Melissa Neal, PhD, MPH
Melissa Neal, PhD, MPH was awarded a postdoctoral grant by the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Neal’s project, Healthcare Experience Assessing Resilience, Toxic Stress, and Prenatal Quality of Care, will use clinical and community engagement to better understand how to measure these factors as part of an initiative to improve pregnancy outcomes among Black birthing people. Clinical and community stakeholders and Black birthing people with lived experience of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy will provide perspectives on what prenatal care should look like and share the barriers and facilitators to assessing these factors in real-world settings. The supervising mentor for this project is Kara Hoppe, DO, PhD, vice chair of clinical research in the UW Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The WPP Postdoctoral Grant Program provides career development grants to enhance and expand postdoctoral research, education, and professional development.
Published: December 2025