Ugochinyere Vivian Ukah, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Research Investigator in the Pregnancy and Child Health Research Center at HealthPartners Institute. Dr. Ukah is a perinatal (pharmaco)epidemiologist. She received her doctorate in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Epidemiology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She was one of the first recipients of the Travel award to promote diversity from the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and was also a recipient of the 2021 Harold A. Kaminetzky Prize Paper for outstanding article publication in Obstetrics & Gynecology by a non-U.S. researcher.

Dr. Ukah’s research has primarily focused on identifying and predicting short and long-term health outcomes of pre-eclampsia, severe maternal morbidity, and other pregnancy complications using clinical and longitudinal data. Currently, she is a co-investigator for a Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded grant on investigating long-term health after severe maternal morbidity, and she collaborates with PIs at HealthPartners on several projects.

Joined the Institute: 2022

Academic appointment: Affiliate Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Education and training:
Postdoctoral Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. PhD – Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; MPH – Public Health (Health Services Research), School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, England.

Overview/research interests: Perinatal (pharmaco)epidemiology, health disparities, women and child health.

Current research activities: Maternal COVID-19 vaccination and lactation outcomes

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