# Training Program

> **NIH NIH U54** · JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $435,025

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: Training Program
Despite the urgent need to address maternal mortality, severe morbidity, and disparities, previous efforts have
failed to improve maternal health outcomes. Notably, most research efforts to reduce maternal mortality and
severe maternal morbidity have focused on clinical care and have not addressed the role of the maternal
health workforce in the community. To effectively reduce maternal health inequities and improve outcomes,
more research focused on structural and social determinants maternal health is needed, especially research
conducted in underserved areas by researchers from those communities. To this end, our proposed
Mississippi Delta Research Center of Excellence for Maternal Health will include a training program for
early-stage investigators focused on addressing the interpersonal and structural factors that affect maternal
health outcomes in at-risk communities. In meeting the challenges posed by the social determinants of health,
there is increasing recognition of the importance of research conducted with people and in places with the
greatest vulnerability. This includes valuing the potential of scientists working in historically under-resourced
institutions and with underserved communities, such as researchers at institutions located in limited-resource
regions of the Southern United States and at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the
rural–urban continuum. Our proposed training program will focus on early-stage investigators at two
Mississippi HBCUs, Jackson State University and Alcorn State University, and will leverage existing resources
in maternal health training within these universities, at the Southern Rural Development Center based at
Mississippi State University, and at Harvard University. Our collaborative approach will capitalize on the
expertise of our program leads and community partners in maternal health systems and the strong existing
relationships among the various participating institutions. The overarching goal of our research training
program is to foster culturally responsive research that addresses maternal health disparities. We will achieve
this goal through (1) increasing the number of postdoctoral trainees, junior faculty, and other early-stage
investigators engaging in research related to biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and/or
structural factors that affect pregnancy-related and pregnancy-associated morbidity and mortality and severe
maternal morbidity in the Mississippi Delta; (2) providing applied research experiences to predoctoral fellows
as the next generation of maternal health research professionals; and (3) providing outreach opportunities to
reach a broader audience. Our extensive research training program will support the goals of the center’s
research projects, address the interpersonal and structural factors that affect maternal health outcomes, and
prepare the next generation of clinical researchers focused on ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10908738
- **Project number:** 5U54HD113238-02
- **Recipient organization:** JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Henning Tiemeier
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $435,025
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-17 → 2030-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10908738

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10908738, Training Program (5U54HD113238-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10908738. Licensed CC0.

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