Ashleigh Anderson's research won her an award, and gave her purpose.
Anderson is an undergraduate senior at Wayne State University studying public health. During the summer of 2017, she joined WSU's McNair Scholars program, which offers support to first-generation college students in their research. Her faculty advisor, Wayne School of Medicine Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences Dawn Misra, Ph.D., connected her with an Emergency Medicine physician at Henry Ford Hospital to research the use of emergency departments for prenatal care and how it affects birth outcomes.
She presented her research at the WSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2017 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programs' Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects Conference in November, and was surprised to learn that she won an award for one of the top 10 research projects.
"I expected the hard sciences to win because Wayne State is such a premier medical institution," Anderson said. "It was cool that I got the attention of a lot of people."
Anderson and Henry Ford Hospital Emergency Medicine physician Martina Caldwell, M.D., realized that some women go to the emergency room for prenatal care due to a lack of resources for women, lack of contraceptive education, not having means to go to an obstetrician or gynecologist, and financial burden. Anderson said they want to make sure that women who come to the emergency room for prenatal care get what they need.
"If you're able to help mothers have better birth outcomes, you're helping the next generation have better lives," Anderson said.
She started as a pre-nursing student at WSU and learned about the public health program in her sophomore year.
"The program gave me a sense of greater purpose as it taught me to view health care as a preventive measure, helping to eliminate disparities and treat communities and populations rather than just individuals," she said. "I've always wanted to be a neonatal nurse practitioner."
For the project, Anderson researched literature about prenatal care in the emergency room and discussed how nursing and public health are interdisciplinary.
"I have the background and I want to bring it to the clinical space," she said. "I'm excited to be a part of this."
Anderson is completing her capstone project for her major and is applying for nursing school.
A version of this article first appeared at www.clas.wayne.edu.