Fathers are critical for maternal health | Dr. Lorenzo Hopper

[00:00:00] Ty Hagler: Welcome to the Advancing Maternity Care podcast. I'm Ty Hagler, Chief Operating Officer at Couplet Care. podcast, we invite maternal, infant, and family health thought leaders to share their perspectives and work. Connecting around research and lived experiences is key for implementing more meaningful support for families and those who care for them. Today, I'm excited to speak with Dr. Lorenzo Hopper. He is an assistant professor at UNC Charlotte specializing in maternal and child health and health equity, where he also served as the director of Master's of Public Health Program until 2022. As a first generation college graduate from Shelby, North Carolina, he earned his PhD from UNC Chapel Hill and a Master's of Public Health from East Carolina University. His personal journey as a Carolina Covenant Scholar deeply informs his professional dedication to supporting students the hidden curriculum of higher education. Dr. Hopper's research primarily examines the impact of paternal involvement on child development and the unique wellness challenges faced by first generation students. Hopper also co-leads the Charlotte MCH Group and serves as a research fellow at the Moynihan Institute. Recently recognized as a 2024 National MCH Faculty Development Fellow, he remains a prominent advocate for intersectional health equity and community-based participatory research. Hopper and his wife also welcomed their firstborn a few weeks ago, making this a truly special time in their lives. We're excited to hear your stories and insights today.

[00:01:45] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:47] Ty Hagler: Yeah. So I just, I have to ask. So, you're, you've, you've spent your academic time building up to kind of what it means to be a, the role of the father in this early stage and everything. Was there ever a moment where, you were a little sleepy and sluggish in these early days and where your wife turned to you and said, "Well, hold on.

[00:02:06] Ty Hagler: How's the expert in, being a good dad coming along?"

[00:02:10] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Yeah. One of the, the funniest bits of reflection for me these last few weeks, studying fatherhood for 10 years and being five weeks in now, it's like, here we go. It's, it's an adventure. It's a journey for both of us. she'll ask me questions from time to time, but we are both navigating parenthood together,

[00:02:31] Ty Hagler: Yeah, that's good. Well, it, so, and how is sleep going right now? That's kind of the question everybody asks at this time, right?

[00:02:38] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yep. Finding the new normal. It's definitely, a challenge. My wife is amazing though. She's nursing throughout the night and we're starting to settle into a little routine where I'll get the early morning shift. I'm also a bit of a night owl, so I'm doing okay. I'm making it. Everybody's telling me that I look more rested than I feel, so I think that's a good thing,

[00:03:00] Ty Hagler: wouldn't be able to tell. You look like it's just a normal day. Well,

[00:03:06] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Thank you.

[00:03:07] Ty Hagler: Dr. Hopper, could you share maybe a little bit about yourself and maybe what drives your work these days?

[00:03:12] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. So thank you for that, introduction.

[00:03:15] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: from a small rural town, raised by a single mother and my grandmother, and I always prioritized, sports and fitness, and then my education. being a first generation college student can be challenging. there are, there's a lot of the not knowing what you don't know, and kind of figuring it out as you go.

[00:03:34] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So when I stepped onto UNC Chapel Hill's campus, as a first year student, it was truly a different world. And so along the way, was able to meet some fantastic mentors who introduced me to the field of public health, and encouraged me at the right moments and the right times along the way.

[00:03:51] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: and so I just continued down that educational path. I prioritized it. It's always been rewarding to me. I see new information and knowledge as rewarding, but also, a lot of paths on the back, from being able to excel academically. so stepped into public health, started to learn about a lot of the disparities and challenges that many communities face, many of the communities that l- look like mine.

[00:04:15] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So it just started to, form new questions in my mind. And one of those was how do we improve some of the maternal health and birthing outcomes, infant health statistics that have persisted for so long? And so, that brought me back to UNC, to pursue a PhD in maternal and child health. And I always knew that fatherhood was something that I had the most questions about.

[00:04:39] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: again, growing up in a single parent household, it's like, well, how did my experience differ from a few of my peers, who had that in the house? a lot of father figures for me growing up, but that's what I had the most questions about. And to my surprise, there was a lot of limited work and research around how essential, how important fathers are for these different outcomes.

