Barbara Luke, Sc.D, MPH

Barbara Luke, ScD, MPH is a reproductive epidemiologist with degrees from Columbia University in nursing and population studies, from New York University in foods and nutrition, and her doctorate from Johns Hopkins University is in maternal-child health and epidemiology. She has published extensively in the areas of maternal nutrition, employment during pregnancy, multiple births, and infertility. Her research has been funded from both private and federal sources totaling over $30.7 million to date, of which more than $24 million has been from NIH as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator.

Dr. Luke created the University Consortium on Multiple Births, researchers from four universities (Johns Hopkins University, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Miami, and University of Michigan) who collaborated on studies to improve outcomes in multiple pregnancies. In 2009, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences selected her research with the University Consortium’s weight gain guidelines as the first national recommendations for women pregnant with twins (Body mass index-specific weight gains associated with optimal birth weights in twin pregnancies, Journal of Reproductive Medicine 2003; 48:217-224). Her book, When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads (HarperCollins, 4^th edition, 2017), which was based on her doctoral dissertation and subsequent research with the University Consortium, won Outstanding Book of the Year from the American Society of Journalists and Authors in 2000, and has sold more than one million copies since it was first published in 1999. She is the recipient of the 2005 Agnes Higgins Award from the March of Dimes for distinguished lifetime achievement in maternal-fetal nutrition. In 2024, she was awarded an Honorary Professorship at the University College London, Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital for her research on maternal and child health.           

Since 2006, in collaboration with the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), she has led a series of 10 continuously-funded NIH grants evaluating the health of men, women, and their children after infertility treatment, and when IVF has been used for fertility preservation after a cancer diagnosis (oncofertility). In July 2023, her latest NIH-funded grant based on a US-UK collaboration was launched [R01 HD112081] and is one of the largest collaborations of its kind. In the US component of this grant, Dr. Luke is partnering with research teams led by Dr. Philip Lupo at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Michael Eisenberg at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and Dr. Valerie Baker at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional funding from the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Research Foundation. This study will evaluate the health of more than two million children, including more than 220,000 IVF-conceived children born 2004-2022, 43,000 IVF siblings, and 1.75 million naturally-conceived control children, with 27 million person-years of follow-up, averaging 13.5 years, from birth to age 23. This study will evaluate the role of IVF conception on the risks of birth defects, cancer, and their co-occurrence through large-scale registry linkages and evaluation of the neonatal methylome. The study will also determine if the risk of childhood morbidity and mortality of IVF-conceived children differs compared to their siblings and control children, and if the difference is associated with specific IVF treatment parameters. Two related US-UK grants are in development evaluating morbidity and premature mortality risks of IVF-treated adults, and how parental health may affect newborn and child health. The second grant in development will evaluate the intergenerational effect of subfertility, including potential antecedents of infertility, and the reproductive potential of the first generation of IVF-conceived individuals.

Analyses from her group have been selected by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology as required reading for Maintenance of Certification in reproductive endocrinology and infertility in 2011, 2012, and 2023, respectively: Maternal Obesity Adversely Affects Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Pregnancy Rates and Obstetric Outcomes, Human Reproduction, 2011; 26:245-252; Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Assisted Reproductive Technology Outcomes in the United States, Fertility & Sterility, 2010; 93:382-90; and The Risk of Birth Defects With Conception by Assisted Reproductive Technology, Human Reproduction 2021; 36:116-129.

In 2024 Dr. Luke was named a Highly Ranked Scholar (#2 worldwide) by Scholar GPS in reproductive technology and assisted reproductive technology, for her prolific and sustained publication record, high impact of her work, and outstanding quality of her scholarly contributions, placing her among the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide.