2015
Philanthropic Gift to Harvard
Fareed Family Fund is established to support students in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Change the First Nine Months.
Change Everything.
Square Roots was founded in 2015 at the United States Conference of Mayors through a historic resolution signed by 1,300 American mayors, alongside leading entrepreneurs and health leaders.
We were built on a bold conviction:
Maternal health is the single greatest lever for human longevity, societal resilience, and the future of civilization.
Not a niche issue.
Not a women’s issue.
The foundation of lifelong health.
2016
Policy Passed with the USCM
First policy on maternal health passed in 83 years
Let's Talk Pregnancy.
The most important phase of human development faces extraordinary challenges.
Air Pollution
Air pollution causes respiratory deaths in newborns and lower birth weight, contributing to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.
Additional Information
- Ambient Air Pollution and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Review of the Literature
- Comparing exposure assessment methods for traffic-related air pollution in an adverse pregnancy outcome study
- First Trimester Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution, Pregnancy Complications and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Allegheny County, PA
- Ambient Air Pollution and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertensive Disorders
- Impact of Noise and Air Pollution on Pregnancy Outcomes
- Maternal exposure to low-level air pollution and pregnancy outcomes: a population-based study
Malnutrition
Nutrition during pregnancy is a major factor in “fetal programming”, and permanently alters babies’ physiology, metabolism, neural and immune system for life.
Additional Information
- Maternal Nutrition and Fetal Development
- Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy and infant immune response to routine childhood vaccinations
- Suboptimal maternal nutrition affects offspring health in adult life
- Effect of Maternal Malnutrition and Anemia on the Endocrine Regulation of Fetal Growth
- Effect of maternal malnutrition on the bone density of the neonates
- Effects of maternal malnutrition and postnatal nutritional rehabilitation on brain fatty acids, learning, and memory
Toxic Chemicals
Exposure to toxic chemicals, mostly off-gassing from household items, and poor drinking water may lead to babies’ having low birth weight, impaired cognitive and neurodevelopment, and cancer.
Additional Information
- International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics opinion on reproductive health impacts of exposure to toxic environmental chemicals
- Environmental exposures, toxicologic mechanisms, and adverse pregnancy outcomes
- Environmental contaminants and pregnancy outcomes
- A Review of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Formaldehyde Exposure in Human and Animal Studies
Stress
Stress during pregnancy causes babies’ life-long cognitive, behavioral and emotional development changes, and contributes to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.
Additional Information
- Anxiety, depression and stress in pregnancy: implications for mothers, children, research, and practice
- Psychosocial Stress and Pregnancy Outcome
- Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy on prenatal stress and mood: results of a pilot study
- The effects of maternal depression, anxiety, and perceived stress during pregnancy on preterm birth: A systematic review
- Prenatal maternal stress: effects on pregnancy and the (unborn) child
- Cortisol: The Culprit Prenatal Stress Variable
- Maternal stress and preterm delivery
- Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia (syndrome X): relation to reduced fetal growth.
- Does prenatal stress alter the developing connectome?
Sleep Deprivation
Sleep disturbances during pregnancy are linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, preterm birth, weakened immune systems, and other life-long health outcomes for mom and baby.
Additional Information
- A role for sleep disorders in pregnancy complications: challenges and opportunities
- Disturbed Sleep and Inflammatory Cytokines in Depressed and Nondepressed Pregnant Women: An Exploratory Analysis of Pregnancy Outcomes
- Maternal sleep-disordered breathing and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and metaanalysis
- How Disturbed Sleep May Be a Risk Factor for Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes A Hypothesis
- Obstructive sleep apnea and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes
- Sleep disorders in pregnancy and their association with pregnancy outcomes: a prospective observational study
- Sleep duration and disorders in pregnancy: implications for glucose metabolism and pregnancy outcomes
Elements of an Optimal Pregnancy
As every mother knows, pregnancy is one of the greatest stress tests of the human body. Achieving an optimal pregnancy depends on many factors:
Environment
Nutrition
Mental Health
Sleep
Physical Activity
Education
Square Roots dedicated years and millions of dollars championing public health efforts to improve pregnancy outcomes for moms and their babies; including passing the first maternal health resolution at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 83 years.
We eventually realized that our greatest challenge was the lack of a gold standard for pregnancy well-being.
How could the most important function in life not have clear best practices? We knew we needed a standard, beyond just surviving pregnancy. We needed a pregnancy flourishing roadmap.
So, we teamed-up with the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and other leading maternal health and wellness organizations to create a new blueprint to holistically define and provide an optimal pregnancy for all women.
Download our White PaperContributors:
We then asked ourselves
How could we best serve mothers?
Pregnancy 2.0
Your personal pregnancy digital assistant.
This free app will be a leap forward in serving mothers. Providing you personalized health, wellness, and environmental support, 24hrs a day, so you have more energy and less stress.
Personal Guide
Information & guidance through each step of your pregnancy to help you achieve the gold standard. Right up until giving birth!
Environmental & Personal Data
Our app connects with cutting edge technology you can install in your home and wear on your wrist to provide real-time data on how your environment and activities are affecting your pregnancy.
The Right Solutions
We get it, best practices and information are great, but sometimes a problem only gets solved by buying a product or service.
Our Lab tests best in-class products to provide you transparent intelligence on their health impact, and personalized recommendations so you don’t have to stress.
Personal Support
Feeling overwhelmed or just need a check-up? We have your back.
Our app connects you to the best local telehealth and midwifery help you could dream of.
Stay Updated
We’ll let you know the moment the app launches! We plan on sending our subscribers an occasional email on how to have an optimal pregnancy, interested?
News
Morad Fareed’s opening address at the Humanity 2.0 Forum in the Vatican
Morad Fareed, CEO of Square Roots and Co-Founder and CEO of Humanity 2.0 Well Being, was honored to address participants of the 2019 Humanity 2.0 Forum at the Vatican. His words launch an entire segment focused on maternal health and how humanity can come together to support moms and babies globally.
Michelle Williams – Dean at Harvard’s School of Public Health on the state of maternal health and the challenges ahead
Dean Williams powerfully shares the global challenges humanity faces to improve maternal health outcomes and how a life course approach is the surest path to success. She courageously addresses the health disparity in our societies and calls the Humanity 2.0 audience to action.
At the Vatican, former President of Malta speaks on the challenges around maternal health and early childhood
The Former President of Malta, H.E. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, KUOM GCMG, addresses the attendees of the 2019 Humanity 2.0 Forum on maternal health and her hopes for the future.