[00:05:03] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So off we go. That's, that's been, that's been the charger in my back, as a researcher and I enjoy being an educator as well, helping other students kind of navigate tho- those waters.

[00:05:17] Ty Hagler: It seems like you bring so much intentionality to every aspect of your life.

[00:05:22] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:05:24] Ty Hagler: so what, maybe can you talk a little bit about some of your current work? I mean, some of the students that, kind of classes you're teaching and then some of the research you're leading.

[00:05:33] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. So I get a chance to teach a course on maternal and child health, which I love because, the field really grew out of protecting our children, from, a lot of the, the child labor that was happening, in our country. But at the same time, healthy babies and healthy moms are our future, truly.

[00:05:50] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So I get to teach a course on maternal and child health. I also get to prepare our graduate students to be health educators and talk to them about working in and with the community, being able to translate what they've learned and what they know into, digestible content for people to empower them.

[00:06:09] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: again, I think knowledge is so rewarding. And so being able to educate community on how to better take care of themselves and their community, that's what I enjoy on the teaching side. And then, current research, in the middle of some data collection now, it's been really cool

[00:06:25] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: interviewing young men, ages 18 to 25 about future fatherhood.

[00:06:30] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So these young men are not fathers currently. Some of them have desires to be a father. Some of them are unsure. We even interviewed a guy who was like, "No, I don't don't see it for me. " but that's been a cool study, talking to them about anticipated challenges and perceived support that they may need so that we can better educate and prepare young men to step into fatherhood.

[00:06:55] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: I think there's a, there's a pretty big gap there. So, so that's been a, that's been a cool one that, we're currently collecting data for.

[00:07:04] Ty Hagler: Oh, that's so cool. is that linked to some of the

[00:07:07] Ty Hagler: a part of? I know you recently had a, , the event was strengthening mothers, or supporting mothers strengthening families. Yeah, could you talk about that?

[00:07:15] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. So I get a chance. I'm, I just, you meet really cool people who are very, also very intentional and passionate about the fetal maternal and child health. So I met Dr. Jonisha Brown. She's a physician in our area and she founded, WeBe, the Women's Empowerment and Birth Equity Institute. So we collaborated a few times and I was invited to serve on the board.

[00:07:38] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And so we were talking about,

[00:07:40] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: what type of webinars and events that we wanted to host this past Black Maternal Health Week in April, and she was like, "How about a conversation around fatherhood?" I was like, "I love that you asked. Let's do it. " I have Sondia. I reached out to, a few friends of mine who are colleagues and experts in the field, but from different angles.

[00:08:03] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So one person who works with young men about, manhood and, and preparing them for the workforce. And then, Juan Irby, who's a doula and who specializes in training fathers to be doulas and things like that. And so, Dr. Bantu Gross and just, Kelly Little, these were a group of us and we were able to have a conversation for an hour.

[00:08:27] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And after that conversation about why it's important to educate and empower men to step into fatherhood, to, to be the village for their partners and for their families to strengthening, motherhood and maternal health, my phone was blowing up. People want more of that conversation. People who are currently doing the work want to figure out how to better engage men and fathers in the work that they're doing.

[00:08:52] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So yeah, that was cool. I'm glad you were able to, kind of see, see that one.

[00:08:58] Ty Hagler: Yeah. Well, so you, I mean, you've, you've got so many different cool, like you've got your coursework, you've got your research, you've got some of the outreach that you're doing. mean, as you think about maybe that light bulb moment that goes off with a message that you have, it seems you've got a number of them, but what's kind of that first surprise or, kind of light bulb moment that happens for your students or the community as you engage with people?

[00:09:23] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah, I think it's just how, welcoming and the, the, the, the thirst to, to, to bring me into these current spaces to talk about work that I've always been passionate about, but now these past few weeks, it's a different lens, right? being a father, being able to step into that identity. I think the light bulb moment is when you have a student in the classroom who you can connect to a community partner who you work with, and then they can work together and start to build out relationship, and then that student goes on to graduate, and then they get hired at a, another institution, and then now they're in academia, that's something that I was attending a, a different panel discussion here recently with a mentee of mine who's now assistant professor at Davidson College, and it's like, wow, like that's the, that's the light bulb moment, that's the, what continues to kind of, fuel my fire to, to work,

[00:10:21] Ty Hagler: Yeah. Yeah. Abs- I mean, that, there's nothing more rewarding than being a good mentor and, kind of bringing up the next generation. Absolutely. so, what do you wanna see improved as far as conditions for maternal health? What do you see as, some of the big gaps that are there?

