Angela D. Thomas, DrPH, MPH, MBA, Vice President, Healthcare Delivery Research, MedStar Health, joins Eric to discuss“D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms,” a community-driven collaborative launched in 2020 to improve the health and well-being of mothers and infants in Washington, D.C., and reduce racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes – one of the most urgent challenges facing the District of Columbia.
Angela provides an overview of the program, which brings together an interdisciplinary team made up of doctors, mental health professionals, midwives and trusted community partners to help families at five different stages – preconception, prenatal delivery, immediate postpartum and until the child turns three and also tells the stories of mothers helped by the initiative.
She also speaks about the role technology plays in the initiative. Expectant mothers use chatbots to communicate with pediatricians in the later stages of pregnancy and postpartum in order to identify any warning signs for newborns and mothers that could lead to serious medical issues.
Angela also outlines the steps other healthcare systems can take to build a similar initiative in their communities.
About Safe Babies Safe Moms
Made possible by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms is a partnership between MedStar Health, Community of Hope, and Mamatoto Village that combines the expertise of MedStar Health, evidence-based healthcare, and proven community-centric support services. The program puts each family at the center of their care before, during, and after pregnancy and until the child reaches age three.
In 2023, the program launched a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action project to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help reduce disparities in maternal and infant health. Over the next three years, we will use advanced techniques in artificial intelligence and machine learning to build a maternal and infant health safety surveillance system for clinicians to proactively identify risks that could lead to adverse outcomes for birthing individuals and their babies.
About Angela
Angela is responsible for leading a team of experts to apply rigorous scientific methods to enable next-generation healthcare delivery through quality, safety, innovation, health economics, payment reform, outcomes, health services research, data science, and health equity. She also ensures that these research activities leverage the collective leadership and unique strengths of MedStar Health and Georgetown University.
Her research interests focus on health equity and patient safety. As the Executive Leader of Safe Babies Safe Moms, Angela is responsible for ensuring the development, implementation, and evaluation of an evidence-based program that will reduce disparities in maternal and infant mortality in Washington, DC. In addition, she contributes her research expertise in disparities, health equity, and patient safety to the initiative to uncover the contributing factors leading to disparities in maternal and infant harm.
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