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About the Summit

Mayor Muriel Bowser is hosting the third annual National Maternal & Infant Health Summit to build on the growing public awareness and interest in this important issue and the District’s new approach to ensure the health of women, babies and families. With the coronavirus outbreak bringing business as usual to a halt, the Summit will address the impact of the epidemic on pregnant women, moms, and babies, as well as District residents at large and our systems.

COVID-19 has shaped District and national response in ways that allow us all to think more critically and holistically about improvements in maternal and infant care. The virtual summit is an opportunity for District residents, nonprofit partners, health officials, and elected officials to use lessons learned from the COVID-19 response to push for improved delivery of perinatal care and continued investment in proven supports for moms, babies, and their families.

Welcome and Context Setting

The Honorable Muriel Bowser

Mayor, Washington DC

Dr. Faith Gibson Hubbard

Executive Director, Thrive by Five DC

Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt

Director, DC Health

Panel 1 Speakers – What We’ve Learned from COVID-19: The Pandemic’s Impact on Perinatal Health and Our Next Steps

Errin Haines (Moderator)

Editor-at-large, The 19th

The Honorable Muriel Bowser

Mayor, Washington DC

Congresswoman Robin Kelly

U.S Representative, Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District

Dr. Aletha Maybank

Chief Health Equity Officer and Group Vice President, American Medical Association

Panel 2 Speakers – Understanding the Root Causes: The Impact of Trauma on the Life Course

Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick (Moderator)

President, Howard University

Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens

Director, Humanities in Medicine, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Binny Chokshi

Pediatrician & Co-Medical Director, Healthy Generations Program, Children’s National Hospital

Dr. Amanda Latimore

Faculty, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr. Zea Malawa

Director, Expecting Justice

Panel 3 Speakers – In the Forefront: Moving the Needle on Perinatal Health through Youth Voice & Advocacy

Nicole Lynn Lewis (Moderator)

Founder & CEO of Generation Hope

Madeleine Stewart

Student & Maternal Health Advocate

Natasha Washington

Program Manager for Olaiya’s Cradle at Sasha Bruce Youthwork

KaNeyce Johnson

Resident at Sasha Bruce’s Transitional Housing Program

Joseph Yusuf

Generation Hope and Howard University graduate

Summit Agenda

2:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Welcome & Context Setting

Mayor Bowser will kickoff the Summit with remarks and her own reflections on past Summits and the Maternal & Infant Health Initiative. She will speak to the work happening in the District around maternal and infant health.

Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, Director of DC Health, will speak to DC Health’s holistic approach to perinatal health.

Dr. Faith Gibson Hubbard, Executive Director of Thrive by Five, will welcome Summit attendees by offering reflections from last year’s Summit and discussing the impact of COVID-19 on this year’s Summit structure.

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Panel 1:

What We’ve Learned from COVID-19: The Pandemic’s Impact on Perinatal Health and Our Next Steps

COVID-19 has shaped District and national response in ways that allow us all to think more critically and holistically about improving health outcomes. Panelists will discuss ways to use the District’s COVID-19 response as a model to address longstanding inequities. This conversation will be moderated by Errin Haines, Editor-at-large for The 19th.
Panelists include:
• Moderator: Errin Haines, Editor-at-large for The 19th
• Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washington DC
• U.S. Representative Robin Kelly, Illinois 2nd Congressional District
• Dr. Aletha Maybank, Chief Health Equity Officer for the American Medical Association

3:15 pm - 3:30 pm

Transition time

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Panel 2:

Understanding the Root Causes: The Impact of Trauma on the Life Course

Adverse childhood experiences, or early trauma, can have long-term effects linked to a variety of adult conditions. Panelists will discuss parental trauma’s impact on conception and birth, along with mental health problems common during pregnancy and after childbirth, such as depression and anxiety. This conversation will be moderated by Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, President of Howard University.

Panelists include:
• Moderator: Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, President of Howard University
• Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens, Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Dr. Binny Chokshi, Co-Medical Director, Healthy Generations Program, Children’s National Hospital
• Dr. Amanda Latimore, Assistant Scientist, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Dr. Zea Malawa, Director for Expecting Justice, San Francisco Department of Public Health

4:30 pm - 4:45 pm

Transition time

4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Panel 3:

In the Forefront: Moving the Needle on Perinatal Health through Youth Voice & Advocacy

You don’t have to wait until you’re a parent to advocate for maternal health. Panelists will discuss ways to elevate voices of youth and young parents in the maternal health space by engaging and working in partnership with young people to create sustainable support networks. This conversation will be moderated Nicole Lynn Lewis, Founder and CEO of Generation Hope.