[00:10:37] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah. so I've, I've been able to do some work around just

[00:10:46] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: communication that patients experience when they're in the clinical setting. I've, had an opportunity to speak directly to fathers to hear just what, where they think the barriers are, but more importantly, how that makes them feel

[00:10:57] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: n- not wanting to be engaged as much.

[00:11:00] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And unfortunately, I hadn't experienced myself throughout our, labor and delivery process where provider came in, had a 10-minute conversation with my wife and was about to exit. And I was, I was like, "H- hi," introduced myself and, I think what, what I would like to see improved is more father-inclusive, education, preconception all the way to discharge education, some father-targeted postpartum resources and training clinical staff to try to engage fathers and partners in those moments because there is ripple effect and the next time there's a prenatal appointment, he may not find value in being in that space.

[00:11:45] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: there's some conversation just around marketing materials and I'm just interested in it all. When a, when a, when a father walks into a space and the posters are only mom and baby, even if it's around infant feeding and support, I think it just kind of ex- excludes, him a little bit. And so I think by addressing some of those things, father's confidence will grow, they'll feel more empowered and better prepared to step into, parenthood and being, be able to meet some of the expectations of their partner, be able to support them in ways that they may not even know they need. So ...

[00:12:43] Ty Hagler: Okay. So

[00:12:44] Ty Hagler: if you had a magic wand and you could

[00:12:48] Ty Hagler: all of those, kind of those cond- like those gaps go away, how would you know if that system of care is working well?

[00:12:56] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Oh, that's a good question. I think that system of care, would, would, would feel good to the family. I think patient satisfaction would improve. I think ultimately, maternal health outcomes would improve and disparities would, weaken, right, with smaller. And I think, again, father's confidence would grow.

[00:13:17] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: It's a, it's a tricky one, for me because mom and baby are so important and should continue to be centered and prioritized. I've heard some conversation around expanding the, the field of maternal and child health to m- maternal child and family health and things like that. And I don't wanna take the focus of mom and baby, but when we better support men and fathers, to, to be, that's, that anchor for mom, then maternal health outcomes are, will improve as well.

[00:13:47] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So with that magic wand, I think here we go, families now feel better prepared, for the exciting and joyful, experience of parenthood. oftentimes we talk about black maternal health and unfortunately it's through a lens that can create a lot of anxiety and, and stress, but it's such a joyous, moment in a lot of families lives.

[00:14:10] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And so, yeah, I think, I think that's how we would see that the system is not working.

[00:14:16] Ty Hagler: Right, right. I think there's a long ways to go in that. And, you, it seems like you also, you talk about celebrating the peaks and was it surviving the valleys or just getting through the valleys, right?

[00:14:29] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:14:30] Ty Hagler: seems like we've had a lot of peaks and valleys over the past periods here.

[00:14:34] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: That's, that's the big one that I, I talk to my students especially about,

[00:14:37] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: life's about peaks and valleys and they're gonna stack up. Celebrate the peaks, don't take them for granted and get off of, that high too quick, but then learn in your valleys. So that's something that I try to, try to pass along because it's really helped me throughout my journey, as well.

[00:14:54] Ty Hagler: I wanna

[00:14:56] Ty Hagler: just thinking about this, right? I

[00:14:57] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:14:58] Ty Hagler: there's the mother-baby couplet and,

[00:15:02] Ty Hagler: away from that, you're suggesting maybe a triad that includes the father,

[00:15:08] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:15:10] Ty Hagler: I mean, how do you,

[00:15:10] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Love that.

[00:15:11] Ty Hagler: that right balance there? Because we do wanna make sure dad is included, right, or the partner's included, right?

