Community Partners Core, the Southern Center for Maternal Health
The Southern Center for Maternal Health, a partner in the NIH-funded IMPROVE Initiative, works to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality among women in the Gulf South through cross-sector collaboration across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. The Center partners with academic institutions, healthcare systems, and local communities to conduct community-driven research and build regional research capacity. It also works to ensure that research priorities reflect the needs of the populations it serves, which is a commitment operationalized through the Community Partners Core (CP Core). The CP Core embeds community partners directly within research projects, where their expertise, lived experience, and knowledge of local priorities help guide study design and inform how findings are translated into practice.
MCH Faculty involved: Emily Harville, Melissa Goldin Evans, Kat Theall, Dovile Vilda, Kirsten Dorans, Kevin Callison, Lizheng Shi
M-O-M-S on the Bayou
We conducted a prenatal peer support program, Mentors Offering Maternal Support (MOMS), focused on improving mental health in hurricane-affected areas in southern Louisiana (2023-2025). Starting in 2023, we implemented the MOMS program in the Bayou and River Parishes regions, the two regions of the state that had been hardest hit by the most recent major hurricane in the area, Ida. Participants completed questionnaires about their disaster experience, worries about future storms, and mental health (depression, pregnancy-related anxiety). Changes made to the program included offering it online and incorporating a session on disaster preparedness and response. Two facilitators, women with experience of motherhood and previous experience in informal counseling and outreach, conducted 19 rounds of the 6-session intervention. Participants expressed strong appreciation of the program, and essentially all participants reported the program achieved its goals and was feasible, appropriate, and acceptable. We conclude that M-O-M-S shows promise as a post-disaster intervention, but significant effort in determining enrollment strategies is necessary to reach a wider range of women who would benefit.
MCH Faculty involved: Emily Harville
STRIVE Study
The STRIVE study compares different ways of implementing the Diabetes Prevention Program among postpartum moms at WIC clinics. Participating moms either have a history of gestational diabetes in any pregnancy, have a history of obesity, or are currently obese. The goal of the study is to help postpartum women achieve weight loss through healthy eating and physical activity. MCH students serve as research assistants for the study and help support the project through participant recruitment, data management, and community events.
MCH Faculty involved: Kirsten Dorans
AI Design Sprint, hosted by the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (CEMCH)
On December 5, 2025, Tulane's Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (CEMCH) convened 26 community partners, state agency representatives, and academic collaborators for a collaborative AI Design Sprint. The session, part of the CEMCH Emerging Issues Supplement on ethical AI in MCH practice, surfaced critical insights about how Louisiana's MCH ecosystem views AI adoption—its possibilities, risks, and the conditions under which partners would engage.
MCH Faculty involved: Kat Theall, Shokufeh Ramirez, Dovile Vilda, Melissa Goldin Evans