Panelists include:
• Moderator: Nicole Lynn Lewis, Founder & CEO of Generation Hope
• Madeleine Stewart, Maternal Health Advocate & High School Student
• Natasha Washington, Program Manager at Olaiya’s Cradle
• Kaneyce Johnson, Resident at the Transitional Housing Program
• Joseph Yusuf, Scholar Alumni, Generation Hope and Howard University graduate

5:45 pm - 6:00 pm

Summary/Preview of the Summit Week

Dr. Faith Gibson Hubbard will provide a summary of the day’s conversations and discuss what’s to come throughout the remainder of the week (breakout sessions and virtual resource expo).

10:00 am - 11:00 am

Surviving the Storms in Our Minds:

Fixing Unhelpful Thoughts While Parenting

DC MOMS, DC Department of Human Services

Speakers: Ashley White Corbett, MSW, LGSW; Sabrina Tate, MSW; Wylette Burton, MPA

Description: The storms of life can be triggered by a chain of events that occur from a build-up of conflict in our external worlds. On the outside, we may appear to be functioning normally to our children, but on the inside, there are internal battles that we struggle with every day. This session will teach participants how to identify cognitive distortions and interrupt unhelpful thought patterns that negatively impact behavior and parent-child relationships. We will discuss metaphorically how the characteristics of 3 types of storms: Blizzards, Sand Storms and Tornadoes become part of behavior to create deficit-based communication in parenting. We will then provide a crisis response to enhance parental confidence and elevate the self-esteem of their children.

Theme(s): Mental Health, Opioid/Substance Use

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

COVID-19 and its Unique Effects on Infants and Children as Vulnerable Populations

Speakers: Lenore Jarvis, MD, Med; Nia Imani Bodrick, MD, MP; Christian Cornejo, MD; Carmen Gill Bailey MD

Description: During COVID-19 there are many vulnerable groups, and as a result, many special pediatric considerations. We know that children need to continue to be linked with quality physical and mental health services. This session will outline strategies for identification and response to COVID-related pediatric concerns and create next steps for future areas of growth and resources to respond to child health needs in the District.

Theme(s): COVID-19, Family Supports, Social Determinants of Health

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Sing, Talk, Read: Building Early Literacy Skills with Young Children

This session will discuss early literacy skills children need to get ready to learn to read. Caregivers will learn how to develop these skills with their children through every day activities, and learn how the Library can help support them in these efforts.

1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Promoting Opportunities for Young Parents to Thrive

Speakers: Samaura Stone (Moderator); Dijonia Hines; Na’ Asia Hawkins; Jenny Redmond; Tanazia Matthews

Description: This session will feature several amazing young parents as they share their journey to overcome barriers that young parents face and how they are currently managing the COVID-19 pandemic. They will talk about the programs and services that have helped them, highlight areas where systems can improve, and provide recommendations about ways to center the voices of young parents in policy and program discussions. The session will also highlight ways to streamline services to promote greater opportunities for all parents.

Theme(s): Family Supports, Prenatal/Postpartum Care, Social Determinants of Health

10:00 am - 11:00 am

Pre-Ks Living with Elders

Age Friendly DC, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services; Generations United; MiCasa Inc.

Speakers: Gail Kohn; Donna Butts; Elin Zurbrigg

Description: This session will shine light on intergenerational living with a focus on Pre-Ks living with elders. The presentation will describe what’s known about the incidence of elders raising relatives, help attendees understand the value of neighbors supporting neighbors, and highlight intergenerational housing options in DC and across the nation.

Theme(s): Family Supports, Social Determinants of Health

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Sisterfriends:

It Takes a Village

LaToya Archibald

Speakers: LaToya Siobhan Archibald; Courtney Douglass; Brittany Young; Malika Fair; Cherie Belamie

Description: This panel focuses on the importance of sisterhood and friendship in navigating the journeys of reproduction, pregnancy and motherhood. Sister friendships are keys to our mental and physical health. In joy and in sorrow, these relationships are intentional, deep and wide, and integral to our resilience and our resistance. This will be a vulnerable dialogue about how sisterfriends can support one another through desiring to be mothers, infertility, pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, and every destination in between including tips for identifying your girls, pouring into and affirming those relationships, resolving conflict, and showing up for one another.

Theme(s): Family Supports, Mental Health, Prenatal/Postpartum Care, Opioid/Substance Use

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Paternally Yours

Help Me Grow, DC Health

Speakers: Todd A. Elliott, MSW; Omotunde Sowole-West, MPH

Description: There is no denying that children, particularly in the early stages of life benefit from interactions from both their mother and father. “Paternally Yours” seeks to provide supports in the case of traditional fathers, co-parenting situations, father-figures, grandfathers and/or male caregivers. We will explore how service coordination can help encourage dialogue, familial supports, and dispel the notion that paternal health factors are not important in maternal conversations of wellness.