[00:15:19] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a tough question. It's one that I'm still kind of on the journey of, of trying to discover. I think it's so vital to talk to families, to ... We've done some qualitative research with mothers and fathers, a couple together because sometimes even those expectations or ideas on what it means to involve the father may not, be in alignment.

[00:15:42] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: and so, again, I don't think including fathers does, it takes away from maternal care and mom and baby. I think it strengthens it. And so it's just through that language, that we can, better push for that triad and expand our thinking, to include fathers.

[00:16:01] Ty Hagler: Yeah. I mean, it seems like you just directly

[00:16:04] Ty Hagler: that gap,

[00:16:05] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:16:05] Ty Hagler: with, with your own son just a few weeks ago. what do you think would've changed that? Would that be just training for the postpartum nurse, or what do you, what do you think is the, I don't know, the path forward from there to solve that?

[00:16:18] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah, I think the entire team. So after that panel discussion we were talking about a little bit ago, I was contacted by an OB/GYN out of Detroit, Michigan who said, "We do our grand rounds and would love for you all to come and talk to the, the physicians, the medical students about this very topic."

[00:16:36] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And I think that's what's needed. In a way, it feels, it feels very by design that nurse and, and physician come in, focuses on mom, how's she doing, baby, how, how are you, how are you doing as well? it feels by design. And I think it's time for us to maybe not disrupt, disrupt the design, but to expand it for sure, because again, it's ripple effect.

[00:17:01] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And then when you go home, the structure of being in that, in that hospital room and, and having them come in every hour or 15 minutes, that goes away. And so I would love to feel as empowered as my wife does to be able to reach out to the physician and say, "This is something I'm noticing," without taking that to my wife because you don't want her to be stressed out, right?

[00:17:24] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And so I think

[00:17:34] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: fathers are oftentimes the first to notice when something isn't right. So I've got some things in the works now to really expand how we, talk about urgent maternal warning signs because I'm becoming more and more passionate and interested on how do we develop those materials for fathers, right?

[00:17:44] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: You may be the first to notice some dizziness or a comment that doesn't seem quite, in the norm or some vision changes or you may not, you may notice something about your child as well. And so I think, those are all the different ways in which we can engage fathers in this way. Yeah.

[00:18:06] Ty Hagler: just got goosebumps as you were talking about that. I

[00:18:10] Ty Hagler: they're, teenagers and,

[00:18:12] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:18:13] Ty Hagler: late elementary school, but, thinking back to that time period, that, me personally, having that kind of framing going into the kind of postpartum period, so that, it's your responsibility to watch out for these things, that would've been so helpful for some of the

[00:18:30] Ty Hagler: we went through as a family.

[00:18:32] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I just want, keep wanting to go earlier and earlier. I know in our country, so many pregnancies are unintended, mistimed, unwanted. And so, when you talk to enough fathers, because fatherhood looks very different, right? I'm married, my wife and I just had our firstborn, we've in a lot of ways planned and, we're over the moon when it happened, but that's not everyone's reality.

[00:18:58] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And you talk to a lot of men and the relationship with their, with the mother isn't as strong and that's a barrier or with her family and,

[00:19:09] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: non-residential fathers are fathers as well. So the, the, the avenue for it isn't gonna look the same for everyone, right? But if we can understand how impactful fathers are and understand the need, to engage them, then I think there is a pathway forward.

[00:19:28] Ty Hagler: Could you that a bit more? Maybe pull

[00:19:30] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Sure.

[00:19:31] Ty Hagler: out?

[00:19:33] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah, for sure. I just, and, everybody, ev- everybody's journey is, is a bit different. And for me, I just think if we can better understand once pregnancy happens, once baby is coming, right, how, how essential the father, the partner is, being able to understand just the way in which stress manifests itself and the impacts it can have on mom and baby as well, I think maybe we could put down a little bit of the external factors that maybe playing a role and allow men to show up and, and be present and communicate their desires and preferences, as they step into fatherhood.

[00:20:13] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: That could be a big one. The, the challenges are certainly different for residential and non-residential fathers. So the wand, I would need two wands now. a different one, right? But yeah,

[00:20:24] Ty Hagler: insight and research, right? Yeah.

[00:20:26] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: yes, yes, yes.

