Pamela Xaverius, Ph.D.
St.
Louis University
Junior Investigator, Vulnerable Populations
Project Title: Immigrant and Racial Disparities in Reproductive Health
"As I reflect upon the challenges I have faced in pursuing a college education, my major barrier was guidance. I anticipate that this grant will provide me with the resources and support I need to advance my professional career."
Project Description
Xaverius will study preconception health disparities among immigrant and minority women. Disparities in chronic conditions and birth outcomes are well documented, but there is little research regarding disparities in preconception health.
She hypothesizes that pregnant women will have a higher prevalence of healthier behaviors than non-pregnant women, with non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic women experiencing better health compared with non-Hispanic black women. Xaverius also hypothesizes that the prevalence of healthy behaviors among non-pregnant, immigrant women will decrease as they spend more time in the U.S.
She will analyze the National Health and Nutritional Examination Study (NHANES) to study women who are not pregnant, with a special emphasis on minorities and immigrants, to learn more about their health and dangerous behaviors, including alcohol and tobacco use. The information gathered will help outline areas that need improvement.
Biography
Pamela Xaverius, Ph.D., is a maternal and child health researcher at Saint Louis University, School of Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine. She received her doctorate in child and developmental psychology from the University of Kansas in 2001, and her first post-doctorate research appointment was to serve as project director on a multi-million dollar Department of Defense grant housed at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
As the project director, she oversaw all aspects of the community health initiative, which was designed to decrease smoking and improve the health of military personnel across the United States. It was the great satisfaction in that research project, a project that measured success by improved health of individuals, that led Xaverius to the Missouri Department of Health where she became the first maternal and child health epidemiologist for the state.
Broadly speaking, her job as the lead maternal and child health epidemiologist for Missouri was to support prioritization processes, evaluate interventions and identify health related factors of interest through the design and implementation of epidemiological studies focused on women, children and families. While in this role, she secured funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate racial disparities in infant mortality and was awarded a two-year health disparity scholarship through the National Institutes of Health.
In 2005, Xaverius moved to a faculty appointment at Saint Louis University, where she continues to conduct research on issues related to preconception health, prenatal care and behavior risk factors, with special attention on racial, ethnic and immigrant disparities.
