POD Center NewsletterMay 2025
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| You're Invited: GROWell Study Special Planning Meeting
Please join us in person for a special extended session dedicated to the GROWell Study. We’ll take time to reflect on the study’s progress over the years and engage in collaborative brainstorming around potential publication ideas based on our current data.
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Location: UC Davis Health Sacramento Campus in Betty Irene Moore Hall Room 2603
Your insights and contributions will be instrumental as we shape the next phase of this important work. If you are planning to attend, please notify POD Center Coordinator, Jasmine Cuellar at jmcuellar@ucdavis.edu.
Please note: This meeting will replace our regularly scheduled monthly meeting. General POD Center meetings will resume in the fall, beginning with our POD Center Symposium in September.
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Coming Soon Fall 2025: Our First POD Center Symposium!
📅 Friday, September 26, 2025
📍 UC Davis Health Campus, Sacramento
This symposium will bring together researchers, clinicians, and students to explore research related to perinatal origins of health disparities and their impact across the lifespan. The event will feature a distinguished keynote speaker, oral presentations, and dedicated poster sessions showcasing research from undergraduate students, graduate students, and early career faculty.
More details, including the full agenda and location, will be shared soon—stay tuned!
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Call for Abstracts
In the meantime, we are currently accepting abstracts of original research or research proposals related to behavioral science and technology research to better understand – and ultimately intervene in – prenatal and early life factors that affect later life health, specifically factors that are disproportionately present in disadvantaged communities. If you are interested in participating in either an oral presentation or poster session, please submit an abstract using the Qualtrics survey linked here.
Deadline for abstract submissions:
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM PST
If you have any questions about the symposium or the call for abstracts, please reach out to POD Center Coordinator, Jasmine Cuellar at jmcuellar@ucdavis.edu.
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Funder(s): National Institutes of Health (NIH)
United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Amount: Upper $840,000 USD
Details: The NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) invite institutional career development award applications for Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Career Development Programs, hereafter termed "Programs". Programs will support mentored research career development of junior faculty members, known as BIRCWH Scholars, who have recently completed clinical training or postdoctoral fellowships, and who will be engaged in interdisciplinary basic, translational, data science, behavioral, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to the health of women and, where appropriate, the use of both sexes to better understand the influence of sex as a biological variable on health and disease.
This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) allows appointment of Scholars (K12) proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial; or proposing a separate ancillary clinical trial; or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, as part of their research and career development.
Application Deadline: March 28, 2025
Funder(s): National Institutes of Health (NIH)
United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Amount: Upper: $500,000 USD
Details: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages multidisciplinary projects to investigate the potential health risks of environmental exposures of concern to a community and to develop and implement an environmental public health action plan based on research findings. Projects supported under this program will employ community-engaged research methods to conduct research and to translate research findings into public health action. This announcement reflects NIEHS’ and NIMHD's commitment to environmental health disparities and environmental justice research. This FOA also advances efforts to nurture and sustain trust and bi-directional communication between academic researchers and affected communities. The Research to Action program is part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) “Partnerships for Environmental Public Health” (PEPH) network (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/translational/peph/index.cfm).
Application Deadline: June 5, 2025
Funder(s): National Institutes of Health (NIH)
United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Amount: Upper $275,000 USD
Details: The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is to support translational and clinical research to (1) advance precision medicine in pregnant persons, lactating persons, and children through the development of novel tools, models, and other technologies that could have a direct clinical or health impact; (2) enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of drug action, including the role of pediatric ontogeny and the dynamic physiological changes that occur during pregnancy and lactation; and (3) discover and develop novel therapeutics or enhance the usage of existing drugs or drug repurposing for safer and more effective medications in pregnant and lactating persons, neonates, and children. The overall goal is to improve safe and effective precision therapeutics for pregnant and lactating persons, fetuses, neonates, and children, including those with disabilities.
Components of Participating Organizations:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
All applications to this funding opportunity announcement should fall within the mission of the Institutes/Centers. The following NIH Offices may co-fund applications assigned to those Institutes/Centers.
