STRuctural Inequities, Determinants, and Equity in Maternal Health Lab
Lab Overview
Dr. Sheree Boulet’s STRIDE research lab examines how social and structural determinants shape maternal and infant health, with a focus on understanding and reducing inequities across the reproductive life course. The lab is grounded in the recognition that maternal health disparities arise from interconnected systems of structural oppression that influence exposure, opportunity, and access to care, producing cumulative and embodied effects that span the preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum periods. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we investigate mechanisms linking upstream structural conditions to downstream health outcomes across individuals, communities, and health systems. We develop, implement, and evaluate practical solutions to reduce these disparities and improve the quality and effectiveness of care. A central focus is advancing measurement and analytic approaches for complex health inequities by leveraging electronic health records, administrative data, and population-based datasets alongside innovative epidemiologic and statistical methods to improve risk prediction, strengthen causal inference, and identify critical opportunities for intervention to inform clinical practice, health system improvement, and public health policy.
Lab Members
Sheree Boulet, DrPH, MPH
Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dr. Sheree Boulet is a perinatal epidemiologist and health services researcher with extensive experience in maternal and reproductive health. She received her doctoral degree in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health and worked for over a decade at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research spans preconception and perinatal health care, infertility, pregnancy-related complications, and maternal and infant morbidity. She has published over 190 peer-reviewed articles and maintains a strong record of extramural funding. Her methodological expertise includes public health surveillance, analysis of administrative and electronic health record data, and advanced epidemiologic methods for studying maternal health outcomes. Dr. Boulet also has extensive experience leading randomized trials of maternal health interventions and conducting community-engaged research to improve maternal health care delivery.
Dr. Ran Zhang received her PhD in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior from the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, with research focused on maternal health disparities and HIV prevention and intervention. She also holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, with training in social policy and child welfare. Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on multilevel determinants of maternal health, including structural racism, health care access, and quality of care delivery. She has extensive experience analyzing large administrative and population-based datasets in studies of severe maternal morbidity and other maternal health disparities. She works on multiple health disparities and severe maternal morbidity research projects in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams.
Dr. Michelle Huezo García, PhD, MPH is Director of Research Operations in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Boston Medical Center. A maternal and child health epidemiologist and research administrator, she specializes in research program development, epidemiologic methods, grant management, and the implementation of research infrastructure that supports high-impact clinical and population health research. She earned her PhD in Epidemiology and MPH in Maternal and Child Health from the Boston University School of Public Health and has extensive experience in maternal health, reproductive health, and community-engaged research.
Dr. Jasmin Darville received her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She is also a MD candidate at the Emory University School of Medicine and will be completing residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Darville’s research focuses on environmental contaminants, physical and psychosocial stress, and their effects on maternal morbidity and birth outcomes. She is also committed to advancing culturally responsive care and addressing structural inequities in medical education and clinical practice.
Myiera holds a Master of Public Health from Morehouse School of Medicine and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Georgia State University. Her work focuses on health disparities research with an emphasis on community-engaged approaches to improving maternal and child health outcomes among historically underserved populations. Myiera contributes to ongoing studies through project coordination and community engagement activities. Her interests include translating research findings into actionable strategies that support equitable health care delivery and strengthen community-informed maternal health interventions.
Justin is a medical student at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology, with a minor in Sociology, from Morehouse College. He is pursuing a career in Obstetrics and Gynecology with a commitment to advancing maternal health equity, reproductive health, and patient advocacy. Through his research and clinical training, Justin is interested in developing evidence that informs equitable, patient-centered care and improves maternal health outcomes.
Current Research Funding
Massachusetts Preeclampsia Research & Equity Consortium (2026–2028)
PI: Sheree Boulet
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Women’s Health Initiative
Climate factors, racial/ethnic disparities, and menstrual cycle health (2025–2028)
Co-I: Sheree Boulet
Harvard School of Public Health – NIH/NIEHS
Improving Maternal Postpartum Access to Care through Telemedicine (IMPACT) (2023–2028)
Co-I: Sheree Boulet
University of Texas Southwestern – PCORI
Investigating structural maternal health inequities among Black reproductive aged women in Georgia: a mixed methods and multi-level approach (2022–2027)
MPIs: Sheree Boulet, Sierra Carter
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/NIH/DHHS
Advancing understanding of racism-related health disparities beginning before birth: A multisite study with Black and Latinx pregnant women (2022–2027)
Co-I: Sheree Boulet
Georgia State University – NIH/NICHD
Recent Publications
Darville JA, Zhang R, Boulet SL, Seymour M, Sanders S, Bruno B, Kendall A, Manley CN, Northington GM, Stanhope KK, Carter S. Unmasking obstetric care providers’ empathy and color evasion in maternal health disparities: A causal attribution, mixed-methods study with an ideal-type analysis. BMC Public Health. 2026; in press.
Boulet SL, Stanhope KK, Stallworth T, Juarez G, Lozada M, Geary F, Green VL, King T, Furst L, Vuncannon D, Newton-Levinson A, Jamieson DJ, Dunlop AL. Effect of a patient-centered planning intervention on postpartum visit attendance. Pregnancy. 2026;2:e70346.
Darville JA, Campbell K, Stanhope KK, Kendall A, Carter S, Kramer MR, Zhang R, Boulet SL. Using spatial Bayesian models to estimate associations between structural racial discrimination and disparities in severe maternal morbidity. Social Science & Medicine. 2025;371:117932.
Boulet SL, Stanhope KK. From Records to Reality: Challenges in Using Administrative Data to Monitor Maternal Health. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2025;39(8):677-679.
Zhang R, Boulet SL, Nelson DB, Goedken P, Catchings J, McIntire D, Platner M, Martin RB, Spong CY, Duryea EL. Improving Maternal Postpartum Access to Care through Telemedicine (IMPACT): A multi-center randomized controlled trial of postpartum interventions to improve access and outcomes. Contemp Clin Trials. 2025;152:107882.
Stanhope KK, Kramer MR, McKinnon I, Carter S, Boulet SL. Slavery, homeownership, and contemporary perinatal outcomes in the southeast: a test of mediation and moderation Am J Epidemiol. 2024;193(12):1684-1692.
Collaborations and Impact
The STRIDE lab collaborates with clinical departments, community organizations, engineering and data science groups, and policymakers to advance research on maternal health inequities. A central focus of these partnerships is the development and refinement of measurement approaches for complex social, structural, and health system determinants, with the goal of improving how inequities are captured across individuals, communities, and health systems. This work supports the translation of research findings into improved clinical decision-making, health system performance, and policy strategies aimed at reducing maternal health disparities.
Contact information
Sheree Boulet, DrPH, MPH
Associate Professor & Vice Chair of Research
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Boston Medical Center
Email: sheree.boulet@bmc.org; sboulet@bu.edu
Office: 617.414.5107