# Improving the Quality of Prenatal Care for Low-Income, Urban, Black Women

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $140,097

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
My long-term career goal is to become an independent leading scholar (with R01 funding) drawing on concepts
and methods to improve prenatal care and maternal outcomes among Black women who are three times more
likely than White women to die from preeclampsia, specifically early onset-preeclampsia (EOP), and other
childbirth-related issues. Specifically, I desire to become a nationally recognized health disparities and
implementation science researcher who: 1) identifies and disseminates implementation strategies to improve
processes of prenatal care and 2) increases the uptake of evidence-based treatment to reduce disparities in
maternal mortality faced by Black women.
Training facilitated by this Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical
Research (K01) will provide me with the protected time to obtain the theoretical knowledge and methodological
skills necessary to achieve my long-term career goal. My training goals will address the following content and
methodological areas: 1) prenatal care treatment for preeclampsia, in general, 2) dissemination and
implementation research, and 3) health disparities research. My mentors and I have developed a three-
pronged strategy to achieve my career goals and ensure that my research training needs are met: 1) a strong,
interdisciplinary team of mentors and collaborators who will guide my research and career development; 2) an
innovative research project integrated with my training goals that is both scientifically relevant and rigorous in
its design and methods; and 3) a schedule of didactic coursework, workshops, seminars, professional
interactions, and shadowing in prenatal care clinics that build upon the existing resources of the University of
Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
My proposed research plan seeks to improve the processes of care for Black women by determining the
barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based treatments to prevent preeclampsia, specifically EOP.
The study's specific aims are to 1) examine the implementation of evidenced-based treatment with aspirin to
reduce preeclampsia among high-risk women; 2) determine critical facilitators and barriers to aspirin
implementation among providers; and 3) characterize patients' awareness and perceptions of preeclampsia
and the use of aspirin for prevention. The proposed development plan will provide training, mentorship, and
research experience that will strengthen the foundation for my career as an independent investigator
committed to reducing health care disparities and improving birth outcomes for Black women.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10065518
- **Project number:** 5K01HL149977-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Sharla Annette Smith
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $140,097
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-12-10 → 2024-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10065518

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10065518, Improving the Quality of Prenatal Care for Low-Income, Urban, Black Women (5K01HL149977-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10065518. Licensed CC0.

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