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)
Application Deadline: June 16, 2025
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Recent Publications by POD Center
Affiliate Faculty & Trainees
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March 2025
DeBolt, M. C., Caswell, B. L., George, M., Maleta, K., Prado, E. L., Ross-Sheehy, S., Stewart, C. P., & Oakes, L. M. (2025). A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Infants’ Spatial Attention on the Infant Orienting With Attention (IOWA) Task. Child Development, 96(3), 1050–1065. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14228
Wang, H., Li, X., Fitzjerrells, R. L., Valenzuela, A. E., Neier, K., Dean, L. E., LaSalle, J. M., & Lehmler, H.-J. (2025). Dataset for: Identification of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and PCB metabolites associated with changes in the gut microbiome of female mice exposed to an environmental PCB mixture. University of Iowa. https://doi.org/10.25820/data.007461
Miller, R. L., Schuh, H., Chandran, A., Habre, R., Angal, J., Aris, I. M., Aschner, J. L., Bendixsen, C. G., Blossom, J., Bosquet-Enlow, M., Breton, C. V., Camargo, C. A., Carroll, K. N., Commodore, S., Croen, L. A., Dabelea, D. M., Deoni, S. C. L., Ferrara, A., Fry, R. C., … ECHO Cohort Consortium. (2025). Child Opportunity Index at birth and asthma with recurrent exacerbations in the US ECHO program. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2025.02.036
Bragg, M. G., Rando, J., Carroll, K. N., Eick, S. M., Karagas, M. R., Lin, P.-I., Schmidt, R. J., Lyall, K., & ECHO Cohort Consortium. (2025). The Association of Prenatal Dietary Factors with Child Autism Diagnosis and Autism-Related Traits Using a Mixtures Approach: Results from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort. The Journal of Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.02.025
Blackmon, T. J., MacMahon, J. A., Bernardino, P. N., Hogans, R. E., Cheng, M.-Y., Vu, J., Lee, R. D., Saito, N. H., Grodzki, A. C., Bruun, D. A., Wulff, H., Woolard, K. D., Brooks-Kayal, A., Harvey, D. J., Gorin, F. A., & Lein, P. J. (2025). Spatiotemporal perturbations of the plasminogen activation system in a rat model of acute organophosphate intoxication. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 13(1), 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-025-01979-0
Veloso, K. P., Syed, Z., Cataldo, A., Lee, C., Mohr, K., Park, H. H., Cheng, M.-Y., Valenzuela, A. E., Bein, K., Lein, P., & Chandrasekaran, V. (2025). Effect of Long-term Exposure to Traffic-related Air Pollution on the Gut Microbiome in a Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease (Abstract ID: 190355). The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 392(3), 103404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpet.2025.103404
Black, G. P., Anderson, B. N., Wong, L., Alaimo, C. P., He, G., Denison, M. S., Bennett, D. H., Tancredi, D., Durbin-Johnson, B., Hammock, B. D., Chowdhary, P., Rubin, R., & Young, T. M. (2025). Comprehensive Nontargeted Analysis of Drinking Water Supplies to Identify Chemicals Associated with Estrogen Receptor Agonism or Present in Regions of Elevated Breast Cancer Occurrence. Environmental Science & Technology, 59(10), 5237–5248. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c12204
Simmons, L. A., Phipps, J., Castro-Alvarez, S., Smith, P., Keeton, V., Gilliland, P., Nicholas, P., Patrikeyeva, A., & Overstreet, C. (2025). Abstract P2145: Low Physical Activity is Associated with Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in Californian Women with Overweight or Obesity. Circulation, 151(Suppl_1). https://doi.org/10.1161/cir.151.suppl_1.P2145
Simmons, L. A., Gilliland, P., Phipps, J., Castro-Alvarez, S., Smith, P., Nicholas, P., Patrikeyeva, A., Overstreet, C., & Keeton, V. (2025). Abstract MP61: Early Pregnancy Mood is Associated with Postpartum Weight Retention in a Cohort of Californian Pregnant Women with Overweight and Obesity. Circulation, 151(Suppl_1). https://doi.org/10.1161/cir.151.suppl_1.MP61
Nidey, N., Raff, E., Ferdous Khan, M. T., Watkins, S. L., McAllister, J. M. J., Kair, L., Terplan, M., & Greiner, A. (2025). The impact of frequency of cannabis use on hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. Journal of Addiction Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000001454
Park, J., Jinno, C., Wickramasinghe, S., Mills, D. A., Liu, Y., Lönnerdal, B. L., & Ji, P. (2025). Iron fortification and inulin supplementation in early infancy: evaluating the impact on gut microbiome in a piglet model. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9(4), 104587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.104587
