Health Services Research

Overview

Health services researchers in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology use clinical data, large cohort studies, and advanced analytic methods to understand factors that influence maternal, reproductive, and gynecologic cancer outcomes. This work aims to improve patient care by identifying risk factors, evaluating clinical practices, and developing strategies to prevent complications during pregnancy, gynecologic care, and cancer treatment.

Research programs in this area leverage electronic health records and administrative healthcare data to examine obstetric outcomes, maternal health across the lifespan, benign and malignant gynecologic conditions, and opportunities to improve care delivery.

Research Projects

MGH Inference Lab — Gynecologic Oncology and Women's Health Services Research

• Principal Investigators: Alexander Melamed, MD, MPH and Mark Clapp, MD, MPH
• This program applies causal inference methods to large administrative and clinical datasets to evaluate treatment effectiveness and care delivery across gynecologic cancers and women's health broadly. Active research includes comparative effectiveness studies of surgical approaches in cervical, uterine, and ovarian cancer; quasi-experimental analyses of hospital-level treatment adoption of antenatal late-preterm steroids; predictive modeling and AI; and health services research spanning obstetric and reproductive outcomes.

Electronic Health Record Obstetric Database

• Principal Investigator: Mark Clapp, MD, MPH
• This database explores opportunities for risk stratification and prediction of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes during labor and delivery, including among patients with a history of cancer treatment or cancer-related comorbidities.

MGH Maternal Health Cohort

• Principal Investigator: Camille Powe, MD
• This data repository aims to collect medical and health information from 1998 through 2025 to study the impact of chronic diseases and risk factors — including gynecologic cancers and their treatments — on pregnancy outcomes, as well as the long-term effects of pregnancy on women and their offspring. The MGH Maternal Health Cohort will conduct epidemiologic studies to inform interventions aimed at improving maternal and offspring health. Specific goals include examining risk factors affecting maternal and neonatal outcomes, assessing long-term maternal health, and linking exposures to biomarkers in a subset of participants, with attention to cancer-related exposures such as prior chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapies.