Barb Roland

You’ve been so generous for so many years (this is year 37!) and if you sponsor me now, in March, to honor Women’s History month, your donation to the March of Dimes will be tripled. This means you’ll help even more moms and babies.

Unfortunately, the United States’ maternal and infant health system remains dangerously stalled, with another D+ report card for the 4th year in a row. Organizations like March of Dimes face more obstacles but continue to make strides in research. What caught my eye this year, especially since I’ve moved back to Texas, is the launch of the Texas Collaborative Prematurity Research Center (PRC), uniting scientists from The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston and UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. UTMB's pregnancy-on-a-chip recreates key features of pregnancy using real maternal and fetal cells. This powerful tool lets researchers study how pregnancy is maintained, what triggers preterm birth, and how infections or medications can change its course. The result is a pregnancy model that can be used to study preterm birth and medications that may stop preterm birth. 

Did you read that part? Pregnancy-on-a-chip?! Here’s more about the Texas PRC: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/march-of-dimes-opens-texas-collaborative-prematurity-research-center-302597724.html

This year, I’ll be walking in Irving, TX on Saturday, April 18th. My new neighborhood has lots of trails so I should be ready to step up to your donations – the more you donate, the more I walk!

Click the pink DONATE button located above my fundraising goal. Please consider entering a multiple of 37 in the Other box (e.g $37 ($1/year), $74 ($2/year), $111 $3/year)

Thanks so much for your ongoing generosity,

Barb