Martin and Keith participate in NICHD’s Decoding Maternal Morbidity Data Challenge
Posted: 10/16/2021 (CSDE Research)
In July, CSDE sent out a call to affiliates encouraging submissions to the NICHD Decoding Maternal Morbidity Data Challenge. CSDE offered to all teams scientific and technical support, as well as the chance to earn $5,000 in research support from CSDE. On October 15, 2021, CSDE Affiliate and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Melanie Martin and postdoctoral scholar Monica Keith submitted their entry to NICHD. Working from the concept of social determinants of health and embodied stress, they developed a series of structural equation models to identify novel causal pathways linking sociostructural factors and physiological measures of accumulated stress to risks of multiple hypertensive disorders with large burdens among pregnant women. Some pathways identified were consistent across all racial and ethnic groups considered, but some showed considerable variation, reflecting opportunities to address the particularly high burden of maternal morbidity among Black and Hispanic/Latinx mothers.
CSDE Affiliates Steven Goodreau, Jerry Herting, and Tyler McCormick provided feedback to Melanie and Monica and we are happy to announce that Melanie and Monica will receive the $5,000 CSDE award! Congratulations to the team and we wish them the best as their entry goes in for review for one of NICHD’s seven $50,000 prizes!