Theme(s): Family Supports, Fatherhood, Opioid/Substance Use

1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

InSideOut Dad:

Supporting Incarcerated Dads Going Home

Mary’s Center

Speakers: Felix Hernandez; Devin Anderson

Description: This workshop will present an overview of the partnership between Mary’s Center Father-Child Program and the DC Health Healthy Start Fatherhood program in the District of Columbia and how it’s approach, curricula, and activities supported fathers in having a successful transition into their homes post-release from jail. The co-facilitators will share insights about their own experience supporting incarcerated men, success stories from those in the program and feedback from the incarcerated men.

Theme(s): Fatherhood, Social Determinants of Health, Opioid/Substance Use

9:30 am - 1:30 pm

Free CME and CEU Course:

Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants

Provided by DBH and SAMHSA

This virtual web course is designed to help physicians and healthcare professionals who care for pregnant women with opioid use disorder (OUD) and substance-exposed infants make clinically appropriate and individualized treatment decisions that will promote the best possible outcome for both mother and infant. The information covered in this course is based on SAMHSA’s Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants guide. The course consists of six core modules that focus on best practices and evidence-based clinical protocols for the use of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of pregnant and parenting women with OUD.

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Welcome & Opening Remarks
10:00 AM – 10:35 AM: Module 1: Background on Opioid Use Disorder in Pregnant Women
10:35 AM – 11:20 AM: Module 2: Pharmacotherapy for Pregnant Women with Opioid Use Disorder
11:20 AM – 11:30 AM: Networking Break
11:30 AM – 1:20 PM: Module 3: Prenatal Care
1:20 PM – 1:30 PM: Closing Session

10:00 am - 11:00 am

Ensuring Equity Across Life Course

Office of Health Equity, DC Health

Speakers: Dr. Autumn Saxton-Ross; Dr. Anneta Arno; Dr. Erica McClaskey, Linda Elam

Description: Too often, consideration of maternal and infant health is assumed to be relevant only during a relatively short and limited time period; typically while pregnant, or at best, throughout childbearing years. Join this critical dialogue and learning session as we consider the lived reality of women, girls, babies and families in a more holistic unpacking of the impacts of social and structural determinants of health, including intergenerational trauma, in shaping differential opportunities for health, and inequitable health outcomes from birth, across the entire life course, including quality of life and length of life itself!

Theme(s): Racial Disparities, Social Determinants of Health

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Pregnant and Postpartum in a Pandemic:

Anxiety Management Strategies for Providers, Communities, and Families

Ruthie Arbit

Speaker: Ruthie Arbit

Description: In this session, we will review perinatal mood disorders, COVID’s impact on perinatal mental health and strategies to support families with perinatal anxiety. Attendees will learn the key symptoms of perinatal mental health disorder, understand why COVID complicates these symptoms, and learn strategies to manage these symptoms.

Theme(s): COVID-19, Mental Health, Pregnancy Complications

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Dual Pandemics:

Impact of Systemic Racism and COVID-19 on Breastfeeding

District of Columbia Breastfeeding Coalition

Speakers: Sahira Long, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Ifeyinwa V. Asiodu, PhD, RN, IBCLC; Kimarie Bugg, DNP, RN, MPH, IBCLC; Chrisonne Henderson, CLC

Description: Despite progress over the last decade improving breastfeeding rates, opportunities remain to close the gap between Black and white babies. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought forth new challenges for breastfeeding and illuminated longstanding social determinants of health that effect what organizational and community supports are available to birthing people. This panel will explain the influence of systemic and institutional racism on breastfeeding and discuss the additional burden COVID-19 presents.

Theme(s): COVID-19, Prenatal/Postpartum Care, Racial Disparities

1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Holding Space for the Future of Black Birth

Tomasina Oliver

Speakers: Dr. Sal Corbin; Bri Mobley; Yesenia Guzman, CPM; Tomasina Oliver, CPM; Weluna Finley

Description: There’s been a cultural shift on behalf of black maternal health. We must maintain cultural consciousness within birth communities serving black women and their families. We will identify what contributes to black maternal health disparities and have positive conversations that will lead to mobilizing action.

Theme(s): Prenatal/Postpartum Care, Racial Disparities, Social Determinants of Health

9:30 am - 1:30 pm

Free CME and CEU Course:

Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants

Provided by DBH and SAMHSA

9:30 AM – 9:35 AM: Welcome & Goals for Day Two
9:35 AM – 10:00 AM: Module 4: Preparing for Labor and Delivery and Essential Information for Women Who Have Had No Prenatal Care
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM: Module 5: Infant Care (Part I)
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM: Networking Break
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Module 5: Infant Care (Part II)
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM: Module 6: Postnatal Care
12:15 PM – 1:00 PM: Ideas for Implementation Exercise, Applying models and science to practice
1:00 PM – 1:25 PM: Reconvene – groups brief results of exercise
1:25 PM – 1:30 PM: Closing Session