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Donna
Strobino
,
PhD

Vice Chair of Education
Professor
- Emeritus

Donna Strobino, PhD ’76, an expert in maternal and child health (MCH) research, focused on the health of disadvantaged pregnant women and their young children and families.

Contact Info

615 N. Wolfe Street, Room E4650
Baltimore
Maryland
21205
US        
410-955-3851

Research Interests

Population, Family, and Reproductive Health; perinatal and infant mortality and morbidity; demography; health programs and policies for women and children; women's health; maternal morbidity; maternal depression; disadvantaged women; racial disparities in health
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Johns Hopkins University
1976
Overview
Dr. Strobino’s research career has been devoted to maternal and child health (MCH) research with a special focus on the health of disadvantaged women during pregnancy and their young children and families. Her major perinatal health research contributions center on understanding the reasons why disadvantaged women have unfavorable pregnancy outcomes and interventions to improve their outcomes, including among teenagers, low-income women, African American women and women who use drugs during pregnancy. More recent research addresses maternal mental health as well as the interface of women’s chronic conditions and mental and psychosocial health in pregnancy with an eye to reducing neonatal morbidity as well as the burden of disease as women age. She has also studied the impact of maternal depressive symptoms on young children’s behavior and growth as well as parenting behaviors and use of preventive health services. Her more recent collaborative work is focused on maternal morbidity and complications of pregnancy. She has conducted numerous evaluations of perinatal health programs in a variety of settings and pediatric programs for young children. She was Principal Investigator of the national evaluation of Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Programs and was a key investigator for the national Healthy Steps evaluation.

Dr. Strobino currently works collaboratively with students and other faculty on studies of maternal morbidity and its impact on postpartum health, as well as the impact of chronic conditions on morbidity. She also was a Co-Investigator of the HRSA sponsored initiative, Strengthen the Evidence for MCH Programs, that completed evidence reviews for 10 MCH national performance measures to support states in their development of evidence-based or evidence-informed strategies to promote the health and well-being of MCH populations in the United States. She is core faculty in the Johns' Hopkins Center for Women’s Health, Sex and Gender Differences. She has been the Director of the Center of Excellence in MCH in Education, Science and Practice since 2004 and of the MCH Epidemiology Doctoral Training Program since 2008.
Honors & Awards
2016 - Inaugural Donna Vogel Women’s Health Research Champion Award
2016 - Department Student Alliance 2016 Mentor Appreciation Award
2009 - Excellence in Teaching, National MCH Epidemiology Award  
2006 - Advising, Mentoring and Teaching Recognition Award
1995 - Recognition Award, Award Winning Abstract, National Perinatal Association
1992 - Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching
1979, 1981 - Outstanding Young Women of America
1981 - Alpha Chapter, Delta Omega Society
1981 - The World's Who's Who of Women
1971 - 1976 - Public Health Service Traineeship
Select Publications
Publications with students and faculty mentees
  • Reid LD, Strobino DM. A Population-Based Study of School Readiness Determinants in a Large Urban Public School District. Matern Child Health J. 2019; 23(3):325-334. PubMed PMID: 30569300.
  • Surkan PJ, Strobino DM, Mehra S, Shamim AA, Rashid M, Wu LS, Ali H, Ullah B, Labrique AB, Klemm RDW, West KP Jr, Christian P. Unintended pregnancy is a risk factor for depressive symptoms among socio-economically disadvantaged women in rural Bangladesh. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2018; 18(1):490. PubMed PMID: 30545325.
  • Harvey EM, Ahmed S, Manning SE, Diop H, Argani C, Strobino DM. Severe Maternal Morbidity at Delivery and Risk of Hospital Encounters Within 6 Weeks and 1 Year Postpartum. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2018; 27(2):140-147. PubMed PMID: 28953424
  • Harvey EM, Strobino D, Sherrod L, Webb MC, Anderson C, White JA, Atlas R. Community-Academic Partnership to Investigate Low Birth Weight Deliveries and Improve Maternal and Infant Outcomes at a Baltimore City Hospital. Matern Child Health J. 2017; 21(2):260-266. PubMed PMID: 27461023
  • Strobino DM, Ahmed S, Mistry K, Wasserman E, Hossain MB, Minkovitz C. Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Attained Size Among Children in the First 2 Years of Life. Acad Pediatr. 2016;16(1):75-81. PMID: 26498256
Projects
Communication and Collaboration about Pregnant Women at High Medical Risk
Impact of changes in maternal age in the US
Strengthen the Evidence for MCH Programs