Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center

The Perinatal Origins of Disparities (POD) Center at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis brings together behavioral and basic science, community organizations and technology research to better understand – and ultimately intervene in – prenatal and early life factors that affect later life health, especially factors that are more common in presently and historically marginalized communities.

One important contributor to lifelong health for both mothers and their infants is complications related to their heart health during their pregnancy. These complications are most devastating to marginalized communities. A better understanding of heart health during and after pregnancy will help us to design interventions that can improve maternal and infant health equity.

Further, the postpartum period is a difficult time for women due to infant caretaking responsibilities, physical recovery, sleep disruption and fatigue. Through this project, we will interview postpartum women who experienced complications — which they were unaware of — during pregnancy that are associated with poor heart health.

A gift to the POD Center provides general support and helps to:

• understand how heart health contributes to health disparities for childbearing women

• apply interdisciplinary science and technology to the challenge of eliminating heart health disparities in the 21st century

• increase the proportion of underrepresented minorities in science, technology, medicine, and nursing

• train the next generation of scientists to approach research using an interdisciplinary lens

• engage, educate, and empower families to reduce health disparities for themselves and within their communities

• serve as a model learning laboratory for improving health equity through innovative interventions