PHS doctoral student Shanika Jerger Butts discusses black maternal health with Congresswoman Alma Adams

Ahead of Black Maternal Health Week (11-17 APR), PHS doctoral student Shanika Jerger Butts joined Chancellor Gabor and several other CHHS colleagues in a conversation with Congresswoman Alma Adams. 

Shanika discussed how her dissertation work and her community activism draw upon her own experiences and her desire to give back to her community.  Shanika shared with Congresswoman Adams, author of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, a sense of what PHS faculty, students, and community partners are doing to improve maternal and child health. 

After this experience, Shanika said “During my conversation with Congresswoman Adams, I expressed how my current research in the use of preconception care to mitigate maternal morbidity and mortality in Black women ties with the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. My research has been designed to provide immediate value to the legislation and policy making process. It was important that Congresswoman Adams knew that I along with the department of Public Health faculty and students at UNC Charlotte are ready and capable to provide the assistance needed to help improve maternal health outcomes in Black women in the United States.”