UM-GHRT Focus on Reproductive Health

For more than seven years the University of Michigan School of Public Health has partnered with the NIH/Fogarty International Center (FIC) to promote capacity building and infrastructure development in reproductive health research in northern Mexico and Zimbabwe. Faculty research programs across the University include studies of infertility and gynecological morbidity, of maternal and perinatal morbidity, of contraceptive acceptability and barriers to the integration of HIV services into Reproductive Health programs, and of child growth and development in the Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Southern Africa.

Formed in 1999 under the leadership of Professor Sioban Harlow, The FIC-sponsored Programa de Formación de Investigadores in Salud Reproductiva (PROFISAR) is a collaborative project between the Professor Sioban Harlow of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan and Professor Catalina Denman of El Colegio de Sonora located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Its primary objectives are to promote the formation of postgraduate level researchers in reproductive health and to establish a network of reproductive health researchers in the northwestern region of Mexico. The program is currently sponsoring studies of gynecologic morbidity, pre-eclampsia and infant mortality in Sonora. A companion project focuses on strengthening research methods training at the University of Zimbabwe in collaboration with Professor Godfrey Woelk.

At the School of Public Health, Professor Sioban Harlow has collaborative research programs focused on perinatal and maternal morbidity, gynecological morbidity and the menopause in Mexico with El Colegio de Sonora and in Puerto Rico with the University of Puerto Rico. Her research on the impact of menstrual dysfunction on women’s health and daily functioning in low and middle income countries documents the importance of addressing menstrual dysfunction in reproductive health programs in these settings (click here for web page on the Reproductive Health of the Global Supply Workers). Dr. Harlow also directs an international collaboration of researchers involved in four cohort studies of women transitioning through the menopause that aims to develop approaches for staging reproductive aging. She is a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of the Reproductive and Health Research Division of the World Health Organization.

In the Department of Anthropology and School of Public Health, Professor Marcia Inhorn conducts research on infertility and new reproductive technologies with a focus on the Middle East. Her current projects include a study of how masculine identity in Arab culture is affected by male infertility. The project studies how new reproductive technologies are used (or not used) in the Middle East and Detroit, where religiously observant Muslim men are prohibited from accepting donor insemination or legal adoption. The "medical migration" of Middle Eastern men to the US for infertility treatment will be studied through a focus on two Arab-American medical centers.

At the Center for Human Growth and Development, Drs. Betsy Lozoff () and Sheila Gahagan’s research focuses on the effects of iron deficiency anemia on infant behavior and development. Iron deficiency is the most common single nutrient disorder in the world. Lozoff directs a large project on the impact of iron deficiency in infancy on 10-year-old children in Chile, continues follow-up studies of the behavioral and developmental effects of iron deficiency in infancy on functional outcome at 19 years among Costa Rican children, and is part of another large study of micronutrient supplementation in India. The results of research by Lozoff and others indicate that there are long-lasting developmental disadvantages among children who had iron deficiency as infants. These projects promise to be a major advance in understanding this common nutrient deficiency and will inform policy decisions regarding the prevention and treatment of early iron deficiency in industrialized and developing countries alike. Gahagan’s research also focuses on the role of breast feeding, home visiting and day care in modifying and moderating risk for obesity and other common health problems. Gahagan has considerable expertise in cultural factors and their role in health behavior.  

At the School of Medicine, Dr. Frank Anderson’s research focuses on reducing maternal morbidity and mortality through hospital and community-based interventions to improve maternal and neonatal health. Current projects include a population-based prospective study of the incidence of pregnancy complications in Haiti, evaluation of the impact of a post graduate medical education program on maternal health status in Ghana. A decrease in maternal mortality is a major goal of the initiative, and the role of indigenous herbs in post partum hemorrhage. Dr. Anderson coordinates student research placements for the UM FIC-MHIRT program addressing these issues in Ghana.

Also at the School of Public Health, Associate Professor Rachel Snow conducts research on the operational and policy challenges of integrating HIV/AIDS into reproductive health programs in Burkina Faso and South Africa, and the social impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is also participating in a multi-country investigation of women’s preferences for contraceptive technologies that allow control of menstrual bleeding in the USA, Germany and Brazil. Dr. Snow brings to this research her experience on numerous expert committees at the World Health Organization dealing with issues such as gender, human rights, sexually transmitted infections, and contraceptive technology development.

For more than 10 years the Population Studies Center (PSC) at the University of Michigan has partnered with the NIH/Fogarty International Center (FIC) in a model program to foster an integrated effort to develop a research training infrastructure in population health within the international community. PSC currently has a particular emphasis on improving research training and capacity in China and South Africa. Faculty research programs include studies that examine the links between socio-economic inequality and demographic change, with special attention to the rapid political and economic transitions and rural-urban differences in income and access to resources that remain large in both countries. click here for more