Document text
Principal Investigator: Sharla Annette Smith
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $140,413
Funding agency: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Project Summary/Abstract
My long-term career goal is to become an independent leading scholar (with R01 funding) drawing on concepts
and methods to improve prenatal care and maternal outcomes among Black women who are three times more
likely than White women to die from preeclampsia, specifically early onset-preeclampsia (EOP), and other
childbirth-related issues. Specifically, I desire to become a nationally recognized health disparities and
implementation science researcher who: 1) identifies and disseminates implementation strategies to improve
processes of prenatal care and 2) increases the uptake of evidence-based treatment to reduce disparities in
maternal mortality faced by Black women.
Training facilitated by this Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical
Research (K01) will provide me with the protected time to obtain the theoretical knowledge and methodological
skills necessary to achieve my long-term career goal. My training goals will address the following content and
methodological areas: 1) prenatal care treatment for preeclampsia, in general, 2) dissemination and
implementation research, and 3) health disparities research. My mentors and I have developed a three-
pronged strategy to achieve my career goals and ensure that my research training needs are met: 1) a strong,
interdisciplinary team of mentors and collaborators who will guide my research and career development; 2) an
innovative research project integrated with my training goals that is both scientifically relevant and rigorous in
its design and methods; and 3) a schedule of didactic coursework, workshops, seminars, professional
interactions, and shadowing in prenatal care clinics that build upon the existing resources of the University of
Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
My proposed research plan seeks to improve the processes of care for Black women by determining the
barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based treatments to prevent preeclampsia, specifically EOP.
The study's specific aims are to 1) examine the implementation of evidenced-based treatment with aspirin to
reduce preeclampsia among high-risk women; 2) determine critical facilitators and barriers to aspirin
implementation among providers; and 3) characterize patients' awareness and perceptions of preeclampsia
and the use of aspirin for prevention. The proposed development plan will provide training, mentorship, and
research experience that will strengthen the foundation for my career as an independent investigator
committed to reducing health care disparities and improving birth outcomes for Black women.
Terms: <ACOG><Acetylsalicylic Acid><Address><Adherence><American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists><Application Context><Area><Aspirin><Awareness><Belief><Biomedical Research><Birth><Black><Black race><Career Development Awards><Career Development Awards and Programs><Career Development Programs K-Series><Caring><Caucasian Females><Caucasian Women><Childbirth><Clinic><Clinical><Communities><Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research><Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science><Consolidated Framework for Implementing Change><Decrease disparity><Development><Development Plans><Development and Research><Disparities><Disparity><Dissemination and Implementation><Doctor's Assistants><Dose><EPH Gestosis><Eclampsia><Educational workshop><Electronic Health Record><Ensure><Evidence based practice><Evidence based treatment><Faculty><Focus Groups><Foundations><Funding><Future><Gestation><Goals><Guidelines><Health Disparities Research><Health disparities related research><High Risk Woman><Hypertension><Incidence><Individual><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Interview><Investigators><K-Awards><K-Series Research Career Programs><Kansas><Knowledge><Low income><Lower disparity><Maternal Mortality><Mentors><Mentorship><Methodology><Methods><Nurse Practitioners><Outcome><Parturition><Patients><Perception><Physician Assistants><Physicians' Extenders><Pre-Eclampsia><Preeclampsia><Pregnancy><Pregnancy Toxemias><Prenatal care><Prevention><Prevention trial><Process><Proteinuria><Proteinuria-Edema-Hypertension Gestosis><Provider><R & D><R&D><R-Series Research Projects><R01 Mechanism><R01 Program><Recommendation><Research><Research Career Program><Research Grants><Research Personnel><Research Project Grants><Research Projects><Research Training><Researchers><Risk Factors><Schedule><Seizures><Structure><Time><Training><Translating><University resources><Vascular Hypertensive Disease><Vascular Hypertensive Disorder><White Females><White Women><Wichita><Woman><Workshop><at-risk females><at-risk women><black female><black women><care outcomes><career><career development><child birth><clinical implementation><clinician behavior><contextual factors><design><designing><developmental><disparate effect><disparate impact><disparate result><disparities in race><disparity due to race><disparity in care><disparity in health><disparity in healthcare><disparity reduction><early onset><electronic health care record><electronic health medical record><electronic health plan record><electronic health registry><electronic medical health record><evidence base><experience><females at high risk><health care disparity><health care inequality><health care inequity><health care outcomes><health disparities science><health disparity><healthcare disparity><healthcare inequality><healthcare inequity><healthcare outcomes><high blood pressure><high risk females><hyperpiesia><hyperpiesis><hypertensive disease><hypertensive disorder><implementation research><implementation science><implementation strategy><improved><inequality due to race><inequitable effect><inequitable impact><inequitable outcome><inequity due to race><innovate><innovation><innovative><interventional strategy><maternal death><maternal morbidity><maternal outcome><medical college><medical schools><mitigate disparity><mother outcome><outcome disparities><outcome inequality><outcome inequity><physician behavior><pre-eclamptic><preference><pregnancy care><pregnancy disorder><pregnancy toxemia/hypertension><prenatal appointment><prenatal checkup><prenatal visit><prevent><preventing><process improvement><provider barriers><provider behavior><provider-level barriers><race based disparity><race based inequality><race based inequity><race disparity><race related disparity><race related inequality><race related inequity><racial disparity><racial inequality><racial inequity><racially unequal><reduce disparity><reduction in disparity><research and development><school of medicine><screening><screenings><skills><strategies for implementation><unequal effect><unequal impact><unequal outcome><uptake><women at high risk>