Shannon Gillespie
Ohio State University, OH·Medicine & Clinical Research
Pregnancy carries risks for both baby and mother that current care often fails to catch in time. Preterm birth affects about 1 in 10 births worldwide and causes more than a million deaths a year, yet doctors have few ways to predict or prevent it.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
preterm birth
sPTB
pregnancy
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- 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.
- Characterize each patient's immune response to progesterone, a pregnancy-safe drug, and test whether this profile is associated with future spontaneous preterm birth to guide targeted prevention.
- Evaluate in a randomized controlled trial whether MOMI PODS, a combined mother-infant postpartum primary care program, reduces cardiometabolic and mental health risk for Medicaid-insured patients after high-risk pregnancy.
- Identify the biopsychosocial mechanisms linking MOMI PODS to postpartum health, test whether it makes care more consistent, and find strategies to improve implementation.
More about the research
Meanwhile, US pregnancy-related deaths have more than doubled in two decades, and about half happen after the mother leaves the hospital. The lab works on both problems, which together span pregnancy and the year after birth. One project uses immune measurements in early pregnancy to predict and prevent preterm birth. A second tests a new model of care for mothers and infants after high-risk pregnancy.
Why it matters
Preterm birth and maternal deaths after delivery remain major causes of harm to families, and both lack good tools for prevention. A blood-based test in early pregnancy could help identify who is at risk of spontaneous preterm birth. It could also show who is likely to benefit from progesterone. A proven mother-infant care model could reduce heart, metabolic and mental health risks for Medicaid-insured new mothers, and could be scaled to other health systems.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Daniel Walker
Ohio State University, OH·Public Health & Epidemiology
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.
Stacy Bartlett
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Evaluate current postpartum care models, including Fourth Trimester Care (4TM) with its two-week first visit, using quantitative electronic health record data from local health care sites.
Michelle Roley-Roberts
West Virginia University, WV·Psychology
Test in a randomized controlled trial with 100 at-risk pregnant women in rural West Virginia whether the online Preventing Postpartum Onset Distress program reduces prenatal anxiety and other postpartum anxiety risk factors more than an anxiety education control.
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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