Jacinda Nicklas, MD, MPH/MSPH, is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and currently sees patients at the Anschutz Internal Medicine Clinic and the CU Medicine Weight Management and Wellness Center at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. In early 2023, she co-founded the Postpartum Transition Clinic — a specialized clinic for women with high-risk pregnancy conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth and gestational hypertension. 

These conditions put women at a higher risk for having diabetes or heart disease later in life. Dr. Nicklas supports her patients through blood sugar and blood pressure management, as well as weight loss, exercise, lifestyle and diet changes to help with risk prevention and improve the quality of their lives as mothers, and more. 

Historically, gestational diabetes has been overlooked and, according to Dr. Nicklas, only in the last 15 years have studies been done to show the increased longer-term risk of gestational diabetes. In fact, the American Heart Association recently added some of these pregnancy complications to their risk calculators for heart disease and diabetes. Her own experience with gestational diabetes during her pregnancy with her second child is what ignited her passion in this field.  

“It was when I was checking my blood sugar five times a day that I realized how little I actually knew about the disease,” she says. “I learned that in order to decrease my risk, I needed to make changes to my lifestyle and diet.”  

In 2014, Dr. Nicklas’ Ludeman Center seed grant helped her launched a phone-based app called Fit After Baby. Based on the diabetes prevention program to help decrease risk for cardiometabolic diseases, the app focused on helping women get back to their pre-pregnancy weight. Approximately 75% of women are unable to return to their pre-pregnancy weight within a year of being postpartum, a growing number of them may also become obese or overweight. This puts them at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease – a risk factor that follows them throughout their lifetime if they remain overweight.   

Unfortunately, women in the postpartum period are extremely difficult to reach. “As anyone who has had a baby knows, the weeks and months following birth are extremely stressful with the added pressure of societal expectations that being a new mom should feel perfect” said Dr. Nicklas.  

Alongside using the app, the mothers were paired with a personal coach to support their journey. Physical exercises demonstrated via the app were designed for mothers to do alongside their babies with the goal to help them reduce their weight retention as well as find support with postpartum anxiety, depression, breastfeeding and the challenges that come with returning to work. The app’s accessibility allowed them to easily use the program, which was especially helpful to new moms during breastfeeding.   

Following her seed grant, Dr. Nicklas received the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) award. The BIRCWH supported a project to capture feedback on the app from clinical trial patients and through an online forum and focus groups. As a result, the interface, content and usability of Fit for Baby was improved. An awards system within the app also incentivized the women to earn Health Warrior Badges and offered meaningful feedback to Dr. Nicklas and her team. Through innovative uses of technology, including an app and Fitbits, they reduced the barriers for women to track their health progress. These tests with mothers revealed great success, with women making big changes in their lifestyle and weight, and ultimately decreasing their risk for future cardiometabolic disease. 

“The app was both engaging and motivating and helped me feel supported during the postpartum period. It was a resource to being understood in my experience as a new mom and resulted in me losing the most weight during this time.”—Anonymous clinical trial patient 

After two years working on her BIRCWH project, Dr. Nicklas received additional funding from the CU School of Medicine as well as from the National Institutes of Health, including a K23 grant, which furthered her work in this field.  

“The beginning of my faculty career began at the Ludeman Center,” she shares, “and provided me with important mentorship to move forward, so that I could complete my goal of a K award and dedicate myself to women’s health.” 

Through patient care and research at her lab, Dr. Nicklas continues to find accessible tools and solutions for postpartum women.