Claire Margerison

Margerison’s research focuses on understanding the drivers of racial and socioeconomic disparities in women’s health across the life span, with a particular focus on pregnancy. For example, black women are one and a half to two times more likely to deliver infants preterm or at low birth weight compared to white women, and their infants are twice as likely to die in the first year of life—disparities that have persisted for decades with little to no improvement. She examines how the social and economic context of women’s lives influences their health prior to, during, and after pregnancy. Her teaching and mentoring also focuses on training the next generation of scholars devoted to understanding and reducing disparities in women’s health.