On the Heights: March 2026
March highlights include a successful poster session celebrating student research and internships, faculty leadership of a new open access environmental journal, and ASPPH awards and committee appointments.
Health Equity Results
Maternal mortality's narrowing racial gap masks a deepening crisis for less-educated women
The racial gap in maternal mortality is narrowing — but not because outcomes are improving. Climbing death rates among less-educated white women, combined with a persistent crisis for Black mothers at all education levels, reveal a deepening public health emergency, according to new University of Michigan research.
On the Heights: January 2026
January highlights include groundbreaking research on structural racism and environmental health, new Impact Institute and sustainability funding awards, and faculty expertise featured in national media coverage and global health initiatives.
Lingering legacy: Brazil's 'dictatorship gen' faces premature aging
A new University of Michigan study reveals that for many Black and Brown Brazilians, difficulty with mobility, memory, vision and hearing is worse amongst those in their 50s than in their 80s.
Michigan Public Health researchers launch collaborative to transform public health practice and training
A Michigan Public Health team launches a collaborative to help public health institutions, universities, and communities transform training, research, and practice to address health disparities and advance equity.
Investigating racism's impact on birth outcomes
Q&A with University of Michigan researcher Safyer McKenzie-Sampson on racism’s impact on reproductive health
Safyer McKenzie-Sampson is the John G. Searle Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She focuses her research on the multi-level impacts of racial discrimination on adverse perinatal outcomes in Black communities. Her work uniquely examines these outcomes through the lens of maternal nativity, highlighting the experiences of Black immigrants