UW’s Smalley Awarded $5.2M Federal Grant for Maternal Health Innovation

Bryant Smalley, associate vice president for strategic research initiatives at the University of Wyoming and executive director of the Wyoming Rural Health Institute within the UW College of Health Sciences, has been awarded a $5.2 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to launch the Wyoming Maternal Health Innovation Program.

Women in Wyoming face many challenges during pregnancy and postpartum due to lower-than-national-average access to women’s health providers; one of the highest rates of uninsurance among women in the United States; and low levels of access to care for high-risk pregnancies. Many women face travel of several hours to receive prenatal care and often seek specialty care outside of the state.

To address these challenges, the Wyoming Maternal Health Innovation Program aims to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity throughout Wyoming. The grant will allow the Wyoming Rural Health Institute to collaborate closely with the Wyoming Department of Health’s Public Health Division to research new ways to improve clinical care, workforce development, data collection and community engagement surrounding maternal health.

“We are thrilled to have received this funding from HRSA,” Smalley says. “By focusing on creating new ways to improve maternal health that incorporates the rural and frontier realities of Wyoming, the Wyoming Maternal Health Innovation Program will help to improve outcomes for pregnant women and new mothers throughout our state.”

Key activities in the initiative will include the formation of the Wyoming Maternal Health Task Force; partnering with the state to create a comprehensive innovation-driven maternal health strategic plan for Wyoming; enhancing data collection surrounding maternal health; and designing and researching the impact of innovations developed specifically to meet the unique needs of Wyoming’s rural and frontier maternal health landscape.

“The University of Wyoming is deeply dedicated to our land-grant mission and to growing health and well-being initiatives across the state,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “At UW, we are guided by the goal of serving the great state of Wyoming, and Dr. Smalley’s work in creating innovations in maternal health exemplifies our dedication to community-engaged research.”

The Wyoming Maternal Health Innovation Program is supported by grant U7AMC50520 through HRSA ($5,170,233 in federal funds). The statements in this release do not reflect the opinions of HRSA, the Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. government.

About the Wyoming Rural Health Institute

The Wyoming Rural Health Institute is an interdisciplinary hub of rural and frontier health-related research, training and community engagement supported by more than $8 million in federal funding. Through partnerships with local, state and national entities, the institute focuses on discovering, implementing and researching the impact of innovations in rural and frontier health.

About UW’s College of Health Sciences

UW’s College of Health Sciences trains health and wellness professionals and researchers in a wide variety of disciplines, including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, speech-language pathology, social work, kinesiology, public health, health administration and disability studies. The college also oversees residency and fellowship programs in Casper and Cheyenne, as well as operating a speech/hearing clinic in Laramie and primary care clinics in Laramie, Casper and Cheyenne.

With more than 1,600 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, the college is dedicated to training the health and wellness workforce of Wyoming and conducting high-quality research and community engagement, with a particular focus on rural and frontier populations.