Maternal Health
Guided by our Community Advisory Board, maternal health has been an important topic of focus for Collaborative Catalyst. Over the past few years, we’ve convened through kickoff events and coffee chats researchers, OB/GYNs, doulas, midwives, policy advocates, and other community leaders. Learn more about our events below.
Improving Cross-Cultural Communication in the Clinical Setting
September 2025
Hosted by: Rose Molina, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
At this event in September 2025, our rich discussion allowed participants to identify concrete strategies for practicing empathy and communication skills. These included: asking patients to describe their health goals, pausing and reflecting before each patient visit to stay grounded in the moment, writing small details about patients to connect on later, and using appropriate body language and eye contact when talking with patients and families, regardless of language differences.
Past Events
Hosted by: Jessica Cohen, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
We collaborated with Cohen’s undergraduate maternal health class to co-host an event focused on stillbirth. Speakers shared personal experiences with stillbirth, ways to prevent stillbirth, and addressed stillbirth from a legal perspective:
- Duaa Eldeib: Investigative reporter (ProPublica) and 2023 finalist for Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for her Stillbirth Series
- Stephanie Crawford: Doula, founder of Boston-based Propa City Community Outreach, teacher, advocate, and stillbirth grief counselor
- Samantha Durante Banerjee: Founder and executive director of PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, writer, and activist
- Jill Weiber Lens: Robert A. Leflar Professor of Law, associate dean for research and faculty development, and expert on the legal recognition and treatment of stillbirth
We had a stellar turnout with over 60 attendees included community partners, researchers, physicians, and students.
Hosted by Jessie Colbert (Mass PPD Fund), She-Tara Smith (She-Tara Smith, LLC), and Elysia Larson (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)
Doulas, OB-GYNs, researchers, and community advocates took part in our coffee chat on perinatal mental health in fall 2023. The group shared personal stories and anecdotes in dealing with perinatal mental health and discussed what supports doulas may need to address perinatal mental health with their clients. Elysia Larson shared progress and received feedback on her intervention, DoulaLink, designed to connect doulas to resources. Later, She-Tara Smith and Jessie Colbert led the group in brainstorming talking points for an upcoming maternal health listening session held by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Major themes included rethinking the scope of practice for doulas, the doula network of support, supporting comprehensive and ongoing training, creating a coordinated approach to mental health, and more.
In spring 2023, 18 community members and researchers attended our kickoff gathering which focused on maternal health. Through icebreakers and ideation activities like brainstorming and prioritization, attendees identified major themes for future research, including power dynamics in healthcare, data sharing with patients and community, centering patient voice, patient/provider education, and healthcare structure and access.
Past Newsletters
Contact Kamini Mallick at kmallick@hsph.harvard.edu if you would like to be added to the mailing list or would like to submit an entry for our newsletter. You are welcome to share information about a relevant program, your organization, recent wins/publications, policy changes, and more.