Cheryl A. Moyer, PhD, MPH

Cheryl Moyer is an Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her research focuses on the social and cultural factors that influence maternal and neonatal health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa, including an emphasis on facility based delivery, neonatal mortality, social autopsy, and the assessment of ‘near-miss mortality’ – or those mothers and babies who suffer a life-threatening complication but ultimately survive. Most recently, she was the lead investigator on a 3-year USAID-funded project in northern Ghana that involved the conduct of social autopsies to explore maternal and neonatal deaths, sociocultural audits to explore the determinants of maternal and neonatal near-misses, and used GIS technology to map the location of deaths and near-misses against clinical, demographic, social, and cultural determinants. She also serves as a co-Investigator on an NIH-funded global health training grant for U.S. and Ghanaian post-doctoral fellows.

Research and scholarly interests: global health, maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa, social and cultural factors that impact maternal and neonatal outcomes, research capacity development in Ghana and throughout Africa

Subject-matter expertise: facility-based delivery, predictors of neonatal mortality, patient-provider interactions, social autopsy, qualitative methods, team science 

Other professional highlights: 

• Associate Director of Global REACH, the medical school's international program 
• Co-Director, University of Michigan Global Health Research Training Certificate Program
• Associate Editor at PLOS One, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, BMC Pediatrics
• Co-Investigator and Ghana Mentor for the Northern Pacific Global Health Research Training Program (fogartyfellows.org)
• Co-Investigator on 5-year R01 through NICHD exploring the group-based antenatal care in Ghana (PI: J. Lori)

Selected publications:

• Oppong S, Bakari A, Bell AJ, Bockarie Y, Adu J, Turpin CA, Obed SA, Adanu RM, Moyer CA. Incidence, Causes, and Correlates of Maternal Near-Miss Morbidity in Southern Ghana: A Multi-Centre Cross-Sectional Study. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30548506
• Sakeah E, Debpuur C, Oduro A, Aborigo R, Sakeah J, Welaga P, Moyer CA. Prevalence and determinants of female genital mutilation among women of reproductive age in the Bawku Municipality and Pusiga District of Northern Ghana. BMC Women’s Health. 2018, 18:150. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0643-8
• Afulani P, Phillips B, Aborigo RA, Moyer CA. Person-centered maternity care in low- and middle-income countries: Analysis of Data from Kenya, Ghana, and India. The Lancet Global Health. 2019; 7: e96-e109. Doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30403-0 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30403-0/fulltext
• Moyer CA, Abedini NC, Youngblood J, Talib Z, Jayaraman T, Manzoor M, Larson HJ, Garcia PJ, Binagwaho A, Burke KS, Barry M. Advancing women leaders in global health: Getting to solutions. Annals of Global Health. 2018; 84(4): 743-752.
• Bell AJ, Wynn LV, Bakari A, Oppong SA, Youngblood J, Arku Z, Bockarie Y, Adu J. Wobil P, Plange-Rhule G, Goka B, Adanu RM, Moyer CA. “We call them miracle babies”: How health care providers understand neonatal near-misses at three teaching hospitals in Ghana. PLOS One. 2018; 13(5): e0198169.
• Moyer CA, Kaselitz E. Harnessing the power of the community to improve child outcomes. Lancet Global Health. 2018; 6: e602-603.
• Moyer CA, Johnson C, Kaselitz L, Aborigo R. Using Social Autopsy to Understand Maternal, Newborn, and Child Mortality in Low-Resource Settings: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Global Health Action. 2017; 10:1, 1413917. DOI: 10.1080/16549716.2017.1413917. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16549716.2017.1413917
• Moyer CA, Aborigo RA, Kaselitz EB, Gupta ML, Oduro A, Williams J. PREventing Maternal And Neonatal Deaths (PREMAND): A study protocol for examining social and cultural factors contributing to infant and maternal deaths and near-misses in rural northern Ghana. Reproductive Health. 2016; 13:20. doi 10.1186/s12978-016-0142-z https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-016-0142-z
• Moyer CA, Aborigo RA, Kaselitz EB, Gupta ML, Oduro A, Williams J. PREventing Maternal And Neonatal Deaths (PREMAND): A study protocol for examining social and cultural factors contributing to infant and maternal deaths and near-misses in rural northern Ghana. Reproductive Health. 2016; 13:20. doi 10.1186/s12978-016-0142-z https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-016-0142-z
• Nansubuga E, Ayiga N, Moyer CA. Prevalence and Risk Factors of Maternal Near-Miss in Central Uganda: a Community Based Study. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. 2016; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgo.2016.05.009
• Moyer CA, Rominski S, Nakua EK, Dzomeku VM, Agyei-Baffour P, Lori JR. Exposure to disrespectful patient care during training: Data from midwifery students at 15 midwifery schools in Ghana. Midwifery. 2016; 41: 39-44.
• Koblinsky M, Moyer C, Calvert C, Campbell J, Campbell O, Feigl A, Graham W, Hatt L, Hodgins S, Matthews Z, Nandakumar AK, Langer A. A call to action for maternal health: Accelerating progress in the next five years. The Lancet. 2016; Published online Sept 15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31333-2
• Kruk MK, Kujawski S, Moyer CA, Adanu RM, Afsana K, Cohen J, Ezeh A, Glassman A, Labrique A, Reddy KS, Yamey G. Next generation maternal health: External shocks and health system innovations. The Lancet, 2016; Published online Sept 15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31395-2
• Engmann CM, Hodgson A, Aborigo R, Adongo P, Moyer CA. Addressing the Continuum of Maternal and Newborn Care in Ghana: Implications for Research, Policy and Practice. Health Policy and Planning. 2016, In Press.
• Engmann CM, Khan SA, Moyer CA, Coffey T, Bhutta ZA. Transformative Innovations in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health over the next 20 years. PLOS Medicine. 2016; 13(3): e1001969. Doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001969. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001969
• Moyer CA, Adongo P, Aborigo RA, Hodgson A, Engmann C, DeVries R. "It's up to the woman's people": How social factors influence facility-based delivery in rural northern Ghana. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 2014; 18(1): 109-19. doi 10.1007/s10995-01301240-y https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23423857
• Moyer CA, Adongo PB, Aborigo R, Hodgson A, Engmann C. “They treat you like you are not a human being”: Midwifery maltreatment in rural northern Ghana. Midwifery. 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2013.05.006
• Moyer CA, Mclaren Z, Adanu RM, Lantz PM. Understanding the relationship between access to care and facility-based delivery through an analysis of 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey data. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. 2013; 122(3): 224-229.
• Moyer CA and Mustafa A. Drivers and deterrents of facility delivery in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review. Reproductive Health. 2013; 10:40. doi:10.1186/1742-4755-10-40 https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4755-10-40