SSRC Public Health Fellow to begin new journey at Johns Hopkins University

M. Maya McDoom

STARKVILLE, Miss.--- Delta Public Health Fellow M. Maya McDoom ended her tenure at the Social Science Research Center in January to begin work as a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

At Johns Hopkins, McDoom will be conducting work and research on cardiovascular health and chronic kidney disease outcomes, which is related to some of the work that she has conducted at ��Ƶ, as well as throughout the state of Mississippi.

McDoom received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then went on to receive her master’s degree in public health from the University of Kentucky in 2007, and her PhD in health services research from Boston University School of Public Health in 2013. McDoom later brought her extensive education and experience to ��Ƶ in January 2014.

Speaking on what drew her to Mississippi, McDoom said, “I think if you can make something work here [Mississippi] as far as research and health, or economic development, I think it can be a great template for how we can make it work throughout America.”

While working at ��Ƶ, McDoom became the co-founder for the Health Equity Interest Group on the ��Ƶ campus, and also worked on a project focused on reducing cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke in the Mississippi Delta.

She is leaving a lasting mark on Mississippi with her signature Rural Hospitals project where she collaborated with health and labor economists from the University of Memphis to examine the economic outcomes of Mississippi’s rural hospitals. The project generated buzz surrounding the risks of financial weaknesses and the lack of state and federal improvement of rural hospitals in Mississippi.

In this project, McDoom and her research team gathered and analyzed economic health data from the Census Bureau, Mississippi Annual Hospital Report, and American Hospital Association surveys conducted from 2008 until 2012, and used that data to categorize the potential closing risk levels of hospitals in Mississippi. The project found that 31 of Mississippi’s 94 acute/general care hospitals were at risk, 20 of which were rural hospitals. The study also examined health and economic policy issues related to keeping these hospitals open because of their small communities’ high need for health services.

Amongst many proposed methods to address the challenges the rural hospitals face, the project suggested that those rural hospitals integrate health services, adopt new service delivery methods, and seek new funding sources and stakeholder support at the federal and state level. Additional work is underway at ��Ƶ’s SSRC to analyze the community and regional conditions that are associated with hospitals with financial risk.

“Dr. McDoom has had an exceptionally productive program of post-doctoral studies at ��Ƶ and her work will have lasting impact. Health disparities is such a priority at the university, and her fine efforts in bringing together faculty and students interested in health disparity issues has clearly moved us forward in coordinating university expertise in this important area for Mississippi,” SSRC Director Arthur Cosby said.

As McDoom makes her move to Maryland, she hopes to continue the work that she began here in Mississippi. She plans to keep communication open with the researchers that she has met at ��Ƶ and the SSRC, as well as throughout the state, and further that collaboration as she continues her journey at Johns Hopkins.

“In the future, I hope to increase and sustain collaborations in Mississippi. Hopefully, I’ll be a tenure track assistant professor. That’s the plan for now, but we’ll see what the future brings. I’m hopeful.”

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