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. 2025 Aug 26.
doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.18335. Online ahead of print.

Advancing Maternal Health Through the EMBRACE Research Center of Excellence: Foundations, Approach and Protocol

Dara D Méndez  1 , Hyagriv N Simhan  2 , Sade A Tukuru  1 , Stacy Bartlett  3 , Catherine L Haggerty  1 , Ashley Hill  4 , Onome Oghifobibi  5 , Cynthia Salter  6 , Jada Shirriel  7 , Ngozi Tibbs  8 , Lovie J J Foster  1 , Linda Adodoadji  1 , Iris Ryn Olson  1 , Mehret Birru Talabi  9
Affiliations

Advancing Maternal Health Through the EMBRACE Research Center of Excellence: Foundations, Approach and Protocol

Dara D Méndez et al. BJOG. .

Abstract

Objective: To describe the development of the EMBRACE Center, which seeks to advance Black maternal health in Allegheny County through research and capacity building.

Design: The EMBRACE Center is a multidisciplinary community-academic research partnership at the University of Pittsburgh. Researchers and community collaborators-many of them Black-led organisations-share power in ways that value diverse forms of knowledge.

Setting: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Population or sample: Birthing people in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and surrounding regions.

Methods: The EMBRACE Center's Research Project seeks to enhance postpartum (4th Trimester) and interconception care that improves pregnancy outcomes and reduces rates of severe maternal morbidity among Black individuals. EMBRACE's community and training components facilitate community partnerships throughout research, implementation, training, and capacity building for reproductive justice and equity. Working groups focus on shared decision-making, communication, and dissemination processes that enhance data collection and sharing with the community. A multi-disciplinary advisory board and a community advisory board provide feedback to the Center.

Main outcome measures: Research outcomes of interest include reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Center outcome measures include development of a regional maternal health equity workforce.

Results: Center activities include education in maternal health and reproductive justice, data justice community trainings, development of measures for structural and social determinants of maternal health, and convening community advocates, researchers and practitioners for black maternal health and reproductive justice.

Conclusions: The work of EMBRACE will result in sustainable approaches to advance maternal and reproductive health equity and improve well-being for black birthing People.

Keywords: anti‐racism; birthing people; black maternal health; community centered research; health equity; postpartum care; reproductive justice; training.

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References

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    1. Health PADo, Pregnancy Associated Deaths in Pennsylvania, 2013–2018 (2020).
    1. J. Howell, S. Goodkind, L. Jacobs, D. Branson, and L. Miller, Pittsburgh's Inequality Across Gender and Race (2019).

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