Email: saund252@umn.edu

JIWC-specific areas of expertise: Maternal and child health, health services research, health policy

Funding details: I work with Dr. Rebecca Shlafer and Sara Benning to help support JIWC collaborative activities in my role as a graduate research assistant. This position is funded by HRSA’s MCHB through UMN’s MCH Center of Excellence.

What makes you passionate about this work?

“In my MSW program I began to examine the social environment’s impact on health (e.g., social determinants of health, structural inequalities), especially among women of reproductive-age. This interest led me to pursue a job in the field of health policy, where I developed a passion for researching state maternal and child health policy. As a doctoral student, I have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Shlafer on studies related to the health of pregnant and parenting women who are incarcerated.”

What research-practice collaborations are you the most excited to work on?

“I am especially interested in the collaborative’s work to identify and summarize state policies related to the health of pregnant and parenting women who are incarcerated.”