Expertise

Global maternal health; maternal mortality; postpartum care; sub-Saharan Africa

At the Keough School

Yenupini Joyce Adams is concurrent assistant professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs.

Courses

• Women & Health in Global Context: Key Issues Across the Lifespan (elective for master of global affairs and undergraduate minor in international development studies)
• Global Safe Motherhood (elective for master of global affairs)
• Health, Culture & Society (elective for undergraduate minor in international development studies)

Biography

Yenupini Joyce Adams is a concurrent assistant professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs and an assistant professor of the practice and the global maternal research lead for the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame. Adams was previously an assistant professor in the WellStar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University. She earned her PhD in nursing science from Michigan State University College of Nursing and her bachelor of science in Nursing from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Adams’ research addresses maternal health disparities that lead to mortality. More specifically, her research is dedicated to improving postpartum health outcomes among women most vulnerable to maternal mortality. She is highly motivated and passionate about using research interventions to improve maternal health, promote safe motherhood, and decrease maternal mortality and morbidity among vulnerable populations in the United States, and in sub-Saharan Africa where the burden of maternal mortality is most severe. As principal investigator and co-investigator on multiple projects, she has experience conducting patient-focused research examining both patient and healthcare facility factors that influence access to quality postpartum care and education. She is focused on developing interventions that can be scaled up and adopted into existing systems of care to improve maternal health, promote safe motherhood, and decrease maternal mortality and morbidity.

Recognitions and Awards

• 2020 New Investigator Award by the Midwest Nursing Research Society women’s health and transitions in childbearing research
  interest group
• AACN/Johnson & Johnson Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Award by the American Association of Colleges of
  Nursing (2013)

In the Media

• One-year postpartum care trial shows positive maternal health outcomes (Savana Signatures)
• Women in Sagnarigu reap benefits of focused postpartum care
  (Citi Newsroom)
• Women in Sagnarigu reap benefits of focused postpartum care (3News)

News and Blog Posts

Global maternal mortality: the dignity of life and the tragedy of death (Dignity & Development)