Kyrah K. Brown, PhD. (Co-PI) is an assistant professor of public health at the University of Texas at Arlington. She is the director of the Maternal and Reproductive Health Equity Research Lab whose mission is to conduct high-quality, participatory, community-based research that investigates and addresses structural inequities (e.g., racism, colorism) that shape reproductive and cardiovascular health among Black women and other women of color across the lifecourse.

Michael K. Lemke, PhD. (Co-PI) is an assistant professor at the University of Houston-Downtown. As a community psychologist and population health scientist, he engages in population and safety research with a focus on chronic disease and acute injury prevention. He applies his expertise in complex systems perspectives and syndemic theoretical frameworks to preventable population health issues.

Saeideh Fallah-Fini, PhD. (Co-I) is an associate professor and associate chair of industrial and manufacturing engineering at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona. She is a system dynamics modeler by training and has extensive experience in development, calibration, and validation of system dynamics models of complex socio-technical systems with applications in public health. She has also worked on finding optimal policies in system dynamics models using machine learning algorithms such as reinforcement learning.

Tiffany B. Kindratt, PhD, MPH (Co-I) is an assistant professor of public health at the University of Texas at Arlington. She is the director of the Health Survey Research Lab whose mission is to conduct epidemiologic research studies focused on evaluating predisposing and enabling factors that influence individuals' health across the lifecourse using big data methodologies, training and mentoring future public health and medical studies, and implementing community-based participatory research and quality improvement methodologies in community and clinical settings.

Reverend Deneen Robinson, BSW (Community Investigator/Consultant) is the Executive Director of the Pregnancy Resource Center and one of the leading experts and advocates for reproductive justice and policy addressing the Black maternal and infant mortality crisis. Deneen is the current Pastor of local Dallas congregation: Church In The Cliff (CitC). Deneen leads this work with passion and earnest devotion to ensuring the lives of Black women are centered and prioritized. Until she dies, she will live out the mission to create a world that she wants to live in and work hard to leave her spot better than she found it. Rev. Deneen previously participated as a policy expert on the SD group model building pilot project in 2021.

Deneen’s mission is to create the world she wants to live in. In everything, she works to live out this mission. She began her service work at an early age. As her mother likes to say, she has always been helping someone. After a period of homelessness, Deneen would return to school and raise her two daughters in Austin, Texas while attending The University of Texas at Austin. Completing her last year of school, Deneen’s life took a different course. During her Social Work practicum, Deneen was hospitalized and diagnosed with HIV. At the time of her diagnosis, she said, “I want to plant seeds so my daughters will remember me.” Since then she has made her mark across our nation. For more than 30 years, Deneen has planted seeds. One of her most noted accomplishments is the women’s group, At the Kitchen Table which began in September of 1999. In March of 2000, she participated in the African American HIV University Fellowship in LA. The Fellowship gave her the additional skills necessary to educate, write and teach on the science of HIV and its concomitant health issues, community engagement, disease management and many other interpersonal and relationship skills. Her writings have been featured in Newsweek, HIV Plus, POZ, the Dallas Morning News, theBody.com, APHA and many other media outlets.

Thanayi Lambert, MSN, RNC-OB (Co-I)is a clinical assistant professor in undergraduate nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her nursing practice is concentrated in women's and children's services and labor and delivery. In addition to teaching, she works as a Mother-Baby nurse and birth coach and is passionate about community building with a focus on empowering families, youth, and nurses and nurses-in-training.

Our renowned consultants include Dr. David Lounsbury (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) and Dr. Hazhir Rahmandad (MIT).

1. HRSA invests nearly $90 million to address maternal health crisis (HRSA Press Release)
2. Texas to get four new maternal health research centers amid mortality crisis for moms (The Texas Tribune)