The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any wealthy nation — and Black American women experience the worst of the worst, dying at rates roughly 2.5 times the national average and about three times higher than the rate of white women.
Morgan State University in Baltimore is advancing groundbreaking, community-centered research examining how Black communities can contribute solutions to this persistent crisis. And Dr. Jessica Owens-Young, a professor in Morgan State’s Department of Public and Allied Health and the Center for Urban Health Equity, is at the forefront of the effort.
“Dr. Joy,” as she is known to colleagues because of her initials, serves as principal investigator of the Maternal Health Research Coordinating Center, a national network of 16 research centers across 19 sites at HBCUs and minority-serving institutions. All are working to close persistent gaps in maternal health outcomes for Black communities by engaging in research that goes beyond further documenting problems to recommending practical solutions for community adoption.
For example, the centers have tackled policy issues to help make doulas more widely available to help women in childbirth and created performance art to disseminate critical information to communities.
Dr. Joy discusses the mission and work of the Maternal Health Research Coordinating Center in this conversation that has been edited for length and clarity.
WIB: Why was the center founded and what type of research does it conduct?
Dr. Joy Owens-Young: The purpose of the center is to build research capacity among HBCUs and minority-serving institutions for maternal health research. We provide training and networking opportunities to ensure that researchers can begin or enhance their careers with the skills, capabilities and connections needed to conduct problem-solving maternal health research. Too often, research is focused on the actual problem, but we need more about the solutions, meaning what works from the community level. And so all of our research centers have established community partnerships and work within their local communities to develop solutions to improve maternal health.
WIB: How was the center founded and what does it do that differs from other institutions?
Owens-Young: This center was started by Dr. Yvonne Bronner to bring different institutions together to ensure that researchers at HBCUs and MSIs were able to do this kind of research. Historically and contemporarily, HBCUs and MSIs are underfunded and don’t tend to get as much research support as other institutions. They’re also traditionally teaching schools, but professors have a heavy teaching load and don’t get to spend a lot of time actually doing research. So, investment like this allows folks to devote time to actually doing the research.
WIB: Why is it important for HBCUs to be able to engage in this type of research??
Owens-Young: I think there’s a false narrative circulating that community-based research doesn’t include “gold standard science” when it actually does. It’s important for Black folks, Latino folks and folks who historically have been excluded from obtaining the financial resourcesand the academic skills that it takes to do it.
I believe the folks closest to the problem are the ones with the solution. Researchers have lived experiences that drive us to want to do this kind of work. We’re not in it for the money. We do it because we see a problem, or we have lived with a problem, and we understand what it takes to solve those problems. And so you use your energy and and devote your life’s work to addressing issues that you might have firsthand experience with, or that you know deeply impacts people you care about and love. That’s why it’s important to invest in Black researchers.
WIB: What impacts are you seeing?
Owens-Young: We support academic publishing — the traditional publishing routes that academics tend to take in peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and other media exposures like interviews and documentaries. We also are focused on things that are not as easily measured, but are just as important. For example, ensuring that early-stage investigators, or folks who recently earned their Ph.Ds, become an academic.We’re looking at the development of their identity as a scholar. One way that we do that is by connecting them with professional networking opportunities or opportunities to present so they see themselves as a part of the academic community and not just as a former student.
WIB: Help our readers understand how important it is for Black researchers’ work to be published in peer-reviewed journals because only 1% to 2% of research published is written by Black authors. What is the effect of your work?
Owens-Young: One thing that I love about being a part of this collaborative is that it shows the depth and breadth of the different types of research and issues that are being tackled that are important to Black communities, but can affect all communities. These findings can change practices and policies that will ultimately lift the health of all communities.,
For example, one research center is using the arts as a dissemination tool and created what is called a “choreopoem,” and they use that performance to talk about maternal health issues. Then you go to the policy side and develop programs to help enroll more doulas to become Medicaid-certified providers so that they can do their work and get reimbursed.
The research shows that doula care promotes health, not just for moms but also their families., So creating a program to get more doulas Medicaid eligible for reimbursement is going to help a whole lot of people.
So you’ve got art, you’ve got policy and then you have research centers that are integrating computer science to create simulation models that can show if you implement this policy in this community, these are the likely impacts. It’s a decision-making tool. We’re creating things that can help folks make smarter decisions for the health of everyone at the end of the day.
WIB: People tend to think of research as being an ivory tower kind of activity. How are centers putting research into practice to really solve these problems?
Owens-Young: One of our research centers in Tugaloo, Mississippi, used some of their findings to inform legislation to provide transportation support for pregnant women, making sure they get to prenatal and postpartum appointments and other things that support their care. And while the bill didn’t pass, it’s still a demonstration of how you know researchers at HBCUs and MSIs are creating action-based, action-oriented research that can lead to change.
You know, we’re not doing research just to generate knowledge. We also are generating knowledge that can be picked up and used by stakeholders to make the changes we need to see in our communities.
