Cheryl Moyer

Cheryl A. Moyer, PhD, MPH

Associate Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy
Accepting HILS PhD Students? Yes
Accepting PIBS Students? No

Biography

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.

Areas of Interest

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
  • 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)

Published Articles or Reviews

Selected publications:

  • Kaselitz E. Cunningham-Rhoads B, Aborigo RA, Williams JEO, James K, Moyer CA. Neonatal mortality in rural northern Ghana and the three delays model: are we focusing on the right delays? Tropical Medicine and International Health. 2021. Doi:10.1111/tmi.13558.
  • Lawrence ER, Appiah-Kubi A, Lawrence HR, Lui MY, Owusu-Antwi R, Konney T,Moyer CA “There is no joy in the family anymore”: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Experience and Impact of Maternal Mortality on Families in Ghana. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2022; 22:683. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-05006-1
  • Moyer CA, Lawrence ER, Beyuo TK, Tuuli MG, Oppong SA. Stalled progress in reducing maternal mortality globally: what next? The Lancet. 2023; 401(10382): P1060-1062. Published Online March 13, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00518-4

A list of all publications can be found here.