PTBi hosted a special Collaboratory event jointly sponsored by the UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative (PTBi), the APHA Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) section and the Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI).
Speakers included thought leaders: Joia Crear-Perry, founder and president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative and PTBi Strategic Advisory Board member, and Monica McLemore, associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University California San Francisco.
Learn how health research initiatives centered community wisdom to evolve their missions, leadership teams and research strategies to focus anti-racism and drive positive, sustainable change for the organization and most importantly the communities they serve.
Key Takeaways:
- Practical guidance in creating authentically community-partnered research, including securing adequate funding, leveraging local resources, and translating research into action
- Stories and successes from the critical voices of the work, including our Black leadership, Community Advisory Board, Benioff Community Innovators and Postdoctoral Fellows.
- Learnings around the community-centered creation of The Abundant Birth Project, led by PTBi Collective Impact partner Expecting Justice, that will provide cash supplements for Black and Pacific Islander pregnant persons in San Francisco.
This is a not-to-be-missed event for those working in research and public health looking to achieve authentic partnership - not just engagement - with the communities they serve.
Speakers
Nayeli Bernal
Nayeli is a community-based researcher and social sector strategist that works to advance health and educational equity, which she does as an independent contractor with local research and community groups. Nayeli is passionate about Reproductive Justice because she believes in the beauty and the wonder that is human life. She also believes that women deserve to be recognized as full people who are fully capable of making difficult decisions without being judged or blocked by someone else who believes they would have made a different decision.
Brittany Chambers
Brittany Chamber is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research agenda is focused on understanding how racism impacts Black women’s reproductive health outcomes and identifying community-level interventions and policies to address them.
Maile Chand
Maile Chand was born and raised in the SF Bay Area. She is a mother, doula, community researcher, and aspiring midwife. Her family roots come from the beautiful islands of Hawaii, Fiji, and Trinidad. Birthwork is a way for her to unlearn and relearn what society and our family teach us about birth and community knowledge.
Alexis Cobbins
Alexis Cobbins is the Executive Director of PTBi. She has worked as a Social Worker with over 10 years of experience providing culturally relevant and responsive services through a trauma-informed approach. Prior to joining PTBi, Alexis spent over a decade working for and with Black women and their families through her roles at Mayor Ed Lee’s signature anti-poverty program “Project 500” (The San Francisco Human Services Agency) and at the Black Infant Health program at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. With a Masters of Social Work from California State University, East Bay, Alexis is deeply experienced in this field, providing culturally relevant and responsive services, trauma-informed care/systems, grief and loss therapy related to community violence, reflective practice, and anti-racism work. She has also served as a postpartum doula. After experiencing a preterm birth with her second child, Alexis’ interest in building her career around reducing the burden of prematurity was ignited. All of Alexis’ personal and professional experiences drive her passion to improve birth outcomes for Black women and other women of color
Joia Crear-Perry
Dr. Joia Adele Crear-Perry is the founder and president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative. Previously, she served as the executive director of the Birthing Project, director of Women’s and Children’s Services at Jefferson Community Healthcare Center and director of Clinical Services for the City of New Orleans Health Department, where she was responsible for four facilities that provided health care for the homeless, and pediatric, WIC and gynecologic services within the New Orleans clinical service area. Currently, her focus has expanded nationally and internationally as it relates to maternal and child health.
Monica McLemore
Monica McLemore is an associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She maintains clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. Her program of research is focused on understanding reproductive health, rights, and justice.
Daphina Melbourne
Daphina Melbourne is the Community Engagement Associate at the California Preterm Birth Initiative. Daphina has worked with women across the life course bridging the gap between community and research to ensure that those at the margins are always centered in research development and priorities. She has over fifteen years of reproductive justice organizing experience.
Solaire Spellen
Solaire Spellen is the Associate Director of the California Preterm Birth Initiative at UCSF. As part of the executive leadership team, she is committed to advancing racial equity and birth justice in partnership with community. Solaire was previously the Associate Director of PTBi’s San Francisco Collective Impact partner, [expectingjustice.org]Expecting Justice, and carried out her graduate student research with PTBi’s SOLARS study. With a strong background in Black maternal health research and community engagement, Solaire works to empower organizations and thought leaders to address racism as a root cause of health disparities through sustainable, community-informed solutions.
Brianne Taylor
Brianne Taylor has been a Community Researcher for almost 5 years. She is currently at UCSF where she assists with research that centers the voices of communities of color, prioritizes ending BIPOC health disparities, and resists mother blaming. She has contributed to several studies including the Benioff Community Innovators (BCI) project, the Supporting Our Ladies and Reducing Stress to prevent preterm birth (SOLARS) study, and the Community Racial Equity and Training, Evaluation of Future Health Care Providers (CREATE) study where she assists with management, recruitment, retention, and facilitation of participant interviews. Bri currently lives in San Francisco with her 8 year old daughter, and in her spare time she loves to smell babies and care for moms as a doula.
Shanell Williams
Shanell Williams is the Community Engagement Specialist for the California Preterm Birth Initiative and a member of the Board of Trustees at City College of San Francisco. Over the past 16 years, Shanell has served thousands of San Franciscans as an informed, passionate and dedicated public advocate, nonprofit leader and community organizer. From mentoring youth trapped in cycles of incarceration—to saving city college from a near loss of accreditation and closure for the past four years— Shanell has worked tirelessly to improve all San Franciscan’s quality of life.
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