Perinatal QI, Population Health, and Epidemiology

Perinatal QI and Epidemiology Research. The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) and California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC), which includes the High Risk Infant Follow-up (HRIF) Program, are multi-stakeholder organizations based at Stanford and united by a goal to optimize access, care, and outcomes for mothers, newborns, and families. Collectively, these organizations represent over 130 NICUs, 70 HRIF clinics, and 220 maternity hospitals, and house population-based linked data that span from pregnancy through early childhood (up to age 3).

These data lead to the development of evidence-based toolkits, provider education, and health policy. Our research focuses on developing novel and better ways to measure the quality-of-care delivery, applying insights from our data into quality improvement actions, and evaluating the effectiveness of our improvement actions. We also partner with communities to ensure their knowledge of the latest advances in maternal and infant care and access to State and societal resources.

We lead birth defects research through our participation in Birth Defects Study to Evaluate Pregnancy (BD-STEPS). Our faculty are experts on conditions including congenital heart disease, neural tube defects, hypospadias, and gastroschisis.

Prematurity Prevention. Our March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford was established in 2011 with a generous $20 million grant from the March of Dimes. The Prematurity Research Center unites experts in clinical medicine, computer science, engineering, biology, and social sciences to investigate preterm birth causes. Inquiry is organized around themes including preeclampsia and preterm birth, the role of sleep and stress on birth outcome disparities, drug repurposing, and, through a partnership with CPQCC and CMQCC, the promotion of daily low-dose aspirin and other interventions to prevent preterm birth and preeclampsia.

Prenatal Diagnostics and Treatments. The multidisciplinary Fetal and Pregnancy Health Program (2009) advances noninvasive prenatal diagnostics and care strategies for fetal anomalies (e.g. cystic fibrosis, renal agenesis).

Children’s Health Policy. Our faculty work with lawmakers, influencing health policy regarding children’s health services. Our partnership with the Center for Health Policy / Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research is addressing contemporary questions about large healthcare networks being responsible for the general wellbeing of our nation’s most vulnerable.

Global Health. Globally, our faculty influence international perinatal care standards. We partner with clinicians and researchers in middle- and low-resource settings to improve maternal and neonatal survival, outcomes, and quality of care.