At the White House Frontiers Conference hosted on October 13th, 2016 by President Obama in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, Monica McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN, highlighted the California Preterm Birth Initiative's (PTBi-CA) commitment to working with the public to develop sustainable interventions to improve health outcomes in prematurity.
The White House Frontiers Conference convened many of America's leading innovators to discuss how we can empower people through science, technology, and innovation to lead our communities, our country, and our world in the future. The conference also featured a plenary by President Obama.
Dr. McLemore spoke within the Personal Frontiers program—focused on health care innovation and precision medicine—as part of the Lightning Talks: Patient Perspectives. Her presentation entitled Underserved/Disparities; Partnering to Address Critical Research Questions, opened with a video showcasing PTBi-CA partnering with patients to co-develop research priorities and fund innovative prematurity research. Dr. McLemore later stated, "We believe that community, the public, patients can be our partners and our co-researchers."
An Assistant Professor at the UCSF School of Nursing and PTBi-CA Associate Director of Community-Engaged Research, Dr. McLemore challenged the audience: "Can we invest in community members who we call experts by experience? And capture their experiences to make many needed changes in our healthcare delivery systems?"
Dr. McLemore concluded, "The Preterm Birth Initiative is moving forward in the precision public health approach to partner with community not just to provide data, but to be co-researchers, co-investigators and to bring forward the scientific curiosity that we believe is embedded in all of the citizens who will help us move the frontiers of science and healthcare forward."
Watch the full live stream and explore conference highlights on Twitter with #WHFrontiers
See this collaboration in action, as PTBi-CA partners with patients to co-create research agendas and fund innovative prematurity research:
