Daniel Walker
Ohio State University, OH·Public Health & Epidemiology
Among well-resourced countries, the United States has the worst rates of maternal illness and death. More than half of US maternal deaths happen in the year after birth, over 80% are preventable, and rates are higher in some populations.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
maternal health
maternal morbidity and mortality
perinatal health
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Test how integrated data systems, CHW learning collaboratives and resilience skill building affect timely prenatal and postpartum care, depression and preterm birth, using a 2x2 factorial cluster randomized trial across Ohio's Pathways Community Hubs.
- Examine whether these multi-level strategies improve pregnancy outcomes through the mechanisms predicted by Job Demands–Resources and Resiliency theories, such as stronger CHW resilience and better hub service delivery.
- Determine the cost-effectiveness of hub-led strategies for improving pregnancy-related service delivery and outcomes for pregnant and postpartum clients in Ohio.
More about the research
Several factors drive these rates: growing chronic disease such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and substance use; areas with little healthcare access; gaps in care after delivery; and non-medical needs such as housing and food insecurity. Community care hubs, which use community health workers (CHWs) to coordinate medical and social services, are a promising response. However, evidence on how much they help comes mostly from observational studies of single hubs.
Why it matters
Maternal illness and death remain high in the United States, especially in the year after delivery. Evidence on which hub strategies improve timely care, reduce depression and preterm birth, and are cost-effective could help states design scalable perinatal programs. Such programs could better connect pregnant and postpartum people with both clinical care and support for needs such as housing and food.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Susan Perez
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine whether a multifaceted patient-centered maternity care intervention improves hospital maternal outcomes and patient satisfaction, compared with remote self-paced training alone, in a cluster randomized trial across 9 Ochsner hospitals.
Shannon Gillespie
Ohio State University, OH·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether a prenatal immunomonitoring algorithm, based on immune function in early-pregnancy blood samples, predicts spontaneous preterm birth in a large, diverse cohort of singleton pregnancies.
Jacquelyn Taylor
Columbia University, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test a doula-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy program for postpartum people in a Type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial, measuring cardiovascular, mental health and social-determinant outcomes while building trauma-informed service models and hospital-community care linkages.
The school
Ohio State University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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