Arkansas Center for Women's Health: preventing pregnancy high blood pressure and future heart disease
Official title: DP24-004, PRC, Core: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers
Funded at Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis · NIH-11136830 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This program works with Arkansas communities to reduce high blood pressure during pregnancy and lower the risk of heart problems afterward for women at higher risk.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2024 |
| Project end | September 29, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,000,000 |
| NIH project number | 5U48DP006814-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11136830 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are pregnant people or people who recently had pregnancy-related high blood pressure, especially those living in rural or under-resourced areas of Arkansas.
✕Less likely to help
People without a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy or those living outside Arkansas are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this project.
What this research studies
This center partners with clinics, community groups, and public health leaders across Arkansas to create programs that prevent and manage high blood pressure in pregnancy and after birth. They will pilot these approaches through the Healthy Active Arkansas initiative and measure how many clinics adopt them, who they reach, whether people find them acceptable, what helps or blocks success, and what they cost. The team will use community engagement, education, care coordination, and patient and clinic data to adapt programs for rural and low-resource areas. Over several years the goal is to identify approaches that can be scaled up statewide to reduce maternal deaths and future cardiovascular disease.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reduce pregnancy-related deaths and lower the long-term risk of hypertension and heart disease among Arkansas women who face access barriers.
How similar studies have gone: Community-based and implementation efforts have improved some chronic disease outcomes before, but applying and scaling these approaches specifically for pregnancy-related hypertension in rural Arkansas is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Nembhard, Wendy N — Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis
- Study coordinator: Nembhard, Wendy N
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.