Research

Focuses of our research lab include neonatal health disparities, particularly those associated with preterm birth, health care quality improvement, and neonatal resuscitation. Dr. Matoba’s research is focused on examining disparities in infant health outcomes and their relationship to social determinants and structural racism, with the aim to identify modifiable risk factors. These risk factors in her research have included residential redlining, spatial polarization, and neighborhood gun violence, in collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health. She has also studied differences in placental pathology between races, as a potential marker of differences in prenatal exposures that may provide insight into the mechanisms of disparities in birth outcomes.​ 

A few current research projects are:

• Improving outcomes of periviable births via an enhanced prediction tool

  • Birth at the earliest viable gestations of 22-25 weeks presents challenges in prognosis, counseling, and shared decision making. We are interested in evaluating updated clinical tools for this purpose. This project is funded by the National Institutes of Health – Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

• China Pediatric Scientist Development Program

  • The China Pediatric Scientist Development Program is funded by the China Medical Board and seeks to train pediatric faculty at Chinese institutions in order to increase collaborations and provide a path for increased research and mentoring skills for Chinese pediatric clinician-scientists. Scholars will spend 2 years and receive mentorship in a US or Canadian institution.