Friedman, A., Welch, B. M., Keil, A. P., Bloom, M. S., Braun, J. M., Buckley, J. P., Dabelea, D., Factor-Litvak, P., Meeker, J. D., Michels, K. B., Padmanabhan, V., Starling, A. P., Weinberg, C. R., Aalborg, J., Alshawabkeh, A. N., Barrett, E. S., Binder, A. M., Bradman, A., Bush, N. R., … Ferguson, K. K. (2025). Periods of susceptibility for associations between phthalate exposure and preterm birth: Results from a pooled analysis of 16 US cohorts. Environment International, 198, 109392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109392
April 2025
Calub, C., Schweitzer, J., Hertz-Picciotto, I., & Bennett, D. (2025). 72 Neighborhood factors and ADHD. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 9(s1), 22–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2024.751
Schalich, K., Kim, Y.-T., Sylvestre, D., Wang, A., Ozturk, G., Kalanetra, K., Barile, D., Taha, A., & Mills, D. (2025). A Milk Fat Globule Membrane-enriched dairy co-product modulates gut Faecalibaculum rodentium metabolism in association with the prevention of cognitive impairment in aging male Wistar rats. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.02.646113
Park, E., Shen, Q., Zhang, Z., O’Brien, C. E., Goodrich, A. J., Angel, E. E., Hertz-Picciotto, I., Tancredi, D. J., Raffuse, S., Bennett, D. H., Schmidt, R. J., & Taha, A. Y. (2025). Gestational exposure to particulate matter from urban wildfires is associated with changes in circulating oxylipins but not flame retardants 7 to 13 months post-exposure. Environment International, 109468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109468
Mouat, J. S., Krigbaum, N. Y., Hakam, S., Thrall, E., Kuodza, G. E., Mellis, J., Yasui, D. H., Cirillo, P. M., Ludena, Y. J., Schmidt, R. J., La Merrill, M. A., Hertz-Picciotto, I., Cohn, B. A., & LaSalle, J. M. (2025). Sex-specific DNA methylation signatures of autism spectrum disorder from whole genome bisulfite sequencing of newborn blood. Biology of Sex Differences, 16(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-025-00712-9
Camunas-Alberca, S. M., Moran-Garrido, M., Gaudioso, Á., da Costa Souza, F., Gradillas, A., Ledesma, M. D., Barbas, C., & Taha, A. Y. (2025). Sex-dependent upregulation in oxylipins involved in inflammation resolution in the cerebellum of Niemann-pick disease C1 mice. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 111387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2025.111387
Sylvestre, D. A., Liang, N., Galan, J. G., Safar, A., Costa Souza, F. de, Bancks, M. C., Sundaram, V., Scott, B. W., Schalich, K., Goodson, M., Rutkowsky, J. M., Galang, K., Ozturk, G., Mills, D. A., Barile, D., & Taha, A. Y. (2025). Whey Protein Phospholipid Concentrate Supplementation Prevents High-Fat Diet Induced Cognitive Impairment in Wistar Rats by https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.29.647813
Choi, J. W., Jang, H., Kuiper, J. R., Bennett, D. H., Schmidt, R. J., & Shin, H.-M. (2025). Gestational exposures to mixtures of multiple chemical classes and autism spectrum disorder in the MARBLES study. Environmental Research, 121646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.121646
Liu, G., Raffuse, S., Alaniz, M., Kenyon, N., Gigoyan, L., Kalhan, R., & Hertz-Picciotto, I. (2025). 78 Wildfire smoke-driven PM2.5 and its association with persistent respiratory symptoms and repeated asthma exacerbations among adults with asthma. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 9(s1), 24–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2024.756
Suarez, C., Cheang, S. E., Larke, J. A., Jiang, J., Weng, C.-Y. C., Stacy, A., Couture, G., Chen, Y., Bacalzo, N. P., Smilowitz, J. T., German, J. B., Mills, D. A., Lemay, D. G., & Lebrilla, C. B. (2025). Corrigendum to “Development of a comprehensive food glycomic database and its application: Associations between dietary carbohydrates and insulin resistance” [Food Chemistry 473 (2025) 142977]. Food Chemistry, 480, 144046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144046
Gilliland, P. D., Keeton, V. F., Haynes, S., Castro-Alvarez, S., Golden, A., & Simmons, L. A. (2025). The influence of mental health, confidence, and acculturation on breastfeeding in hispanic people. American Journal of Health Promotion, 8901171251336899. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171251336899
Chen, M. J., Kair, L. R., Schwarz, E. B., Toland, M., Rizzo, J., Creinin, M. D., & Chang, J. C. (2025). Postpartum Care Recommendations from Parents of Premature Infants Requiring Intensive Care. Maternal and Child Health Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-025-04101-x
Wilson, R. J., & Lein, P. J. (2025). The challenge of determining the health risks of low-dose chemical exposures. Open Access Government, 46(1), 372–373. https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-046-10177
