Over $40 Million Awarded through NIH IMPROVE Initiative in FY25 to Support Research to Reduce Preventable Maternal Death Secured by BMHC

WASHINGTON – In Fiscal Year 2025, over $40 million was awarded through the NIH IMPROVE (Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone) Initiative, reflecting grant funding requested by the Black Maternal Health Caucus. In total, over $142 million has been awarded through the NIH IMPROVE initiative to date. 

In early 2019, Co-Chairs Adams and Underwood met with then-Director Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to urge the agency to do more to prioritize research that will help solve our maternal health crisis. In response, NIH launched the IMPROVE Initiative that year. The BMHC has championed IMPROVE since its launch and has secured stable or increased funding every year since then. Through the federal appropriations process, the Caucus has increased funding for the Initiative five-fold since it was launched.

The IMPROVE initiative supports research to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths and improve health for women before, during, and after pregnancy with a special emphasis on health disparities and populations that are disproportionately affected, such as racial and ethnic minorities. Black Maternal Health Caucus Co-Chair Underwood has worked alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) to introduce the NIH IMPROVE Act, which would authorize $73.4 million annually for six years to carry out the IMPROVE Initiative.

NIH IMPROVE first launched its Centers of Excellence program in 2023 to support the development and evaluation of innovative approaches that reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity. In 2024, NIH announced two additional Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence. Below is a list of FY25 Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence awardees, in addition to the Implementation Science Hub at the University of Pennsylvania, which received $2,933,878, and the Maternal Health Data Innovation and Coordination Hub at Johns Hopkins University, which received $2,029,750. 

The FY25 awardees are listed below:

• Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences - $2,66,072
  Maternal Health Multilevel Intervention/s for Racial Equity (MIRACLE) Center
• Tulane University - $2,631,572
  Southern Center for Maternal Health Equity
• Columbia University - $2,350,093
  NY Community-Hospital-Academic Maternal Health Equity Partnerships (NY-CHAMP)
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center - $1,432,650 
  Center for Indigenous Resilience, Culture, and Maternal Health Equity
• Stanford University - $2,026,168
  Stanford PRIHSM: Preventing Inequities in Hemorrhage-related Severe Maternal Morbidity
• Medical College of Wisconsin - $1,537,127
  Addressing Key Social-Structural Risk Factors for Racial Disparities in Maternal Morbidity in Southeastern Wisconsin (ASCEND WI) Center
• University of Pittsburgh - $2,259,700
  Enhancing Maternal and Birthing Outcomes and Reproductive HeAlth through Community Engagement (EMBRACE) Center
• University of Utah - $2,098,927
  ELEVATE Center: Reduction of Maternal Morbidity from Substance Use Disorder in Utah
• Morehouse School of Medicine - $1,479,814
  Center to Advance Reproductive Justice and Behavioral Health among Black Pregnant/Postpartum Women and Birthing People (CORAL)
• Jackson State University - $2,491,541
  Delta Mississippi Center of Excellence in Maternal Health
• Avera McKennan Hospital - $1,469,241
  Maternal American-Indian Rural Community Health (MARCH) Center of Excellence 

Additionally, IMPROVE supports multidisciplinary and innovative intervention research to understand and address maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States, particularly but not exclusively among racial and/or ethnic minority, low socioeconomic status (SES), and low-resourced rural populations, with a focus on understudied healthcare factors. Below is a list of FY25 awardees:

• University Of South Carolina at Columbia - $1,664,038
  Impact of 12-month Postpartum Insurance Extensions on Maternal and Newborn Health
• Massachusetts General Hospital - $2,416,587
  Establishing a Screening Tool for Early Detection of PTSD following Complicated Childbirth
• RAND Corporation - $577,859 
  Impacts of Telehealth Policies on Disparities in Perinatal Behavioral Health Care Access and Outcomes
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences - $1,529,996
  CARE PATH Community Health Worker (CHW) Assessment for Postpartum Health
• University Of Michigan at Ann Arbor - $1,573,144
  Addressing Severe Maternal Morbidity of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals by Targeting Clinical and Health System Factors
• Boston College - $323,809
  State differences in the effects of policy change on maternal health
• Emory University - $1,318,470
  Reducing maternal and child health disparities through point-of-care STI testing in underserved populations (MATCH-POINT)
• Northwestern University at Chicago - $679,790
  Partnering with Antenatal Navigators to Transform Health in Pregnancy (PATH) 

Finally, NIH IMPROVE has funded research for investigators currently funded through the IMPROVE Initiative to promote healthy pregnancies and enhance maternal health outcomes. Below is a list of FY25 Awardees:

• Stanford University - $1,615,475
  Early Intervention for Postpartum PTSD: Comparing Written Exposure and Capnometry-Guided Breathing Therapy
• Medical College of Wisconsin - $1,256,373
  MINDBP – Mindfulness and Wearable Biosensors to Prevent Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

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