2016 Study Progress Update: What’s New With Intergen?

April 19, 2016

Progress with the Intergenerational Blood Pressure Study has been excellent over the past year.  We began participant enrollment in April 2015 and to date, we have 98 families participating in the study from all over CT.  We started the second interviews and have completed 50 in total.  Our retention rate is currently 95%.  We just started our third set of interviews and the final and fourth round will begin this fall.  Over the next 1.5 years, we plan to enroll an additional 152 families for a total of 250 families to participate in the study. 

We also published three manuscripts this past year – two methods papers and one review paper on DNA methylation and preterm birth in African American women.  Keep your eyes peeled for those articles coming out soon!

A total of 15 Head Start centers and early care and education centers in Bridgeport, New Haven, Hamden, Hartford, Meriden, Middletown, and West Haven are partnering with the Intergen Study to recruit families.  We are extremely grateful to our community partners and truly appreciate their investment and dedication to our project.  Our success is due to all their enthusiasm and hard work spreading the word about our study!  If you or an agency you know is interested in working with us, please contact Valen Grandelski at valen.grandelski@yale.edu or 203-737-8298.

Our team has expanded to include student interns, research interns, post-doctoral associates, and others.  The Intergen study owes its progress to all of the fabulous team members and their contributions.  If you are interested in helping out with our project, please email Valen Grandelski at valen.grandelski@yale.edu with your resume and research interests.

We are actively recruiting and enrolling participants from our early care and education sites and from events for the community at large.  Check out our Get Involved tab.  We are looking for:

·         Black/African American mothers and their biological children

·         Mothers age 21 years and older

·         Children ages 3-5 years

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about our study, please contact Comfort Agaba at 203-737-3843 or 844-288-2344 (toll-free).

The focus of the coming months will be recruitment and data collection.  We are working hard to enroll participants in our study and get people excited about our research.  We are looking forward to reporting back on future developments as our study progresses.  Thank you all for your support of the Intergen Study.