[00:20:30] Ty Hagler: so, I, I mean, I guess, as you're thinking about that a little bit more, I mean, as far as the non-residential fathers, I mean, is that something that carries through in, curriculum and school or how does that

[00:20:42] Ty Hagler: Where do you feel like those conversations might best happen, of in, as, I guess, young men are kind of, of, growing into fatherhood?

[00:20:51] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah. I think that, I go to the experts. A lot of people look at me as the expert, but I look at the community, as the experts, the, the people who are doing the programming, the people who are already working with young men to try to prepare them for life. I think let's also talk about future fatherhood, if and when it happens, right?

[00:21:14] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: It happens for so many of us at different time points. And unfortunately, it happens really young for a lot of men before, in the study that I mentioned earlier talking to young men about future fatherhood, many of them have a list of goals that, they wanna work towards. They wanna be able to earn and be financially stable.

[00:21:33] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: They wanna be able to, be intentional about where they are in life. And then when fatherhood happens, when parenthood happens at a really young age, it's, I couldn't imagine, right? being able to balance those two still pursue those goals. So I think the community's already doing a lot of work around educating young men and women about life and, and kind of what's to come.

[00:21:56] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Let's talk a little more about parenthood and, start the education early.

[00:22:01] Ty Hagler: good.

[00:22:02] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:22:03] Ty Hagler: your emphasis too on community, that that can encompass so many

[00:22:08] Ty Hagler: people who can influence the lives of young men and women.

[00:22:11] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I meet with partners now who are specifically doing work for young girls who, who, have a child and they're experiencing some challenges with their living situation, right? I, I mean, other people who are working with, single dads and, you work with other people in the community, so I think the answers are there, and just connecting those dots, those resources.

[00:22:37] Ty Hagler: so,

[00:22:39] Ty Hagler: do you have any of your research has been into kind of how dads feel during those first few days in the hospital? Is that kind of part of some of your study in terms of, that kind of first, kind of labor and delivery and then postpartum moment?

[00:22:51] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: It does come out, yeah. It does come out. I haven't and, and spent intentional, time around the experience during the fourth trimester, right? Like right after you get home, which that would be, as we're talking now, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna write down some notes. Yeah. One, I am living in now, but yeah, two, definitely future direction because again, that structure is gone, people's support system looks different.

[00:23:16] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: My wife's family is about 10 minutes away. I, I come home, her mom is here, she's brought some food or is making some food. And so, the situations are different. I think that, I think that what I have been able to pull from my research is that, fathers and partners wanna be present, but they don't always feel, prepared and empowered to step in.

[00:23:39] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And like I mentioned before, communication is so important. Everyone's co-parenting, whether you're married and in the same house or you're not. And so what does that co-parenting look like and how can I better show up for you and, and for baby and things of that nature? But, those are the feelings that I'm starting to hear.

[00:23:59] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: It's like the preparedness, feeling not as prepared as you would like to, to kind of step in. Yeah.

[00:24:10] Ty Hagler: do you have any stories or anything I haven't asked you about you think would be important to share?

[00:24:15] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Oh, that's a good question.

[00:24:17] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: we do a respectful maternity care simulation at UNC Charlotte, so we bring in a community partner. We invite students and community and providers to come, and it's, it's not really role play, but it's, it's role play. They get a script and they kind of read it out. And I've been able to kind of be a fly on the wall for what those interactions are like.

[00:24:39] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: and so I think it's, it can be, it can be tough, but there are just so many different opportunities, to educate mom and dad, but then also educate physician and provider and nurse on how to make those interactions just more respectful. I think respectful care is just something that we hadn't talked about and, as I was just navigating this whole journey, I was kind of sitting back just observing, maybe a little more than most, because it can, it can be tough.

[00:25:11] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: it can be tough. We had a wonderful doula, so doula care is also, I think, important who helped to prepare us and get our preferences together. It doesn't always go to a T, right? but I think, I think that was essential as well. So those two things kind of come to mind, as we've been talking here.

[00:25:31] Ty Hagler: Yeah. So I've been hearing about, simulation centers and, that ability to go through and, like, walk through a scenario and maybe give people a chance to get feedback on, kind of a,

[00:25:45] Ty Hagler: an action that maybe a, a fellow clinician might have done and how to correct the situation.

