Dawn Misra, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
dmisra@med.wayne.edu

Departmental Role

I am the Director of the Division of Population Health Sciences within the Department of Family Medicine. I am an epidemiologist with expertise in perinatal and social epidemiology. Much of my work focuses on racial and socioeconomic disparities in perinatal health with an emphasis on preterm birth. In 2008, I co-chaired the Psychosocial Factors Workgroup for the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General Conference on Preterm Birth.
I am currently on the editorial board for the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

My research focuses on social and biomedical factors which may influence perinatal outcomes and which may explain the increased risks of infants born to poor and minority women. This includes examining the intersection between women's health prior to pregnancy and outcomes of pregnancy. I have proposed a framework for perinatal health that integrates a lifespan approach with a multiple determinants model (Misra, Guyer & Allston, 2003). The lifespan perspective focuses attention toward the preconceptional and interconceptional periods as targets for intervention in improving perinatal health. The multiple determinants model distinguishes between concepts of disease, health and functioning, and well-being among both women and their offspring.

Education

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, BA Social and Behavioral Sciences/Public Health, 1988

Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, MHS, Maternal and Child Health, 1989

Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York, New York, MPhil, Epidemiology, 1992

Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York, New York, PhD, Epidemiology, 1993

Training and Experience

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health & Social Medicine, City University of New York Medical School, New York, NY, 1993-1994

Project Director, Harlem Prevention Center, School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 1994-1995

Assistant Professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1995-2001

Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 2001-2008

Director, Reproductive and Women's Health Interdepartmental Curriculum Concentration, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 2003-2007

Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 2008-present

Major research interests

Perinatal epidemiology, health disparities

Selected publications

Salafia CM, Misra DP, Miles, J. (In press.) Methodologic issues in the study of the relationship between infection and preterm birth. Placenta.

Misra, DP, Salafia, CM, Miller, RK, and Charles, AK. (In press.) Non-linear and gender-specific relationships for placental growth measures with birth weight and the fetoplacental weight ratio. Placenta.

Grason, H, Misra, DP. (2009.) Reducing Exposure to Environmental Toxicants Before Birth: Moving from Risk Perception to Risk Reduction. Public Health Reports. 124(5).

Salafia, CM, Misra, DP, Yampolsky, M, Charles, AK, Miller, RK. (2009.) Allosteric metabolic scaling and fetal and placental weight. Placenta. 30(4): 355-360.

Misra, D.P. and Trabert, B (2007). Protective effects of vaginal douching on risk of preterm birth. American Journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. 196(2): 140.e1-140.e8.

Misra, DP. (2006). Addressing racial disparities in perinatal health: Application of a multiple determinants perinatal framework with a lifespan approach. Harvard Health Policy Review. 7(1): 72-90.

Misra, D.P., Trabert, B., Atherly-Trim, S. (2006). Variation and predictors of vaginal douching practices. Women's Health Issues. 16: 275-282

Misra, D.P., Grason, H. (2006). Application of the perinatal framework to maternal morbidity and mortality. A roadmap to "safe motherhood" for the U.S. Women's Health Issues. 16: 159-175

Misra, D.P., Astone, N., Johnson, C. (2005). Effect of maternal smoking on birth weight modified by parity and grandmaternal smoking: A three way interaction. Epidemiology, 16(3), 288-293

Misra, D.P., Grason, H., Liao, M., Allston, A., Strobino, D. (2004). The nationwide evaluation of Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) programs: Assessing the development and implementation of recommendations and contributions to public health functions by FIMR programs. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 8(4), 217-229

Misra, D.P., Guyer, B., Allston, A. (2003). Integrated perinatal health framework: A multiple determinants model with a lifespan approach. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25, 65-75

Misra, D.P. and Ananth, C.V. (2002). Influence of maternal age on infant mortality in twin births. Pediatrics, 110, 1163-1168

Misra, D.P.. (2001). Women's Health Data Book: A Profile of Women's Health in the United States, 3rd edition.

Misra, D.P., O'Campo, P., Strobino, D. (2001). Testing a sociomedical model for preterm delivery. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 15(2), 110-122

Misra, D.P., Grason, H., Weisman, C. (2000). An intersection of women's and perinatal health: The role of chronic conditions. Women's Health Issues, 10(5), 256-267

Misra, D.P., and Guyer, B. (1998). Benefits and limitations of prenatal care. From counting visits to measuring content. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 1661-1662

Misra, D.P., Strobino, D.S., Stashinko, E.E., Nagey, D.A., Nanda, J. (1998). Effects of physical activity on preterm birth. American Journal of Epidemiology. 147: 628-635

Current Funded Research
PI: D Misra
Impact of Racism on Risk of Preterm Birth in Black Women.
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development
2008- 2013
$2,488,791

PI: D Misra (dual PI with B.Foxman)
Oral and Vaginal Microbes, Human Genotpe, and Preterm Birth National Institute for Child Health and Human Development
2009- 2011
$1,531,170