For the event, Dr. Ogunyemi presented a program that spoke of the mission to provide a high level of care to the women in SPA 6. The crucial issue of how to address maternal mortality and morbidity was a key focus of the evening. Guest speaker Dr. Kimberly Gregory offered a high-level perspective on that need.

Dr. Gregory is Director, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Vice Chair, Women’ s Healthcare Quality and Performance Improvement in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars Sinai Hospital. She is a 1985 graduate of the CDU / UCA Medical Education Program. Her presentation focused on the urgency of taking maternal and infant morbidity seriously. Increasingly, there is recognition that maternal mortality and morbidity is preventable, and when it occurs it is not always the physician’ s fault.

She stated that professionals now need to think more seriously about maternal morbidity, as the condition is on the rise. The effect on Black women is now far reaching and has become a major societal problem. To the question of what can be done, and becoming educated about the problem is an effective pathway to change.

Half of pregnancy-related deaths occur by the day of delivery. During the post-partum phase, there is a need to understand contributing factors. Sleep deprivation, she noted, is a dangerous condition. Women need help transitioning to parenthood. There is definite need for more Black and Hispanic care providers with an understanding of the contributing factors, she added.

Befitting her role as the 124th President of the National Medical Association, Dr. Yolanda Dawson followed with a convincing argument as to why the various ethnic minority-based health organizations should espouse an attitude of collaboration with one another. At worst case, the organizations should be open to the need for resource

CDU College of Medicine | PG. 36