Jack Turman, Jr., Ph.D. is dedicated to growing education, research and outreach programs that optimize maternal and child health outcomes. He is a Professor in the Dept. of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, and in the Dept. of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. He works across Indiana and the USA to develop maternal and child health programs focused on community development and systems change. He actively advocates for policy changes to remove inequitable social systems that underlie poor birth outcomes. He developed and directs the Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative at the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health. This initiative works to build the capacity of individuals and organizations in marginalized communities to bring about systems change that improve pregnancy and infant health outcomes. An outgrowth of this effort is the Mothers on the Rise Initiative.

Mothers on the Rise was created in partnership with the Translational Healthcare Team at the Indiana Dept. of Correction, along with a woman who delivered a child in the nursery unit of the Indiana Women’s Prison. This collaborative partnership resulted in the development and implementation of: an individualized, coordinated system of care for each mother/baby pair transitioning from the nursery unit to her home community, a quality of life curriculum that supports community integration, and medical roadmaps that help women navigate complex health systems within the community, while advocating for their health equity. Collaboratively, we are implementing evidence based infant education and development assessment programming within the nursery unit to optimize infant developmental outcomes and reduce educational disparities for children born to mothers within the justice system.