Congrats to the following faculty on their recent awards from the UnityPoint Health Meriter Foundation:
Elizabeth Goetz, MD, and Dinushan Kaluarachchi, MD, received $27,046 for their project, “Oxygen saturation profiles in healthy term neonates.” The goal of this project is to determine normal values for an oxygen saturation profile over an 8-hour monitoring period among healthy term neonates 24-48 hours after birth. This study aims to provide scientific evidence to guide clinical decision making in the NICU, potentially resulting in the avoidance of unnecessary laboratory and radiological studies, shorter hospital stays and lowering of healthcare costs.
Elizabeth Goetz, MD, received $5,000 to support a multidisciplinary education session for health care professionals at UnityPoint Health-Meriter and community stakeholders in Dane County about identifying and caring for victims of human trafficking.
Pamela Kling, MD, received $48,979 for her project, “Impact of prenatal depression & anxiety on iron-mediated inflammatory pathways in infant behavior & brain development.” The overall goal of this proposal is to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of prenatal maternal depression and anxiety on infant behavior and brain development.
Ryan McAdams, MD, and Co-Investigator Jasmine Zapata, MD, received $97,986 for their project, “A pregnancy, birth, and lactation support program to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates in African American women.” This funding will support a 12-month pregnancy, birth, and lactation support program for African American women cared for in the UnityPoint Health-Meriter obstetrical, newborn nursery, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) settings with the goal of increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates for African American babies to 85% at the time of discharge.