The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network
The Division is in its seventeenth consecutive year of participation in the 14-center MFMU Network. Centers from across the USA compete to be in this network every 5 years. Each center of the MFMU Network is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through a combination of base budget and capitated funding. Base budget funding at OSU for the current five-year cycle is approximately $1,400,000. Dr. Jay Iams is the Principal Investigator, and Dr. Mark Landon is the alternate PI. Mount Carmel-St. Ann's is a satellite site for the MFMU Network at OSU with Dr. Phillip Shubert, MD as the Principal Investigator. Ms. Johnson is the senior research nurse for the network and manages three research nurses and two research assistants.
Recent MFMU Network studies conducted at OSU include;
- A Randomized Clinical Trial of Treatment for Mild Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, a potentially landmark study to determine whether treatment of mild to moderately elevated glucose levels improves perinatal outcome in mild GDM.
- Randomized Trial of Antioxidants to Prevent Preeclampsia, a placebo-controlled study of supplemental vitamins C and E to prevent pre-eclampsia in nulliparous women.
- An Observational Cohort Study to Predict Preeclampsia, a longitudinal study to identify predictive markers for pre-eclampsia. A companion study to the CAPPS RCT protocol.
- A Randomized Trial of Thyroxine Therapy for Subclinical Hypothyroidism or Hypothyroxinemia Diagnosed During Pregnancy The purpose of this study is to see if giving thyroxine therapy to pregnant women with variously defined hypothyroidism is effective in improving intellectual ability at five years of age in their offspring.
- A Randomized Trial of 17 Alpha Hydroxyprogesterone Caproate for Prevention of Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women with a Short Cervix. The purpose of this study is to determine if progesterone therapy given to nulliparous women with a short cervix less than 30 mm is effective in preventing preterm birth and improving the health of their babies.
- An Observational Cohort Study to Evaluate Measures of Quality of Obstetric Care, an observational study to find tools that will allow the evaluation of the quality of obstetric care by determining which process measures are associated with the risk of a poor outcome.
For information on current studies, call 614-293-5632.
