Maternal Newborn Program Research

The Maternal Newborn Program is the birthing centre of BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre. It also functions as an academic health sciences program.

​​The program provides labour, birth and post-birth support for birthing parents and newborns, with research opportunities integrated at all phases of care.​

Our studies

If you are interested in participating in research at the maternal newborn program, please see the currently advertised studies below.

Current studies


Early Development Research Group (EDRG)
​Help us understand children’s development by participating in UBC research with your child.

The Early Development Research Group (EDRG) is comprised of seven research centres in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. We study the development of language, cognition, and social understanding in infants and children.

Have you ever wondered how your baby learned something as complex as language or social cues? Here at the EDRG, we want to understand the amazing ways infants and children learn to understand the world around them and how these skills develop in early childhood. The we explore topics such as cognitive, social, moral, language, and numeracy development, among many other aspects of childhood. We need baby and child scientists to help us answer these important research questions.
  • All healthy, typically developing children aged 0-12 are eligible for our studies (with a parent/guardian). Some online studies require access to a computer. The majority of our studies require the child and/or parent to understand and complete tasks in English
When you sign up, your family will be added to our confidential database. Each time a child becomes eligible for a study, we will reach out to you with detailed information and you can choose to participate if interested.

Our studies are typically one-time commitments. Our fun online and in-person studies typically involve puppet shows, interesting videos and questionnaires, and range from 15 minutes to 1 hour.

If you participate in an online study, we will send you instructions and a link to participate.

For in-person studies, we will find a time that works for you to visit one of our centres at UBC, and provide directions and instructions.

We aim for our studies to be convenient and fun for both your little one and you. We have free reserved parking spaces for your convenience, or will provide transit passes if you choose to come by bus.

After participating in the study, your little one will receive a fun gift (such as a t-shirt, book or toy) and an honorary UBC degree as a token of our appreciation.

To sign up and learn more, fill out this form and we will be in touch: https://edrg.psych.ubc.ca/participate/sign-up-online/.

You can learn more about the EDRG by visiting our website (https://edrg.psych.ubc.ca) or finding us on Facebook or Instagram (@ubcedrg).

BioBank
​Biobank your leftover or extra samples from pregnancy and birth for future, undetermined research. One sample can fuel multiple studies.

The BioBank would like to collect samples and clinical data from women and sometimes their families to create a bank (or library) of samples for use in research to better understand the causes of diseases of women and families, with the ultimate goal of improving treatment and preventing diseases.

Biobanking means collecting, storing and using of human body samples and personal health information for research across Canada and the world. Creating a ‘bank’ of preterm and full-term pregnancy samples can be an important contribution to researchers aiming to improve maternal care and disease prevention.

We are looking for:
  • Anyone expecting to deliver at BC Women’s Hospital, whether they are having a healthy or complicated pregnancy
Participation in the BioBank does not require any time on your part except if you agree to donate extra blood (at times when you are not already having blood collected). This may require 5 to 15 minutes extra.

If you would like to participate, please email biobank@cw.bc.ca with the subject ‘BCWH Research Website’ to learn more. From there, we can set up a phone call to discuss and email you an electronic consent form.

EASE-Iron nutrition study
​What is the optimal form of supplemental iron to prevent and treat iron deficiency during pregnancy?

Iron is important in pregnancy to reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and poor birth outcomes as well as for healthy brain development of the baby.

Iron requirements during pregnancy are substantially increased and are often not met through the diet alone. Health Canada recommends that all pregnant individuals consume a daily supplement containing 16-20 mg of iron; however, there is no specification of the optimal form of iron in these supplements despite known relationships between iron supplementation form and how it is absorbed.

This EASE-Iron nutrition study will compare two forms of oral iron supplements for their effectiveness and tolerability in pregnancy. The goal is to determine the most effective and safest form of iron in prenatal supplements to prevent and treat iron deficiency without introducing unnecessary gastrointestinal upset.

We're looking for:
  • Anyone 19-42 years old who is pregnant at less than 25 weeks gestational age and expecting to deliver at BC Women's Hospital
  • Participants will receive:
    • Standard prenatal vitamins* with iron to take during pregnancy, free of charge
    • Feedback on your pregnancy iron status
    • Reimbursement for parking/transportation to study visits (2 in-person study visits are required, about 2.5 hours total)
To learn more, please contact iron.study@ubc.ca.

*All supplements are approved by Health Canada and meet your pregnancy nutrition needs.
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Principal investigator: Dr. Crystal Karakochuk, RD, PhD.
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