News

July Collaboratory: Black Women's Perspectives on Structural Racism Across the Reproductive Lifecourse

How do you measure experiences of racism? What about measuring the ways structural racism impacts our current lives? Some measures for structural racism have been developed but Black women’s voices have largely been missing from this process. Dr. Brittany D. Chamber’s research is seeking to remedy...

2017-2018 Program Update

As we step into a new programmatic year, we're reflecting on accomplishments of 2017-2018 and are so proud of what we've achieved, together. We are delighted to share our program update with you!

The Parent Clinician Advisory Board All-Site Meeting

Involving patients, families and communities in the planning and implementation of research improves the quality and applicability of research findings. Unfortunately, parents and clinicians who have first-hand experience caring for infants in neonatal intensive care units NICUs rarely have the...

New Study Links Structural Racism with Increased Risk for Preterm Birth and Infant Mortality in Black Women

Racism plays a key role in perpetuating the health inequities we see in birth outcomes among Black women in California today, including preterm birth and infant death before 1 year of age. Research has suggested that higher levels of racial segregation are associated with worse birth outcomes, but...

Risk of Preterm Birth Reliably Predicted by New Test

Identifying Women at Risk in Second Trimester Could Lead to Early Treatment, Prevention Scientists at UC San Francisco have developed a test to predict a woman’s risk of preterm birth when she is between 15 and 20 weeks pregnant, which may enable doctors to treat them early and thereby prevent...

New Study Finds Drop in Preterm Births After Closing Coal, Oil Power Plants

Coal and oil power plant retirements in California associated with reduced preterm birth among populations nearby    

Designing Better Pregnancy Care for SF Medi-cal Insured Women

Health care experiences of pregnant, birthing and postnatal women of color at risk for preterm birth

Chronic stress is a known risk factor for preterm birth, yet little is known about how healthcare experiences add to or mitigate perceived stress. This study, published in Social Science & Medicine, describes the pregnancy-related healthcare experiences of 54 women of color from Fresno, Oakland...

A New Protocol for Research Priority Setting

A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting, published in JOVE!  

Benioff Community Innovators Program Report

This year, 10 women from San Francisco were trained in and conducted qualitative research in order to make their own recommendations to improve insecure housing for pregnant women, and prevent preterm birth! The Benioff Community Innovators went from learning to sharing at scientific conferences (...