McClain Sampson, M.S.S.W., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of Houston
McClain Sampson is currently serving a dual role as an Associate Professor at the University of Houston-Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) & a Fellow in Reproductive and Maternal Health at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Dr. Sampson’s research centers on accessible and affordable interventions to support maternal health and wellbeing. Through her work at UH and Rice Dr. Sampson strives to raise awareness and action around the need to focus on mothers' wellbeing from pregnancy through postpartum. She does this through community engaged research and community informed policy focused research and recommendations.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

BACKGROUNDInfertility is defined as the failure to become pregnant after 1 year of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse, highlighting physiological roots while omitting social drivers. Social infertility occurs “when social or relational factors, such as being single or in a same-sex relationship, limit one's ability to become pregnant”. While the American Society of Reproductive Medicine released an expanded definition of infertility in October 2023 to include those navigating social infertility, these groups continue to be excluded from most other clinical infertility definitions and…