Marian Jarlenski, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a co-principal investigator for AcademyHealth’s and the University of Pittsburgh’s Improving Health Equity through Medicaid Doula Programs project. Dr. Jarlenski is Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Practice in Health Policy and Management and is Associate Director of the Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity (CONVERGE@Pitt) at the University of Pittsburgh. The overarching goal of her research is to expand the frontiers of knowledge about how health and healthcare policies can improve pregnancy and reproductive health outcomes. She is an expert in Medicaid policies and programs, and has led a range of research focusing on substance use disorders in pregnancy and postpartum among low-income populations, and the effects of state Medicaid policies on pregnancy and reproductive health outcomes.

Authored by Marian Jarlenski, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Program

Project DREAM (Doula Research for Equitable Advances in Medicaid Pregnancy Health)

With funding support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute and the University of Pittsburgh are bringing together six Medicaid programs, their university research partners, nine doula programs, and Medicaid enrollees to leverage an innovative distributed research network to advance racial equity in severe maternal morbidity.