college. Mostly small roles and bit parts but had a lot of fun.
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Partner Events, Publications, & Resources
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Events & Trainings
(UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative, First 5 Center for Children’s Policy)
(Birthing Cultural Rigor, UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative, SF Department of Public Health)
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Publications
The National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH) released its MCHalert newsletter for Spring 2022, which provides quick access to resources in five areas:
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From the Field showcases the latest trainings gathered by the MCH Navigator and resources collected by the MCH Library.
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New from NCEMCH introduces new resources developed by our staff for immediate use in your daily work or research.
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What Works highlights evidence-linked resources to ensure that your programs have impact with the communities you serve.
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Advancing Academics provides the latest news and resources for student and current/emerging teachers of MCH.
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Leveraging Learning shares implementation resources that lead to real-time impact and advance health equity.
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The Yearbook provides national and state-by-state views of how America’s babies and their families are faring, according to more than 60 indicators in ZERO TO THREE’s policy framework of Good Health, Strong Families, and Positive Early Learning Experiences. Indicators in each domain examine child and family well-being, status and reach of programs and services, and the presence or absence of key policies that are essential for healthy development.
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Resources
This episode of the Perinatal Care podcast discusses inequalities in perinatal care with a focus on Black communities in the United States.
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The Black Mamas Matter Alliance held a webinar with the nation’s top leaders fighting to end maternal mortality among Black mothers / birthing people. Watch a recording of the event, which featured Vice President Kamala Harris, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Rep. Lauren Underwood, and others.
This webinar, made possible by the California Health Care Foundation, explored challenges and opportunities to expanding the maternity care workforce and highlight California and New Jersey’s experiences in implementing the doula benefit. National and state experts shared key considerations for developing a doula workforce.
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