Listening and Leading: Experts Reimagine Black Maternal Health Care

What if the first step to saving lives is learning how to listen?

The central theme of Emory Healthcare’s 2025 Black Maternal Health Week panel, “Revitalizing Care: Improving Black Maternal Health Together,” was the necessity of listening to Black women’s voices.

Held at Glenn Auditorium of Emory University Hospital Midtown on April 14, the event brought together maternal health advocates, survivors, clinicians, doulas, lawmakers and hospital leadership representing Emory Healthcare and the local community. The purpose was to acknowledge progress and engage in a candid discussion about the current state of maternal health in Georgia.

Dr. Amaka Eneanya, MD, MPH, FASN, Emory Healthcare’s chief transformation officer, opened the conversation with the story of her own mother, who unexpectedly died from a pulmonary embolism after childbirth in 1992 in a middle-class Pennsylvania neighborhood.

“We weren’t talking about maternal mortality nearly as much then,” she said. “But we have to talk about it now.”

Over the next hour, Dr. Eneanya moderated a panel discussion that shared personal narratives, shifts in health care and policy, and hope for the future. Read on to learn some of the topics they covered.

“Most of us go into health care to help people,” Dr. Eneanya said. “But the truth is, we all carry unconscious biases, which have been well-documented as major contributors to disparities in health outcomes. And the only way to confront biases in care is through awareness, conversation and structural change.”

She emphasized the importance of team-based approaches that create space for curiosity, collaboration and accountability: “Instead of calling people out, we have to call them in.”

Panelist Jennifer Rutledge-Pettie, JD, maternal health policy expert and survivor, said, “Let’s be clear—Black patients are not hard to find. We are systemically ignored.”

Her words echo a long and painful history. In the 1840s, physician James Marion Sims conducted surgical experiments on enslaved Black women without anesthesia. Historical records lack information on consent, and only three patients—Lucy, Anarcha, and Betsey—are identified by name, highlighting their suffering in the advancement of medical knowledge.

Stigma and bias around Black women in health care persists, particularly as maternal mortality rates increase. Georgia’s maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the country—with disproportionately higher rates for Black women. From 2018–2020, there were 48.6 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births among non-Hispanic Black women, versus 22.7 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births among non-Hispanic white women, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s maternal mortality report.

“I had policy credentials. A public health title. I was literally in a leadership role designing maternal health solutions for the state of Georgia—and I still almost died,” said Rutledge-Pettie about her own childbirth experience. “That’s the irony of Black maternal health in America.”

Rutledge-Pettie’s lived-experience mirrors national headlines as high-profile Black women navigate maternal care.

In a 2022 interview, tennis icon Serena Williams recalled that, after giving birth, she began to lose feeling in her legs accompanied by severe pain but had to repeatedly insist that something was seriously wrong before doctors finally discovered blood clots in her lungs. Immediate surgery was needed to save her life.

Similarly, actress Tia Mowry has spoken publicly about being dismissed during her own delivery, describing a feeling of invisibility. 

Panelist and OB-GYN Whitney Lankford, MD acknowledged that change doesn’t begin in the delivery room. It starts far earlier—with trust.

“What I hear from patients all the time is, ‘Where have you been?’” she said. “They’ve been searching for someone who looks like them, listens to them, understands them.”

Dr. Lankford emphasized the need for greater visibility and engagement in Black communities, even before pregnancy. That means showing up where patients are, building relationships and seeing the whole person—not just the chart.

Panelist Winifred Payne, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, director of Women’s Services at Emory University Hospital Midtown, acknowledged that too often, patients only meet their doctor for the first time when it is time to deliver. She says Emory University Hospital Midtown is working to change that, implementing proactive physician touchpoints and improving continuity of care throughout the pregnancy and postpartum journey.

Emory Healthcare’s maternal health response is also unfolding at Emory Decatur Hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There, panel guest Tenesha Sellers, a community health worker, champions two complementary efforts designed to meet families where they are—clinically and emotionally.

The NICU Community Health Worker Program pairs health workers with families navigating premature birth, loss or unexpected medical complications. Health workers help new mothers manage hypertension, diabetes, appointment adherence, lactation and infant safety—including education on safe sleep and car seat use. With the program’s support, nearly all new mothers (95%) attended their six-week postpartum checkups.

Recognizing that clinical services alone are not enough, Sellers also facilitates Brave Beginnings, a NICU parent support group. The group offers social-emotional support and connection for NICU parents. “NICU moms can form lasting bonds, becoming ‘NICU buddies,’” said Sellers.

The panel also addressed the broader policy landscape affecting maternal health access in Georgia.

Panelist and member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Jasmine Clark, Ph.D., discussed how more than 40% of Georgia counties are now considered “maternity care deserts” by the March of Dimes 2024 report. In many cases, birthing people must drive for hours for prenatal care or to safely deliver their child.

“One hospital I visited proudly said, ‘We do everything here—except deliver babies,’” Clark recalled. “As if that was normal.”

She called for greater investment in mobile clinics, student loan relief for clinicians working in underserved areas, and stronger legislation that expands Medicaid and licenses midwives outside of hospital systems.

Doula support was a recurring theme, recognized as both a practical and cultural asset. Panelist Jet’aime McKinney, a birth doula and educator, emphasized that doulas provide empowerment and active advocacy, in addition to comfort.

“It’s not enough to survive,” she said. “We deserve to thrive.”

Research from Emory University Center for Reproductive Health Research supports these findings. A 2023 study explored how Black doulas in Georgia act as essential advocates for their clients, mitigating racial bias and improving birth experiences.

Emory Healthcare and its partners have championed doula integration as a strategy for improving maternal outcomes, and the panel discussed opportunities for trust-building, joint training and partnership between doulas and clinical teams.

Emory Healthcare’s efforts to advance maternal health involve not only new programs and policies but also a sustained commitment to listening to the community.

“We need to create a culture where listening is the standard—not the exception. Bias is real. But so is the opportunity to do better,” said Byron Hunter, Ph.D., vice president of health impact at Emory Healthcare. "This work doesn’t happen from one office. It happens in every interaction, every exam room, every policy table.”