UMSON assistant professor’s research aims to improve maternal and newborn outcomes through person-centered care.
Rachel Blankstein Breman, PhD ’18, MPH, RN, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON), has received two grant awards – one for more than $1 million, the other for $60,000 – both of which aim to address the critical need to improve communication in maternity care.
Breman has received an RO1 research project grant of $1,055,563 from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality. The R01 grant designation is used for mature research projects that are hypothesis driven with strong preliminary data. Breman’s project, titled “A Measure for Shared Decision Making in Maternity Care through Communicating CHOICEs: CHildbirth Options, Information, and Person-Centered Explanation,” will be funded over three years.
Improving maternity care, including the morbidity and mortality disparities among birthing people, is a national priority, explained Breman, who is the first University of Maryland, Baltimore Institute for Clinical & Translational Research KL2 Career Development Awards Program recipient to be awarded an RO1 grant. The KL2 award provides support for clinical and translational research training and career development of researchers campuswide.