Schrott, R., Ladd-Acosta, C., Padmanabhan, V., Barr, D. B., Breton, C. V., Cardenas, A., Carignan, C. C., Dabelea, D., Dunlop, A. L., Fallin, D. M., Hivert, M.-F., Howerton, E. M., Knight, A. K., Oken, E., Peterson, A. K., Petriello, M. C., Ruden, D., Schmidt, R. J., Smith, A. K., … Goodrich, J. M. (2025). Prenatal Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposures and DNA Methylation among Newborns in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. Environmental Epigenetics. https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvaf010
Rodriguez, L. A., Yassin, M., Duru, O. K., Neugebauer, R. S., Brown, S. D., Castellon-Lopez, Y., Thomas, T. W., & Schmittdiel, J. A. (2025). Changes in diabetes screening and exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic in adults with prediabetes. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 112195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2025.112195
Brown, S. D., Kiernan, M., Hedderson, M. M., Quesenberry, C. P., Smith, B. P., Millman, A., Serrato Bandera, H., Daredia, S., Shan, J., & Ferrara, A. (2025). Greater intrinsic motivation for engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors is associated with reduced postpartum weight. Obesity, 33(5), 927–935. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.24271
May 2025
Reynolds, E. C., Nsiah-Asamoah, C., Okronipa, H., Russell, N. F., Habib, M., & Stewart, C. P. (2025). Drivers of Food Decision Making and Aspirations for the Future of the School Food Environment among Junior High School Students in Cape Coast, Ghana: a Photovoice Study. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9(5), 106009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.106009
Wang, G., Bitler, M., Schillinger, D., Halla, M., Stillman, S., & Hamad, R. (2025). Impact of the 2009 WIC revision on infant and maternal health: A quasi-experimental multi-state study. Social Science & Medicine, 373, 117974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117974
Chakraborty, H., Sun, Q., Bhupathiraju, S. N., Schenk, J. M., Mishchuk, D. O., Bain, J. R., He, X., Sun, J., Harnly, J., Simmons, W., Raftery, D., Liang, L., Newman, J. W., Fiehn, O., Clish, C. B., Lampe, J. W., Bennett, B. J., Navarro, S. L., Wang, Y., … Maruvada, P. (2025). The dietary biomarkers development consortium: an initiative for discovery and validation of dietary biomarkers for precision nutrition. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9(5), 107435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.107435
Suarez, C., Cheang, S. E., Larke, J. A., Jiang, J., Weng, C.-Y. C., Stacy, A., Couture, G., Chen, Y., Bacalzo, N. P., Smilowitz, J. T., German, J. B., Mills, D. A., Lemay, D. G., & Lebrilla, C. B. (2025). Development of a comprehensive food glycomic database and its application: Associations between dietary carbohydrates and insulin resistance. Food Chemistry, 473, 142977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142977
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Partner Events and Publications
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Upcoming Events
AWHONN (Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses) Convention (June 21-25, 2025)
Join AWHONN2025, the must-attend event for women’s health, obstetric, and neonatal nurses, from June 21-25 in Orlando! Designed to advance the nursing profession, this event provides access to cutting-edge education, and networking opportunities with over 2,500 professionals. Attendees strengthen their clinical knowledge and earn continuing nursing education contact hours.
If you want to be empowered to deliver the highest quality care for families, this is your chance to attend an unforgettable, in-person experience.
Shades of Blue Project 2025 Black Maternal Mental Health Summit (July 23-25, 2025)
The Shades of Blue Project 2025 Black Maternal Mental Health Summit will be a groundbreaking gathering dedicated to addressing the unique mental health challenges faced by Black mothers before, during, and after childbirth. The summit will bring together healthcare professionals, mental health advocates, policymakers, and community leaders to foster discussions and actionable solutions for improving maternal mental health outcomes in communities of color.
Through interactive panels, keynote speakers, and hands-on workshops, attendees will explore innovative approaches to dismantling systemic disparities, creating supportive care systems, and amplifying the voices of Black mothers. The event will also feature The Art of Motherhood Showcase, which highlights creative expressions of motherhood and the perinatal experience and will honor trailblazing individuals through the INSPIRE Angel Awards.
The 2025 summit will focus on promoting sustainability, advocating for generational well-being, and building collaborative networks to ensure long-term support for Black maternal mental health.
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