Biography
Xiao Yu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology and a member of the Maternal Health Equity Lab (https://obgyn.msu.edu/team) at Michigan State University. She received a PhD in sociology from Johns Hopkins University. Her areas of interest include social determinants of health, maternal and infant health, health disparities and inequities, and quantitative methodology with a focus on causal inference in non-experimental studies.
Research
Dr. Yu’s research broadly focuses on social determinants such as the labor market, work, education, neighborhood/community and the impacts on health and health equity. She is particularly interested in understanding how community-engaged interventions can mitigate theimpact of structural racism on perinatal health and health disparities. Her current projects include neighborhood determinants of severe maternal morbidity, the effectiveness of community health worker home visiting on maternal and infant health, and program engagement among birthing population with complex health and social needs. Utilizing data from Medicaid claims, vital records, administrative program data, and census data, she seeks to provide evidence-based solutions to improving the care, health, and equity of underserved (Medicaid) pregnant and postpartum birthing individuals.
NCBI Publications
Xiao Yu, PhD Personal website
Research interest
Dr. Straughen is a perinatal epidemiologist with broad expertise in studying prenatal factors that influence maternal and child health across the life course. She has a strong interest in the role of the placenta in mediating perinatal and children’s health outcomes and has several on-going projects that investigate relationships between prenatal and early life exposures, placental function, and childhood health outcomes. Accordingly, much of her research is investigating various aspects of the placenta, including metabolomics and epigenomics and how it might influence pregnancy outcomes like preterm birth as well as more distal childhood health outcomes, such as autism spectrum disorder (DoD AR180175). She is currently MPI of a project that is part of a NIEHS Superfund grant (1P42ES030991). This project is investigating the impact of volatile organic compound exposure on the risk of preterm birth in Detroit in a cohort of approximately 1100 pregnancies. This project will investigate changes placental epigenetics and gene expression that may be associated with exposure to volatile organic compounds. In addition, Dr. Straughen is MPI of a birth cohort in ECHO (Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes), a nationwide research project that seeks to learn how the environment impacts children’s health (UG3OD035518). Dr. Straughen previously led placental collection and investigation into placental metabolomics within the ECHO framework. Finally, Dr. Straughen is engaged in collaborations aimed at improving pregnancy outcomes by addressing social determinants of health among African American women at Henry Ford Health (Women Inspired Neighborhood Network: Detroit) and across Detroit (Hope Starts Here).
Bibliography
Dr. Straughen received her PhD from the University of South Florida in 2010. She completed her postdoctoral training at Wayne State University and joined the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health in 2015. She is currently an associate scientist in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health. In addition, she is an Assistant Professor - Research in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Biology, College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University.
NCBI Publications
Research interest
Dr. Kalmbach is a licensed clinical psychologist. He earned his PhD in clinical psychology from Kent State University after completing his internship at the Ann Arbor Veterans Health System – University of Michigan Medical School consortium in 2014. He then completed an APA-accredited postdoctoral residency at the University of Michigan Medical School where he received clinical and research training in perinatal mental health and behavioral sleep medicine. He was funded by the National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute on a T32 fellowship from 2016 to 2018 for his work in sleep disorders research. He joined Henry Ford Health in 2018 and currently serves as the Co-Director of the Perinatal Sleep Health Institute and the Director of its clinical core, the Perinatal Sleep Clinic. He is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for his research on treating insomnia and depression during pregnancy. He recently completed an NIMH study on preventing depression in the general adult population through the use of sleep therapeutics in primary care. He has previously been funded by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for his research on sleep in pregnancy. Presently, Dr. Kalmbach is Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Assistant Scientist in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Henry Ford Health.
Bibliography
Reflecting his clinical practice and research over the past decade, Dr. Kalmbach primarily focuses on sleep and mental illness during pregnancy and postpartum. His work has shown that half of pregnant women suffer from clinical insomnia and that untreated insomnia increases risk for depression and suicidal thoughts during pregnancy and postpartum. Dr. Kalmbach is especially interested in cognitive arousal at night (e.g., worry or ruminating while trying to sleep) as a risk factor insomnia, depression, and suicidal thoughts during peripartum. His recent work has shown that reducing nocturnal cognitive arousal is an important treatment mechanism for improving sleep and mood through psychotherapy.
Dr. Kalmbach developed Perinatal Understanding of Mindful Awareness for Sleep (PUMAS), which is a psychotherapy protocol designed specifically for pregnant women with insomnia. PUMAS combines behavioral sleep strategies and mindfulness with all components tailored to pregnancy. The PUMAS manual is freely available upon request or from The Henry Ford Perinatal sleep Health Institute. Published reports show PUMAS improves sleep, alleviates depression, and reduces nighttime worry and rumination during pregnancy.
Dr. Kalmbach also has interests outside of peripartum and has published several important works in the general adult population, including evidence showing insomnia is a robust risk factor for major depression; treating insomnia prevents development of major depression; treating insomnia alleviates and prevents suicidal thoughts; mindfulness-based therapy is efficacious for treatment-resistant insomnia; and poor and insufficient sleep increases depression, anxiety, and medical errors among physicians.
Biography
Dr. Bossick received his PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Washington-Seattle in 2021. Dr. Bossick completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Henry Ford Health in the Department of Public Health Sciences. He joined the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health as an Assistant Scientist in 2023 and has been an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Biology at Michigan State University in the College of Human Medicine since 2022.
Research
Dr. Bossick’s research broadly focuses on racialized disparities in women’s health, particularly during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum periods, as well as in the development and treatment of fibroids, and hysterectomy. He is interested in using big data to develop and validate medical record algorithms to identify those most at risk of adverse outcomes in women’s health. Currently, he is a Co-Investigator on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funded project to validate a meaningful patient-engagement in research survey in diverse populations.
NCBI Publications
RESEARCH INTEREST
The Rattan lab is investigating the metabolic mechanisms that govern ovarian cancer biology and immune response. To address malfunctioning metabolism in ovarian cancer, her lab uses ovarian cancer syngeneic and xenograft mouse models, diet manipulation, functional bioenergetics, metabolomics, immune profiling, and novel experimental agents to reset immunometabolism of myeloid cells in order to promote anti-tumor immune response and restrain ovarian cancer progression.
BIOGRAPHY
Ramandeep Rattan earned a bachelor's degree in Clinical Laboratory Medicine from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, India, a master's degree in microbiology from the Central Research Institute (CRI) in Kasauli, India, and PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pathobiology from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Prior to joining Henry Ford Health, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in ovarian cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Dr. Rattan was awarded an NIH/NCI R01 grant to study the impact of caloric restriction on the metabolic regulation of tumor-associated macrophages in ovarian cancer. Previous grants include DOD-CDMRP-OCRP Investigator Initiated Awards, Belinda Sue ‘Making a Difference’ Ovarian Cancer Research Award, Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance Award, DOD-CDMRP-OCRP Pilot Award and Translational Pilot Award, Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance Award, Marsha Rivkin Scholar Award for Ovarian Cancer Research and Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation Program of Excellence Award and Scholar-in-Training Award, AACR International Conference. Dr. Rattan has been and is funded by various internal HFH and HFCI grants.