Biography

Dr. Turman has dedicated his career as an academic to building community-based participatory programs to improve maternal and child health outcomes. Dr. Turman received his Ph.D. at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) conducting neuroscience research, did a fellowship at the UCLA Medical School in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and then went on to serve as a faculty member for 15 years at the University of Southern California, wherein he ran the perinatal neuroscience research laboratory, and directed the Center for Premature Infant Health and Development. He then became a program director at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, wherein he founded and directed The Connections Project, a community-based program to improve birth and infant development outcomes in Omaha’s African American community. He then served three years as the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Indiana State University. While serving as a dean, he was a fellow in the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health, wherein he led programming to address poor birth outcomes in the Wabash Valley. He led the team that created the smartphone application, Mom 101, to promote preconception, prenatal and postpartum health. He recently served as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in Morocco where he helped create a MPH program at Hassan 1st University and a smartphone application to improve pregnancy outcomes in Morocco.

Research Interests

  • Community capacity building strategies to improve maternal and child health outcomes
  • School-based health promotion programs
  • mHealth strategies
  • Maternal and child health leadership and workforce development

Current Projects

  • Using community capacity building strategies to reduce infant and maternal mortality (Indiana and Morocco)
  • Middle school health and academic promotion program (Indiana)
  • Use of a smartphone application to improve birth outcomes (Morocco)

Selected Publications

  • K. Harper-Hanigan, G. Ross, T. Sims, K. Trotter & J. E. Turman (2017) Women’s Perspectives of Needs Surrounding Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Qualitative Assessment of the Neighborhood Impact of Adverse Birth Outcomes. Matern Child Health J
    DOI 10.1007/s10995-017-2343-7