image: Suzanne Phelan is the director of Cal Poly's Center for Health Research and the lead researcher in a national maternal diabetes study funded by a PCORI grant.
Credit: Photo by Joe Johnston
Cal Poly is receiving a $10.6 million grant to lead a five-year national research study to examine whether medically tailored meals can help address the rise in gestational diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
Working with Brown University, Northwestern University, and multiple other partners, Cal Poly received the funding award from the nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) organization to lead a groundbreaking “Food is Medicine” study, involving an approach to reducing the prevalence of disease with a focus on food insecurity and nutrition.
Nearly 1,000 women from across the nation will participate for research assessment. They are pregnant or recently gave birth and have experienced gestational diabetes, a condition that occurs when high blood sugar levels develop during pregnancy and can turn into Type 2 diabetes.
The research focuses on studying the effectiveness of incorporating medically tailored meals into evidence-based home visiting programs, a first-of-its-kind approach to addressing maternal health disparities. Trained professionals, including nurses and community health workers, will guide participants over the course of several months.
“In the United States, maternal morbidity and mortality is going up over time, whereas in other high-income countries, these rates are going down. We’re collaborating with home visiting programs that reach pregnant and postpartum families across the country,” said Suzanne Phelan, director of Cal Poly’s Center for Health Research, and the lead researcher of the study. “A lot of families in home visiting come from historically marginalized communities and experience risk factors for disease, including poor nutrition, food insecurity and lack of access to health care.”
The award was part of a $156 million commitment by PCORI, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit institute created through the Affordable Care Act, to new patient-centered health research studies.
Diabetes is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States, linked to heart disease, kidney failure and other severe complications. Children born to mothers with gestational diabetes are more likely to develop obesity and Type 2 diabetes later in life, perpetuating a cycle of health inequities. However, Type 2 diabetes is often preventable through healthy eating, weight management and physical activity — making interventions like this study essential.
Of the participants, 326 will be Black or Hispanic, populations disproportionately affected by gestational diabetes mellitus — a condition in which a hormone made by the placenta prevents the body from effectively using insulin, and glucose builds up in the blood instead of being absorbed by the cells. The work offers the “potential to improve maternal and child health outcomes in the communities in our country that experience some of the highest rates of diabetes,” Phelan said.
Comparative clinical effectiveness research, like this study, provides critical data to identify and scale solutions that improve care and outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women and their children.
Phelan has received multimillion grants before, including a $5.6 million National Institutes of Health award shared with Brown University in 2022 to study cardiovascular health among pregnant people and their children. The latest PCORI award is her largest single collaborative grant to date, highlighting Cal Poly’s growing leadership in maternal and child health research.
This study was selected through PCORI’s highly competitive review process in which patients, caregivers and other stakeholders join scientists to evaluate proposals.
“This research study was selected for PCORI funding for its potential to provide real-world data on the comparative clinical effectiveness of different approaches to improve maternal health outcomes,” said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with Cal Poly, Northwestern and Brown to share its results.”
In addition to Phelan, the research team includes Rena Wing and Stephanie Parade of Brown University, and Darius Tandon and Jenny Jia of Northwestern.
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress with a mission to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed health and health care decisions.
About the Cal Poly Center for Health Research
The center facilitates multidisciplinary research in the prevention and treatment of obesity and related chronic diseases. Research ranges from the cellular to social- ecological, with a mission to promote health equity and lead to improved quality of life. The center has received more than $51 million in grant funding for research, including studies related to maternal and child health, physical activity promotion, breast cancer prevention, weight management, and infant feeding. Visit Cal Poly Center for Health Research.