The Coalition for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology has recognized the contributions of individuals and organizations to improve the health of women, children, infants, and families for over a decade by giving the National MCH Epidemiology Awards. The awards, presented annually at the MCH Epidemiology Conference, are supported by 16 member organizations (Table 1). The purpose of the awards is to highlight contributions to MCH epidemiology in four major ways:

Table 1 Coalition for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Member Organizations
Full size table
  1. 1.

    Advancing public health knowledge through epidemiology and applied research

  2. 2.

    Improving public health practice through both effective use of data and epidemiology and training of the field

  3. 3.

    Promoting excellence in teaching MCH epidemiology in principle and practice, and

  4. 4.

    Enhancing political will to support practice and advance knowledge through effective use of data, epidemiology, and applied research.

The national awards are presented in six categories: Advancing Knowledge, Effective Practice, Outstanding Leadership, Excellence in Teaching, Young Professional Achievement, and Lifetime Achievement. Definitions of these categories are provided at http://www.citymatch.org/mchepiawards.htm. Award recipients are nominated annually by colleagues and then are chosen by the National MCH Epidemiology Awards Selection Committee composed of a representative from each of the 16 participating programs. A listing of previous award recipients is located at the web page listed above. Please join the committee in recognizing the four 2010 recipients of the National MCH Epidemiology Awards.

Greg Alexander Award for Advancing Knowledge

Advancing Public Health Knowledge Through Epidemiology and Applied Research:

Gopal K. Singh, PhD

Dr. Gopal K. Singh is the senior epidemiologist with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Before working at MCHB, he held research appointments at the National Cancer Institute, Kansas Health Institute, and National Center for Health Statistics. He has taught at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Ohio State University, and has served as a statistical consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development and to the government of Egypt. For almost 20 years, Dr. Singh has made extensive contributions to public health through nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Singh’s work has had a national impact. He has used numerous data sources to examine such important subjects as infant mortality, child mortality, childhood obesity, social determinants of health, immigrant health, physical activity, and geographic disparities. He has become one of the country’s leading scientists on the epidemic of childhood obesity. He has spoken at the National Press Club on this topic, and his recent work on state-level changes in childhood obesity was featured in a White House report.

Findings from research in MCH epidemiology have influenced policy changes at the national, state, and local levels, and Dr. Singh’s work is an example of this process. His examination of state-level differences in areas such as obesity, physical activity, patient-centered medical homes, and environmental tobacco smoke has contributed greatly to the work of state policy-makers. His work on childhood obesity and neighborhood conditions has shifted the focus of policy discussions from individual-level behavior change to development of policies focused on environments supporting healthier choices for families. Dr. Singh has also worked to increase awareness of the social determinants of health in the United States. He developed a disparities index which highlighted the costs of social inequalities for mothers and children. He also published work highlighting differences between U.S. and foreign-born women within specific racial and ethnic subgroups.

Dr. Singh’s work displays his long-standing concern for issues of social inequality in health, his level of dedication to moving research to policy, and his rejection of simplistic approaches to complex issues. His work exemplifies methodological rigor, scientific integrity, and thoughtfulness. Dr. Singh is an outstanding public health scientist, committed to using his scientific skills for public service. He epitomizes the qualities that the Greg Alexander Award for Advancing Knowledge is meant to recognize.

Effective Practice Award

Improving Public Health Practice Through Effective Use of Data, Epidemiology, and Applied Research at the National Level:

Pandemic H1N1 Maternal and Child Health Collaborative Emergency Response Team

The Maternal and Child Health Collaborative Emergency Response Team (MCH CERT) was composed of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff from both the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion/Division of Reproductive Health, and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Beginning with identification of the H1N1 virus and culminating with the flu season of 2009–2010, CDC mobilized the MCH CERT to research vulnerable populations and provide recommendations to the public about H1N1. Over the course of a year, 72 CDC staff participated in the MCH CERT with contributions ranging from managing a call center desk to drafting publications on H1N1 influenza for different audiences, using data obtained from multiple state and national sources.

As emerging information indicated that pregnant and postpartum women were at higher risk of complications from H1N1, a CDC pregnancy flu line was established to collect national-level data. This new surveillance effort captured a subcategory of pregnant women and their newborns with severe influenza illness, populations for which limited information previously existed. The MCH CERT also provided support to the maternal health desk at the Emergency Operations Center for H1N1 response. Staff at the maternal health desk responded to more than 400 inquiries from clinicians and the public on pandemic H1N1, and provided an additional 4,500 responses to e-mail inquiries. Prior to the epidemic, limited evidence on intrapartum and neonatal infection existed; the MCH CERT provided valuable information to hospitals and caregivers.

The team developed 10 documents for the CDC web site, providing guidance and education to professional and lay audiences. MCH CERT utilized information obtained from 14 focus groups of obstetric and midwife health care providers and 18 focus groups of pregnant and postpartum women to better understand their knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors related to pandemic influenza. Results of this effort included development of outreach messages targeting pregnant women and new mothers including posters, brochures, and public service announcements for radio and television. Three Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity conference calls provided more than 4,000 call lines to disseminate guidance on antiretroviral treatment and vaccination recommendations. Video segments developed by the team have been viewed more than 66,000 times since posting. A joint letter from the MCH CERT, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Association of MCH Programs, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the March of Dimes was sent to more than 250,000 providers of clinical care for pregnant women. Finally, team members developed the Pregnancy Influenza Project, a complex, prospective, case–control study of 3,000 pregnant women to identify pregnancy outcomes, infant health, and maternal vaccine effectiveness in preventing influenza illness and vertical transmission of infection to infants.

