SHARE:  
June 2022
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.
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.

Announcements
Happy Summer!
During the summer break we'll be:
  • Preparing for strategic planning this Fall
  • Meeting individually with POD Center faculty, students, and stakeholders
  • Strengthening community and funder partnerships
  • Developing a great lineup for our monthly journal club
  • Planning our new seminar series
We look forward to sharing these new developments with you this Fall; but please keep in touch over the summer!
Infant Formula Shortage

In light of ongoing infant formula shortages across the country, we want to highlight a few resources for health care providers and for families:




The POD Center's joint research forum with the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (CHPR) was a tremendous success, with eight "lightning" presentations and over 40 participants joining in the two-hour event.

If you missed it, you can watch the video recording here.
New Funding Opportunities
  • Internal deadline: June 13, 2022; Sponsor deadline: Sept 15, 2022
  • Funds available: $300,000 award total
  • The primary mission of The Hartwell Foundation is to grant awards to individuals for innovative and cutting-edge biomedical applied research that will potentially benefit children. The general aim is to provide funds for early stage research projects that have not yet qualified for funding from traditional sources. 
  • Most Hartwell Investigators are junior faculty at the assistant professor level. However, senior investigators may also be eligible if they are proposing early-stage, innovative, and cutting-edge biomedical research that is a significant departure from their prior work. The research must not be an incremental extension of existing research being conducted by either the applicant or others. 
  • The Foundation will only consider proposals in biomedical research. 
  • Due date: June 30, 2022
  • Funds available: $150,000 grant
  • 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
HHS-HRSA Forecasts

  • Estimated Post Date: Oct 04, 2022
  • Estimated Application Due Date: Jan 03, 2023
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $900,000
  • Award Ceiling: $900,000
  • Description: The Promoting Family Engagement and Leadership in Systems of Services: Enhancing Family Engagement and Leadership program’s purpose is to improve maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes by enhancing the engagement of individuals with lived experience and families in the systems that serve them through national leadership, identification of best practices to engage diverse families and youth, technical support to programs, including family to family health information centers, and promotion of shared definitions and metrics for family engagement across MCH.

HRSA MCH Field-Initiated Research (MCH FIRST) Forecast 1
  • Estimated Post Date: Nov 04, 2022
  • Estimated Application Due Date: Feb 02, 2023
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $600,000
  • Description: The purpose of the MCHB Field-Initiated Innovative Research Studies (FIRST) Program Portfolio is to advance the health and well-being of MCH populations by supporting innovative, applied, and translational intervention research studies on critical issues affecting MCH populations.

HRSA MCH Secondary Data Analysis Research (MCH SDAR) Forecast 2
  • Estimated Post Date: Nov 08, 2022
  • Estimated Application Due Date: Feb 06, 2023
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $600,000
  • Award Ceiling: $120,000
  • Description: The purpose of the Maternal and Child Health Secondary Data Analysis Research Program is to improve maternal and child health (MCH) by supporting researchers who study emerging and priority issues in MCH in a cost-effective way by conducting secondary data analysis using existing national databases and/or administrative records.

HRSA Life Course Interventions Research Network (LCI-RB) Forecast 2
  • Estimated Post Date: Jan 09, 2023
  • Estimated Application Due Date: Apr 10, 2023
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $800,000
  • Award Ceiling: $800,000
  • Description: The purpose of the Life Course Intervention Research Network is to foster optimal health and well-being for children by coordinating the design and implementation of life course intervention research studies; conducting primary and secondary data analyses that apply life course health development principles to emerging issues; and training the next generation of researchers to design effective interventions that address emerging life course issues in maternal and child health.
The Interdisciplinary Research Support (IRS) unit of the Office of Research coordinates the preparation of major grant proposals for large-scale, interdisciplinary research programs. The Funding Opportunities Program assists researchers in identifying funding opportunities.

If you need assistance finding funding for your research or support from the IRS team, contact Dr. Meg Sparling at msparling@ucdavis.edu.

Recent POD Faculty Publications
Chambers BD, et al. Clinicians’ Perspectives on Racism and Black Women’s Maternal Health.Women's Health Reports. May 2022.476-482. doi:10.1089/whr.2021.0148
 
Chithiwala Z,…, Hedriana H, Clark S. Maximizing the Number of Providers Using Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use in Pregnancy [A50], Obstetrics & Gynecology: May 2022 - Volume 139 - Issue - p 15S. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000826536.56942.10.

Whipps MD, Phipps JE, Simmons LA. Measuring Evidence-Based Viral Respiratory Illness Mitigation Behaviors in Pregnant Populations: Development and Validation of a Short, Single-Factor Scale During the COVID-19 Pandemic [published online ahead of print, 2022 May 2]. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022;1-26. doi:10.1017/dmp.2022.103.
Spotlight on ECHO
Dr. Irva Hertz-Piccioto
Dr. Rebecca Schmidt
Dr. Deborah Bennett
 
ECHO investigators Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD and Rebecca Schmidt, PhD authored a publication that shows an association between maternal tobacco use before or during pregnancy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits. Traits associated with ASD include social and communication impairment, little to no eye contact, difficulty with engaging in conversation, a narrow set of interests, and repetitive habits. This publication, published in Autism Research, also found that full-term babies of mothers who smoked before or during pregnancy were 44% more likely to be diagnosed with ASD later in childhood.

This publication in Environmental Science & Technology with investigators Deborah Bennett, PhD and Rebecca Schmidt, PhD, found exposure to many environmental chemicals in a diverse sample of pregnant women in the United States, including women in the Sacramento region. All participants had chemical exposure; however, the study found higher exposures for non-white women, those with lower educational attainment, or who were single or had been exposed to tobacco. Latinas had especially high levels of parabens, which are used as preservatives, as well as phalates and bisphenols, which are used in plastics.
Partner Events, Publications, & Resources
Events & Trainings

June 8, 2022 (3:00-4:15PM ET)
Amplifying Birthworker Models of Care: Focusing on the Growing Maternal Mortality Crisis (AMCHP). Join this virtual conversation around birthworkers and the various contributions they make to overcome maternal mortality.

June 15, 2002 (2:00pm-3:30pm ET)
Reimagining Black Family and Child Well-Being in Research, Programming, and Public Policy (Child Trends). This webinar is part of a new Child Trends initiative to build a multi-year applied research agenda on Black children and families. As part of this initiative, Child Trends has prepared a brief that outlines how Black families’ cultural assets can inform policy and practice, along with an upcoming summary of research priorities proposed by community organizations serving Black children and families.

June 28, July 14, July 27, 2022 (12-1:15pm)
(Birthing Cultural Rigor, UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative, SF Department of Public Health)
Publications & Resources

A new literature and measure review from Child Trends and James Bell Associates examines existing research on home visiting implementation quality. Researchers identify aspects of quality across levels of the home visiting system (federal, state, program, etc.) to reflect the shared responsibility for implementation quality regardless of where one sits in the system.
The CDPH MCAH Division creates indicator-specific dashboards with state, county, and/or regional-level indicator data displayed by various stratifications or subgroups and by year. The dashboards are organized by the five Title V health domains: Women/Maternal; Perinatal/Infant; Child; Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN); and Adolescent.

The following dashboards are currently available: Adolescent Birth; Births; Children in Poverty; CYSHCN; Infant Mortality; Pregnancy-Related Mortality; Prenatal Care; Preterm Birth.
Building a Resilient Yolo Summit
If you missed the event, you can still check out the video playlist here!