From the Dean
Our school is definitely on a roll. In March, we were ranked No. 8 by U.S. News & World Report, our highest ranking to date. Last year, our faculty garnered $14.3 million in research funding, the highest amount in school history. We’re also ranked No. 4 in NIH research funding among nursing schools.
Last fall, we established the first federally funded children’s environmental health center based in a school of nursing and focused on the microbiome. The new Center for Children’s Health, the Environment, the Microbiome, and Metabolomics (C-CHEM2) builds on our ongoing research to understand why African American women experience a higher rate of preterm birth than Caucasian women. C-CHEM2 researchers, who specialize in nursing, public health, medicine, and psychology, believe the cause may be rooted in how the environment affects the microbiome of pregnant women, which in turn may affect the neurodevelopment of their infants.
In the United States, it’s widely accepted that being an African American woman does negatively affect birth outcomes. We know that maternal stress is a contributor, and it does not matter if a woman is rich or poor. But could their environment be a factor? Is there something in the air they breathe, the food and water they consume, the products they use on their bodies and in their homes that contributes to preterm birth?
At the heart of C-CHEM2 is a growing partnership between Emory researchers and Atlanta’s African American community to find the answers. By working together, we can magnify the voices of women and children to change environmental health policies and develop nursing interventions to improve health.
Linda A. McCauley 79MN PhD RN FAAN FAAOHN
Dean and Professor
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
