The mission of the POD Center is to identify drivers of health disparities that may originate during the perinatal period and apply interdisciplinary science and technology to ensure that every child has an equally healthy start in life. 

A key component of our work is to increase the proportion of students from historically underrepresented groups in science and medicine and to train this next generation to approach research using an interdisciplinary lens. The POD Center Student Support Fund (SFF) will provide financial support to students from these groups who are working over the summer on projects for the POD Center. 

Student voices:

The POD Center fellowship helped me engage with faculty and students doing great work across a broad range of disciplines. This expanded my foundational knowledge and encouraged me to consider a wide range of views…[to] connect with other researchers and to become a better researcher myself.

– Julia Mouat, POD Center Fellow 2020-2021

Being able to apply skills I learned throughout my coursework to real-life research projects has been a very insightful experience which has really promoted my professional skills and also has given me a taste of what public health research is really like, which has been a dream career of mine.

– Audriana Ketchersid, MPH Student, HEAL Lab, 2020-2022

If interested in giving to the POD Center, please contact POD Center Coordinator, Jasmine Cuellar at jmcuellar@ucdavis.edu.