Professors Receive $1.36M NIH Grant to Lead Doctoral Training Program in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Health.
Professors Receive $1.36M NIH Grant to Lead Doctoral Training Program in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Health
The Boston University Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology training program will prepare the next generation of leaders in RPP health with hands-on experience in epidemiology, innovative digital health, and community-engaged research.
Three School of Public Health faculty members have received a new T32 award from the National Institutes of Health to continue a training program that enables doctoral students to hone innovative research skills in reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology (RPP).
Lauren Wise and Martha Werler, professors of epidemiology, and Samantha Parker Kelleher, associate professor of epidemiology, received a five-year, $1,364,580 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to lead the Boston University Reproductive, Perinatal and Pediatric Epidemiology Training Program (BURPPE).
The award marks the third iteration of this training program at SPH, previously led by Werler from 2007-2017. During each year of the new program, at least five epidemiology PhD students will gain hands-on experience in novel epidemiologic methods, digital health data, and community-engaged research—all critical skills needed to navigate advancements in analytic techniques and data collection within RPP population health and, ultimately, reduce the burden of adverse RPP outcomes. RPP research addresses a wide range of health issues that can arise during preconception, pregnancy, and childbirth, and examines the risk factors and exposures that can affect the development and well-being of infants, children, and adolescents.
“The BURPPE training program takes advantage of the wealth of expertise that we have in the Department of Epidemiology, with a lot of data resources and an extensive history of training former students who have acquired very successful positions and have contributed to the field,” says Werler, who has published extensive research on the impact of pregnancy exposures on birth outcomes. “We want to be able to further that training by supporting additional students, beginning this fall.”
In addition to the requirements of their PhD program, BURPPE trainees will complete advanced coursework and research projects, and will gain clinical and grant-writing experience and mentorship in RPP health, leveraging several established research initiatives and expertise at BU. The training will focus on four pillars: RPP epidemiology, digital data collection, novel analytic methods, and community-engaged research.
“What’s great about this training is that expertise and mentorship will be provided by faculty who are doing RPP research at the School of Public Health, as well as the School of Medicine and other schools across BU,” says Wise, who is the principal investigator of Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), the long-running, web-based preconception cohort study at SPH that uncovers lifestyle, environmental, and medical factors that may affect people’s chances of conceiving and having successful pregnancies. It is the largest study of its kind worldwide, and BURPPE trainees will engage with this work during their program.
They will also gain hands-on experience in working with large datasets and inclusive methodologies through ongoing work at The Rubenstein Lab at SPH. Led by Eric Rubenstein, associate professor of epidemiology, the lab conducts research focused on improving the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), with input and collaboration from members of the IDD community at all stages of this research. Some of the lab’s current projects are examining Medicaid access, gaining, and pregnancy among people with IDD.
Trainees will also have the opportunity to utilize electronic medical records and digital data to study hypertension among postpartum patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Parker Kelleher has led research related to this work, including monitoring the effects of a remote blood pressure monitoring program among BMC patients.
The students will also benefit from the expertise of clinicians and faculty at BMC and BU’s Chobanian & Avedesian School of Medicine, including Elisha Wachman, attending neonatologist at BMC and an associate professor of pediatrics; Elijah Paintsil, chief of pediatrics at BMC; and Renee Boynton-Jarrett, pediatrician and social epidemiologist at BMC and an associate professor of pediatrics who leads the Vital Village Network, a nonprofit initiative that mobilizes residents, community organizations, and institutions to create community changes that protect children and promote healthy social and emotional development in early childhood.
Kate Ahrens (SPH’12), a graduate of the epidemiology PhD program and a BURPPE alum, says the training program provided advanced academic instruction and welcome financial assistance, especially as the mother of a young son when she began the program.
“I loved the combination of rigorous coursework, supportive faculty, and hands-on research and clinical experience,” says Ahrens, who is a principal health data analyst at Onpoint Health Data and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Southern Maine. “My time in the BURPPE program taught me to be a careful epidemiologist, and pursue jobs and research that were meaningful. I know that I will always be able to rely on the BURPPE faculty for mentorship, even now, many years after I left the program.”
BURPPE graduates have helped shape the current program, Werler says.
“I am so proud of our 16 BURPPE-trained alums, all of whom advanced to leadership positions in academia, government, or pharmacology,” says Werler. “I can’t wait for the new group of trainees to be immersed in the program and become esteemed alums in the future.”