GW Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Pushes to Close Gaps in Care

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Of the wealthiest countries on Earth, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate. (The numbers are particularly appalling for Black mothers, who are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white mothers.) According to a 2022 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report, more than 80% of these pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.

The parents and children whose experiences inform these statistics live and die amid a complex web of systems-education, economics, healthcare, food-all of which have an impact on their individual outcomes. At The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health is training the next generation of caregivers, specialists and policymakers to understand both these systems and the people they affect.

"Our focus is on improving the lives of women, children, adolescents and families locally, nationally and globally," said Amita Vyas, director of the center and chair (interim) of the Milken SPH Department of Prevention and Community Health. "We do that through training the next generation of leaders in this workforce to work in communities, to address issues around policy and practice and to engage in meaningful research. Across all of it, our goal is to have a real impact."

Originally designated by HRSA as one of 13 federally funded centers of excellence in 2020, GW's program sits within a national network committed to advancing science, education, practice and policy in maternal and child health.

The five-year grant that established the center was extended in 2025 for another five-year period, continuing its work through the next phase-a renewal that felt like "a story of hope," Vyas said.

At a time of uncertainty in public health funding, she explained, continued federal investment signals that maternal and child health remains a national priority. The funding allows the center to deepen its training programs, expand research fellowships and strengthen partnerships across the region.

Active in the DMV

Location is one of the program's defining advantages, Vyas said. The Center has active relationships with HRSA Title V MCH programs and community-based organizations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, allowing faculty and students to engage in applied research, internships and collaborations that connect theory to policymaking in real time. For more than three years, the Center also has maintained a thriving relationship with the Virginia Department of Health's Title V Program. Twenty MPH students have worked as fellows in research and as applied practice interns, addressing maternal and child healthcare needs in the state.

"Being here in Washington, D.C., our classrooms are literally just blocks away from national advocacy organizations, federal agencies that are focused on maternal and child health, community-based organizations, policy institutions and research institutes," Vyas said.

The Center's deep partnerships in D.C. demonstrate an understanding that this city that is not just the heart of federal policymaking but also a complex, living community facing challenges of its own.

"In Washington, D.C., we talk a lot about Black maternal health and the challenges that face women," Vyas said. "The thing we always come back to is, 'How do we actually make systems change?' How do we change the infrastructure? How do we change how providers interact with women before, during and after pregnancy?"

Students work directly with the community to address those questions-conducting focus groups with pregnant and postpartum women, mapping community resources and analyzing gaps in care, including discriminatory practices and maternity care deserts that leave entire neighborhoods without accessible services.

"They're learning firsthand what the changes are that we need to make in these systems," Vyas said. "Our hope is that, by building those skills, they'll be able to make those changes when they leave our program and actually go out into the real world."

Training the next generation of leaders

Skill building and leadership development are priorities, Vyas said. "As a Center of Excellence, we are provided with resources where we can be a little bit more creative and provide additional training for our students."

These creative possibilities include the Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Training Program, which provides resources for undergraduates interested in a career in maternal and child public health. Selected master's degree students may also participate in an annual Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Program, launched in 2024, which offers workshops on legislative advocacy, media engagement, generative AI and other topics.

Communication is a priority, Vyas said. In a media environment with a high degree of anxiety and distrust, it's necessary that the next generation of public health experts be able to communicate clearly and compassionately to a range of audiences. "Everyone that's in public health-and I would say even more importantly in maternal and child health-needs to know how to speak to the media [and] how to use different media channels to push out credible information."

Beyond the Beltway

As a college student, Vyas saw the intersection of gender and health firsthand while working with impoverished women at Mother Theresa's Center for the Dying and Destitute in India. These patients needed not only individual attention, Vyas said, but also attention paid to the social structures within which they lived-to the concrete, gender-based discrimination they faced and the ways it directly affected their health.

"Those intersections between gender discrimination, social context, equity and health really opened my eyes to what public health is," Vyas said.

At the Center, research is deliberately interdisciplinary and international. Current projects examine climate change and gender equity in India, gender violence and female genital mutilation, interventions in youth mental health and more.

Often, Vyas said, students bring their own backgrounds and experiences to the work in illuminating ways.

"They come into the classroom with these incredible lived experiences," she said. "What inspires them to choose maternal and child health inspires me."

Despite mounting awareness of maternal mortality in the United States, Vyas believes much work remains-work the Center and its students are ready to do.

"There's no reason that, in the United States today, any woman should be dying during childbirth or in the postpartum period," she said.