About
Dr. Eichelberger is an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville/Prisma Health–Upstate. Her interest in the intersection of social determinants of health, disparities, and health outcomes developed as an undergraduate at Duke University, where she majored in Social Justice and Community Activism. She spent one year as a Hart Fellow, working on HIV/AIDS programming for the Oak Foundation in Harare, Zimbabwe prior to matriculation into medical school at MUSC. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, during which time she spent three months working at the largest maternity hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Dr. Eichelberger currently practices the full scope of academic maternal-fetal medicine, including clinical care, medical student and resident education, and research She also serves as the Prisma Health–Upstatesite principal investigator for the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Unit (MFMU) Network.
How their research is transforming health care
Dr. Eichelberger is in her fifth year as site principal investigator for the NICHD’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Unit (MFMU) Network, the largest perinatal research unit in the United States. Prisma Health–Upstatewas added to the Network as a satellite site in 2016, the only hospital system in the state to run the largest, most comprehensive studies in perinatal medicine. Over the past five years Prisma Health has successfully participated in eleven Network trials, several of which have significantly impacted our understanding of best practice in perinatal medicine. Dr. Eichelberger is also in her third year of a $1.15M grant for The Magdalene Clinic, a comprehensive trauma informed program for pregnant women with substance use disorders. Through the program evaluation arm of this grant, the team of clinician/researchers is working to better define optimal health outcomes for women with significant social and medical risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes.Very recently and in conjunction with Clemson University, Dr. Phil Thomas and Dr. Eichelberger were awarded a $500K HSRSA RCORP grant for a Magdalene expansion clinic in rural Oconee County with the goal of increasing access to behavioral health for women and decreasing the frequency of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome diagnoses in the community.
Health research keywords
Perinatal epidemiology, Adverse pregnancy outcomes, Women’s health disparities, Race and pregnancy
