Maternal Health: What’s Changed And What The Future Holds

by | Jun 27, 2024 | KPFA, Podcasts, Radio Shows

Listen now to About Health (7/8/24) on KPFA.org 94.1FM

https://archives.kpfa.org/data/20240708-Mon1400.mp3

We discussed the many major issues people face related to pre-natal care, pregnancy, abortion, mental health, birth, c-sections, and postpartum complications. Racial disparities exist and Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. There are many factors that contribute to these disparities, such as the quality in healthcare, any underlying chronic conditions, racism, and implicit bias. We will talk about some of the social determinants of health, and what can be done to reduce infant and maternal illness and death.

Guest:

Amanda P. Williams, MD, MPH, FACOG is the Clinical Innovation Advisor with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) based at Stanford University School of Medicine where she also is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In Spring 2024, Dr. Williams founded Poplar Lane Advisors LLC to create a platform to support startup companies and non profit organizations navigating the world of maternal health equity.

Dr. Williams previously served as Medical Director at Mahmee, a tech-enabled maternal health company dedicated to improving health equity and empowering families with wraparound care during the pregnancy and postpartum period. In this role she oversaw the company’s clinical programming, while fostering institutional partnerships, developing new business opportunities and supporting investor outreach.

Prior to joining Mahmee, Dr. Williams was a practicing OBGYN at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center where she served as Director of Maternity Services. Additionally, she oversaw the maternity continuum across Kaiser’s 15 medical centers in Northern California. She has also served on several state and national committees, such as the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review, the California Surgeon General’s perinatal redesign stakeholder group, and the National Quality Forum Maternal Morbidity and Mortality work group.

Dr. Williams is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University. She completed her medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine where she also received a master’s degree in public health. She completed her graduate medical training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Williams is a prominent voice on maternal health and health equity.

 

American Madness

by | May 20, 2024 | KPFA, Podcasts, Radio Shows

Listen here to About Health 5/27/24 KPFA.org—94.1FM https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=423094

Our mental health care system is broken, and has been for a long time. There aren’t enough psychiatric hospital beds, or psychiatrists, or therapists, or safe out patient facilities, or good follow up care, or housing, or retraining programs for people with mental illness who are leaving prison. Care often isn’t coordinated, and so many mentally ill people wind up on the streets or in prison. There are about 113,000 people in California at any time who are homeless, and about 25% of the homeless adults studied in Los Angeles County suffer from a severe mental illness. 

Please be aware that severe mental illness and suicide will be mentioned during this show, so if that might be triggering for you, you may want to skip this episode. For anyone who is needing help, please know that you can call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. It’s available 24 hours a day, and it’s free and confidential support for people in distress–that’s 988.

Guest:

Alice Feller is a clinical psychiatrist with a subspecialty in the treatment of substance use disorder. Many of her patients suffer from severe mental illness, and often live on the streets or behind bars.  She has worked in hospital emergency rooms, psychiatric wards, outpatient clinics, chemical dependency treatment programs and in private practice. Her approach includes psychotherapy tailored to the needs of the patient and medication where appropriate. She has taught classes on the treatment of substance use disorder and consulted to the California Medical Board on physicians impaired by chemical dependence.  She served two terms on the Berkeley Homeless Commission.  For the past two years she has been a member of FASMI (Family Advocates for Severe Mental Illness), an advocacy group campaigning for changes in the law and better mental health care.  Her recently published book is “American Madness” Fighting for Patients in a broken mental health system. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and daughter.

African American Wellness

by | Jan 12, 2024 | KPFA, Podcasts, Radio Shows

About Health on 94.1FM—KPFA.org, 1/15/23 

Listen now: https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=413898

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we will discuss African American Wellness. The harsh reality is that not all patients are treated equally, and racism has consequences on a person’s health and health care. An Associated Press wire story from 1966, contained Dr. King’s famous quotation regarding injustice in health care—“Of all the forms of in-equality, injustice in health, is the most shocking and in-human.” 

My guest today, Dr Michael Lenoir, has been committed to the health and well-being of the African American community for a long time now…believing that “Healthcare is a fundamental right.”

Guest: Dr. Michael Lenoir

Dr. LeNoir has been the CEO of the Ethnic Health America Network, and currently he is CEO and Chairperson of the African American Wellness Project and the host and producer of the Black Doctors Speak Podcast. He is a board-certified, practicing pediatrician in Oakland, and a nationally recognized expert on asthma in inner cities. In the past he served as president of the Ethnic Health Institute at Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center and associate clinical professor in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He has been an active member of the National Medical Association and was the 114th President. Dr. Lenore was the host of About Health Radio show on KPFA.org for over 20 years.

Maternal Health Crisis

by | Nov 1, 2022 | KPFA, Podcasts, Radio Shows

Globally, maternal mortality has decreased, but in the U.S. it continues to rise! Maternal health outcomes have become more disparate with black women being three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. Most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, so what are the causes? What work is being done to end preventable mortality and racial disparities?  

12/19/22 KPFA.org—94.1FM

Listen Now

https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=391323

Guest:

Amanda P. Williams, MD, MPH, FACOG is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and strategic physician leader focused on eliminating health disparities and leveraging virtual care. She currently oversees clinical innovations for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative at Stanford University. Additionally, she advises digital women’s health endeavors such as RiskLD, Nike Fitness Club- motherhood program, and nascent startups via High Alpha Innovation. She is clinically based at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center where until Summer 2022 she served as Director of Maternity Services. She also led the maternity continuum for the Chiefs of OBGYN across 15 medical centers and 44,000 annual births in Northern California. Dr. Williams’ research topics have included: expansion of abortion access, contraception continuation, peripartum depression, and minimally invasive hysterectomies. 

Dr. Williams is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University where she majored in American Medical History and Biochemistry. She completed her medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine where she also received a master’s degree in public health, focusing on health policy and management. She completed her graduate medical training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of California, San Francisco. She has served on multiple state and national committees, including currently the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review. After hours, Dr. Williams can be found hiking in the redwoods, taking cardio-hip hop dance class, mentoring women of color in the medical pipeline, or attending her teenage boys’ endless sports activities. 

 

It’s time for a Care Revolution

by | Jan 7, 2022 | KPFA, Podcasts, Radio Shows

**Listen now to KPFA.org—94.1FM, (1/10/22)**

https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=371217

What would it take to have a caring system that addressed health disparities, honored indigenous medicine, and respected the stories and struggles of all people? What are the systems and environmental factors that create conditions of illness? How can we create a culture of care for our children, elders, and the planet?  And, what could we be doing differently in this prolonged, confusing, and painful time of Covid-19?

Guest:

Dr. Rupa Marya  is a physician, activist, writer, mother, and a composer. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and the founder and worker-director of the Deep Medicine Circle, a WOC-led organization committed to healing the wounds of colonialisim through food, medicine, story, restoration and learning. Her work sits at the nexus of climate, health and racial justice. She is the co-author with Raj Patel of the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. Dr. Marya was appointed by Governor Newsom to and serves on the Healthy California for All Commission where she tirelessly advocates for Single Payer healthcare. She has toured twenty-nine countries with her band, Rupa and the April Fishes, whose music was described by the legend Gil Scott-Heron as “Liberation Music.” To learn more about her go to https://rupamarya.org