Research spotlight: Sarah E. Rubin, PhD, and Joselyn Hines, OMS III

A team of researchers, including Sarah Rubin, Ph.D., and Joselyn Hines, OMS III, followed 17 pregnant mothers throughout their pregnancy in Cleveland, Ohio, to learn more about Black motherhood and structural racism. The city is full of chronic stressors that affect the well-being and survival of Black mothers and their infants. The maternal mortality rate of Black women is two and a half times that of their white counterparts and the infant mortality rate is nearly three times that of babies born to white mothers. In their co-authored paper, "'As Long as I Got a Breath in my Body': Risk and Resistance in Black Maternal Embodiment," Rubin and Hines described the key to mothers’ persistent positive parenting. Rubin is an associate professor of instruction in the department of social medicine. Hines is a third year medical student. 

The authors explain that their research is important both for Black women and the physicians who will be treating them.