[00:25:50] Ty Hagler: Is that part of the scenario maybe? I'm just guessing.

[00:25:52] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah, no, the debrief part is, the debrief part focuses one on, how you felt in that moment because sometime the role is the patient who isn't being listened to or who just has, a negative experience, but then in that debrief point, I think those things do come up, like, what could have been done, right, to kind of avoid that.

[00:26:14] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So yeah, that's, that definitely comes up in those experiences.

[00:26:19] Ty Hagler: What I find

[00:26:21] Ty Hagler: about this conversation is, so I'm, I'd imagine any of the metrics the hospitals are following, the

[00:26:28] Ty Hagler: degree to which fathers are included in the postpartum experience isn't really something that's gonna show up on a dashboard.

[00:26:37] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Right. Yeah.

[00:26:39] Ty Hagler: yet, that's a key part of, I think, the complete patient experience and also setting

[00:26:46] Ty Hagler: up for, the fourth trimester.

[00:26:48] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: That's a great point. Yeah. I think, even capturing just attending those pre- prenatal care visits and, things of that nature, it's not necessarily gonna show up, but you're right. And I think it's, it just makes me ask more questions about, well, how can, what kind of metrics could we kind of think about and develop and test, to see, what the connection is to patient satisfaction or their delivery method or their health outcomes in general? Yeah.

[00:27:21] Ty Hagler: Right. Well, and I

[00:27:22] Ty Hagler: just thinking about outcomes too. if that drives towards better outcomes also, then that can be the argument for

[00:27:29] Ty Hagler: like, getting more magic wands out and putting better programs in

[00:27:33] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yep. E- engaged fathers are, are impactful. They're impactful to maternal health behaviors that we know are modifiable. They're impactful for once baby is here and early childhood development and, continued development throughout. So, yeah.

[00:27:49] Ty Hagler: that, that sounded like you had a few papers backing that statement up.

[00:27:52] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Yeah. I can send, I can, I can definitely send you the research. My dissertation was centered around father engagement and the impact on early childhood obesity related behaviors, so screen time, fruit and vegetable consumption, sweet And beverage consumption. And I think it's important to let men know, it's, it's impactful, but both ways.

[00:28:15] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: So we, we want you, we, we wanna practice healthy health behaviors because child is gonna mirror that. Whole family is gonna mirror, those behaviors.

[00:28:25] Ty Hagler: Well, please do send those research links. We'll include them in the

[00:28:28] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Will do. Will do.

[00:28:31] Ty Hagler: and then, up here, I mean, I guess, do you have any, anything like a

[00:28:36] Ty Hagler: big message you'd wanna take away for either expectant fathers or young men who maybe one day think about fatherhood as part of their future?

[00:28:46] Ty Hagler: I mean, what's, what's a, a big message you wanna leave them

[00:28:48] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah, there's so much information out there is no, is no, not really ever too early to start to educate yourself. we know more now about the importance of men's preconception health. Are you exercising and eating right and doing all those things because, it has direct impact on placenta development and childhood development.

[00:29:09] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: And so it's, it's, it's so much, but really I just want new and expected fathers and young men who fatherhood may be right around the corners. Feel, feel like you belong in those spaces. Y- you definitely do. There's always gonna be moments where people are like, "Do you have any questions? Do you have any questions?"

[00:29:29] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Ask those questions, get those answers for things that you're thinking about, because it's gonna help you, again, it's gonna help you to be the best father that you can be, the best partner you can be, and have the strongest family possible.

[00:29:44] Ty Hagler: Absolutely.

[00:29:45] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Yeah.

[00:29:45] Ty Hagler: Dr. Hopper, where can people find you if they wanna learn more?

[00:29:48] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Oh, great question. So, you can find me social media, Lorenzo Hopper, but also, at, here at UNC Charlotte, so you can contact me there. I'm on LinkedIn, Lorenzo Hopper as well. So reach out. I would love to continue the conversation with anyone listening.

[00:30:06] Ty Hagler: Absolutely. Wonderful. Well, thanks so much for, taking the time to talk to me today.

[00:30:11] Dr. Lorenzo Hopper: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

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