Andreea Creanga, MD, PhD, Chair of Epidemiology and Public Health and the Simon and Bessie Grollman Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) has been reappointed to the global advisory group that assists the World Health Organization (WHO) in tracking and estimating rates of maternal deaths around the world. Dr. Creanga was first appointed to the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Maternal Mortality and Maternal Cause of Death Estimation in 2020.

The advisory group serves to improve how countries track deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth, strengthen national reporting systems, and support national efforts to decrease the global rate of maternal deaths.

Dr. Creanga serves alongside 14 other experts in the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, data science, maternal health, and obstetrics-gynecology. During her two‑year term, she will focus on key priorities such as recommending data sources and methodologies to address global challenges in tracking maternal deaths and advising on how maternal mortality data should be shared and used.

“I am honored to be reappointed to this technical advisory group and help advance our knowledge of maternal mortality at country and global levels,” said Dr. Creanga. “Having reliable and comparable data is essential to informing policy decisions, highlighting disparities, and supporting efforts to eliminate preventable maternal deaths.”

Dr. Creanga joined UMSOM in January. She is internationally regarded for her research focused on improving and evaluating pregnancy and childbirth safety initiatives both in the U.S. and internationally, with an emphasis on innovating strategies to measure health outcomes and use data effectively. Her work has significantly advanced the field of maternal and perinatal health with more than $40 million in grants from federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), as well as the WHO and the Gates Foundation.

“More than 700 women around the world die every day from preventable complications of pregnancy and delivery, like high blood pressure, postpartum hemorrhage and infections,” said Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, who is also the Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean. “Dr. Creanga's work is vital to reducing these complications, and underscores our commitment to strengthening maternal health systems through data-driven collaborations and evidence-based solutions.”

At the state level, Dr. Creanga leads the Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Program (MDMOM), a nine-year, $15.8 million HRSA-funded program that drives innovation in data collection, quality improvement, workforce development, and community engagement across the 32 birthing hospitals in Maryland. Through this program, her team works to develop, implement and evaluate statewide initiatives aiming to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and severe maternal morbidity. Since 2019, the MDMOM program has provided implicit bias training to nearly 4,000 perinatal health providers, distributed home blood pressure cuffs to improve patient monitoring via telehealth services, and developed a resource map that connects residents to more than 2,000 reproductive, maternal, postpartum, and social support services.

Nationally, Dr. Creanga also serves as principal investigator of the Maternal Health Data Innovation and Coordination Hub, a national resource that supports 12 NIH-funded Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence.