Maternal Health Learning Network
Problem
When maternal health researchers have limited opportunities to share insights during study implementation, valuable opportunities to improve studies are lost.
Maternal morbidity and mortality remain urgent public health challenges in the United States, with persistent racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities. In response, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has prioritized clinical comparative effectiveness research (CER) to address evidence gaps and provide patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other decision makers with information to make informed health care decisions, and has awarded a number of research projects across the country.
Participating research teams expressed a need for consistent opportunities to share lessons learned, troubleshoot implementation challenges, and accelerate the dissemination of patient-centered findings. In response and to amplify the impact of this research, PCORI launched the Maternal Health Learning Network.
Solution
NORC designs and facilitates convenings that help maternal health research teams share knowledge and solve problems together.
NORC developed a flexible and responsive learning infrastructure for PCORI’s Maternal Health Learning Network. NORC designed convenings to accommodate diverse research teams and engagement styles while ensuring that each event is purposeful and aligned with participant needs.
To help PCORI maintain a clear structure for network activities, NORC provides comprehensive support across planning, coordination, and evaluation. The team collaborates with PCORI staff and network participants to shape event content, identify and coordinate external speakers, manage virtual logistics, and foster effective communication and information sharing. Specifically, NORC facilitates and manages logistics for quarterly webinars, bi-monthly project managers meeting, an annual convening, and additional ad hoc meetings tailored to emerging needs.
This approach reflects NORC’s strengths in stakeholder engagement, maternal health, and implementation science. Through documentation, post-event evaluations, and summary reporting, NORC captures actionable insights and continuously refines programming to meet participant needs.
Result
The network will help research teams refine and improve their studies and accelerate evidence generation in maternal health.
As the network matures, NORC will deliver a curated inventory of content areas, topics, and recommended speakers to guide PCORI’s future learning network programming—reflecting both systematic participant feedback and insights surfaced through network discussions.
Ongoing evaluation of participant satisfaction and engagement will help PCORI refine its approach to supporting collaborative research—and position participating research teams to move findings into clinical practice more effectively, ultimately benefiting the patients and families at the center of this work.
Related Tags
Project Leads
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Rina Dhopeshwarkar
Principal Research ScientistProject Director and Task Lead -
Avantika S. Shah
Research ScientistProject Manager and Task Lead -
Prashila Dullabh
Vice President & Senior FellowSenior Advisor
“A participant-informed maternal health learning network empowers researchers to collaborate, share insights, and enhance the rigor of comparative effectiveness research—ultimately helping to close critical evidence gaps and improve outcomes for mothers.”
