Micaiah McDonald, MSBD ’25, is participating in the Maternal Health Research Collaborative (MHRC) Research Centers Fellowship Program.
Through webinars, courses and a research project, the fellowship offers a valuable experience as she prepares to start the Ph.D. Biomedical Data Science program in August 2025. Additionally, the collaborative and network-driven approach of the fellowship will help expand her network of fellow academic researchers.
McDonald was nominated for the MHRC Research Fellowship Program by Aize Cao, Ph.D., professor of biomedical data science, the PI of one of maternal health research centers. She was a research assistant for Dr. Cao throughout most of her time as a student in the M.S. Biomedical Data Science program.
McDonald joined other fellows for a week-long orientation held at Johns Hopkins University. She will then participate in weekly virtual programs covering maternal health research fundamentals, including ethics, qualitative methods, theoretical frameworks, data analysis, community engagement and professional presentation development.
During the summer, McDonald will complete a research project, abstract, poster and oral presentation. Dr. Cao will serve as McDonald’s mentor as she develops and pursues her research project.
The mission of the Maternal Health Research Collaborative Research Centers is to positively impact the root causes of maternal health morbidity and mortality through research, education, community engagement and collaborative partnerships.
That focus on maternal health aligns with the research McDonald has done with Dr. Cao. She is on the team for the project “Developing a comprehensive data analytics infrastructure model to support maternal healthcare for women in low-resource settings with substance use disorders.” The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funds the project under cooperative agreement UR650342.
Sade Graves, an M.S. Biomedical Data Science student, began the MHRC Research Fellowship Program in 2024 and will return as a continuing fellow.