These activities culminated in comprehensive obstetrical management of women with pandemic H1N1 infection and had a national impact on illness severity. This vital work provided guidance that helped to avert illness in fetuses and newborns, groups particularly vulnerable to infection. It is a commendable example of effective practice at the national level.

Effective Practice Award

Improving Public Health Through Effective Use of Data, Epidemiology, and Applied Research at the State Level:

Kenneth Rosenberg, MD, MPH

Dr. Ken Rosenberg has had a long career focused on improving the health and well-being of vulnerable populations including women, children, and families. He has contributed to research on a wide range of issues such as smoking cessation, child health surveillance, promotion of breastfeeding, SIDS risk reduction, use of folic acid, HIV testing in pregnant women, parental concerns about vaccination, and multiple issues related to racial and ethnic disparities in pregnancy and delivery. While a student at Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Rosenberg organized innovative, student-led community health projects in Boston and began teaching the politics of health care. In 1972, he published a seminal annotated bibliography on the politics of health care.

After graduating from Tufts in 1973, he completed a Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency at the New York City Department of Health, where his projects focused on service delivery, radiation control, and lead poisoning. He received his MPH from Columbia University in 1989, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Perinatal Epidemiology at Yale University. Dr. Rosenberg became Director of Epidemiology and Research for the Bureau of Maternity Services and Family Planning at the New York City Department of Health where he examined MCH priority areas including breastfeeding, infant mortality, induced abortion, and drug treatment for pregnant women.

Since 1997, he has been the MCH epidemiologist in the Oregon Public Health Division’s Office of Family Health. In this position, he has implemented the Oregon PRAMS survey, used these data to research a wide range of MCH issues, and expanded PRAMS into a longitudinal survey by following PRAMS participants 2 years postpartum and re-assessing information collected during the postpartum period.

Dr. Rosenberg’s efforts have addressed issues critical to MCH professionals by translating data into information to improve public health practice. For example, Dr. Rosenberg used Oregon data to show that the practice of providing mothers with hospital discharge packs containing free infant formula resulted in earlier breastfeeding cessation. This work led the city of Portland to become the first “bag-free” city in the United States. Since 2009, none of Portland’s hospitals has provided women with a discharge pack containing infant formula. His analysis also contributed to the passage of an Oregon law in 2008 that requires employers to provide accommodations for breastfeeding mothers. Additionally, Dr. Rosenberg’s research on access to emergency contraception in Oregon’s hospital emergency departments contributed to the passage of legislation that requires all emergency departments to inform women of their right to receive emergency contraception after sexual assault.

Dr. Rosenberg has mentored over 30 MCH epidemiology fellows, preventive medicine residents, and MPH students. In 2009, he received the Award for Excellence in Mentorship from the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine of the Oregon Health and Science University. For these reasons, Dr. Rosenberg is a true example of effective practice in MCH epidemiology at the state level.

Young Professional Achievement Award

Amina Alio, PhD

Dr. Amina Alio obtained her doctorate in Applied Anthropology and was recruited 3 years ago as Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Family Health at the University of South Florida. She immediately identified her interest in MCH with a focus on the impact of social factors on birth outcomes. Over this short period, Dr. Alio has published more than 53 peer-reviewed journal articles, including a seminal paper on intimate partner violence and recurrent fetal loss in The Lancet. Dr. Alio’s scholarly contributions demonstrate an effective use of data to convince health care stakeholders to intervene in MCH populations. This is exemplified by her publications on paternal involvement and birth outcomes which have contributed to increased recognition that this social factor is deserving of national attention and focus.

Dr. Alio also uses unique epidemiologic approaches in her research, incorporating an anthropological and theoretical framework that enhances understanding of the context of pregnancy outcomes. This methodology is exemplified in her article, “An ecological approach to understanding black-white disparities in perinatal mortality,” published in the Maternal and Child Health Journal. This paper provides a socioecological perspective of adverse pregnancy events among African Americans and contributes uniquely to the field of social epidemiology. The theory she proposes in this paper also delineates pathways for intervention that are relevant to public health practice in general, and to narrowing black-white disparities specifically. Several other papers she has published recently have similarly emphasized the relevance of her research findings to public health practice and have significantly enhanced understanding of the contributions of the social determinants of health in MCH.

Nationally, Dr. Alio is a leader in research on paternal involvement and uses a combination of sociocultural and biologic theories to interpret findings. Because of her leadership in this area, she has been invited to join the national Commission on Paternal Involvement in Pregnancy Outcomes. This invitation is clear indication that her research is having a resonant effect nationally, and has the potential to impact the MCH population. For these reasons, Dr. Alio is more than deserving of the Young Professional Achievement Award.

Awards for Upcoming Years

The Coalition for Excellence in MCH Epidemiology will convene the National MCH Epidemiology Awards Selection Committee this summer to select recipients for the 2011 awards. Applications will be accepted until June 3, 2011. To continue increased recognition of outstanding contributions by MCH professionals, the coalition strongly urges readers to nominate colleagues and peers to highlight their important accomplishments. For more information, go to http://www.citymatch.org/mchepiawards.htm.

The awardees will be announced at the National MCH Epidemiology Awards Luncheon at the 17th Annual MCH Epidemiology Conference, December 14–16, 2011, in New Orleans, Louisiana.