2020 Mom Maternal Mental Health 2022 FORUM
Building the Maternal Mental Health Constellation
Closing Racial Disparity Gaps Through Policy Solutions Panel
Moderated by U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL)
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District and was sworn into the 116th U.S. Congress on January 3, 2019. Congresswoman Underwood is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress. She is also the youngest African American woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives.
Congresswoman Underwood serves on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the House Committee on Appropriations. Congresswoman Underwood co-founded and co-chairs the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which elevates the Black maternal health crisis within Congress and advances policy solutions to improve maternal health outcomes and end disparities. She also serves on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Rep. Underwood is a member of the Future Forum, a group of young Democratic Members of Congress committed to listening to and standing up for the next generation of Americans, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the LGBT Equality Caucus. As a strong supporter of addressing the gun violence epidemic, Congresswoman Underwood is a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
Prior to her election to Congress, Congresswoman Underwood worked with a Medicaid plan in Chicago to ensure that it provided high-quality, cost-efficient care. She served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), helping communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats, and public health emergencies. As a career public servant at HHS, she helped implement the Affordable Care Act — broadening access for those on Medicare, improving health care quality, and reforming private insurance. Congresswoman Underwood also taught future nurse practitioners through Georgetown University’s online master’s program. Congresswoman Underwood is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University. She graduated from Neuqua Valley High School and is a lifelong Girl Scout. She resides in Naperville, Illinois.
Anna Benyo, MPP, Senior Program Officer, Center for Health Care Strategies
Anna Benyo, MPP, is a senior program officer at CHCS. In this role, she leads a project to develop five case studies examining states that are at different stages of implementing Medicaid coverage of doula care. Ms. Benyo co-leads the New Jersey Medicaid Transformation: Supporting Policy, Program, and Leadership and Capacity Building Priorities project that is documenting state Medicaid policy changes to provide doula benefits in New Jersey Medicaid, NJ FamilyCare. Ms. Benyo works to advance the use of community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) by authoring resources on how managed care plans can support the increased use of CHW/Ps as part of a vital workforce in California. Ms. Benyo also manages the Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda initiative. This initiative will develop and disseminate a research agenda to improve care for people with complex health and social needs. Prior to joining CHCS, Ms. Benyo served as a senior policy analyst at the National Women’s Law Center. In this capacity, she worked on federal and state implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Ms. Benyo holds a master’s degree in health policy and social justice from New York University. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and legal studies from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Amy Chen, Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program
Amy Chen is a Senior Attorney in the National Health Law Program’s Los Angeles office, where she conducts research, advocacy, and education on reproductive and sexual health access and services. Her California-specific work includes insurance coverage for contraception and pregnancy, expanding access to family planning and abortion services, and opposing health care refusals. Her national work includes leading the National Health Law Program’s efforts around improving maternal health and addressing systemic barriers to comprehensive pregnancy care. She also leads the National Health Law Program’s Doula Medicaid Project, which advocates for expanding access to full spectrum doula care for all pregnant and postpartum people.
Before joining the National Health Law Program, Amy worked at Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, California, where she provided direct legal services to individuals and families across the San Francisco Bay Area, and advocated on a wide range of issues including health care reform, Medi-Cal, Covered California, and private health insurance.
Amy has three children and had doulas for all three of her births. One of her children was born premature and spent his first weeks of life in the NICU.
Theresa Fortune, Public speaker, Community Activist and Producer, and Founder of Communion with the Community
Theresa Fortune is an established public speaker, actress, screenwriter, director, executive producer and founder of Communion with the Community, which was established in 2017. The focal point of her work is art and creative expression and boldly sharing her personal experiences with economic challenges, social injustices, and postpartum depression.
As a creative-community service leader, Fortune orchestrates events that inspire dialogue around mental health and artistic expression in the Black community. Fortune’s work in drama theater, storytelling, and visual art exist to provide a container for dialogue around many of the issues affecting black families and individuals in our increasingly disconnected society.
Her devotion to contributing to the community inspired her to build and facilitate a year-round mentorship program for underprivileged children in Oakland. In this program, youth are introduced to the arts and encouraged to explore their creative identity. Theresa Fortune was born and raised in Oakland and is a mother to a 9-year-old daughter.
Ivette Fullerton, MSW, PMH-C, Co-Founder & Grants Manager, Cihuapactli Collective
Ivette is a first-generation Mexican-American daughter, sister, wife, friend, and mother. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Health Policy & Administration and Masters' degree in Clinical Social Work with an emphasis on children, youth, and families from Arizona State University. Ivette is certified as Perinatal Mental Health Professional. She is a Co-Founder and serves as the Director of Grants & Contracts for the Cihuapactli Collective, a grassroots organization that is rooted in Traditional Knowledge & dedicated to inclusively empowering families from marginalized communities through cultural revitalization & education, food justice & land restoration, birth equity & reproductive justice, advocacy & consultations. Ivette also sits on the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Maternal Mental Health Task Force and Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
Kay Matthews, LCHW, Founder, Shades of Blue Project
Kay Matthews is a Successful Business Woman, Motivator, Advocate and Mental Health & Wellness Advisor. Kay Matthews lives in Houston Texas and is the Founder of BabyCakes & Brunch and Shades of Blue Project which was started after delivering her daughter stillborn and experiencing maternal mental health issues. She has been a local community advocate in Houston for over 20 years and her organization BabyCakes & Brunch has been recognized by the Mayor and was given their own day in the City. As a very active community advocate Kay feels that helping others to reach their own goals is the best benefit of helping those she encounters. Kay is now actively teaching and speaking to women of all ages to help them better understand how important it is to help themselves before, during and after childbirth. Helping them to realize that they are able to continue to live their dreams and still make life great against all odds. To Kay this is the most important aspect of the work she does within the communities and it's the motivation that she uses to continue to educate communities worldwide.
Emily S. Miller, MD, MPH, Chief of Obstetrics Program Director, COMPASS Perinatal Mental Health Program and Assistant Professor Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Northwestern University
Dr. Miller's professional training is as an obstetrician and maternal-fetal medicine physician. She has an expertise in obstetric and perinatal outcomes related to perinatal mental health disorders and has dedicated her career to optimizing the treatment of perinatal depression. Collaborating with mental health experts, she contributed to a chapter on mental health in one of the preeminent obstetric textbooks, Gabbe's. She serves on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist’s (ACOG’s) “Maternal Mental Health Expert Work Group” and developed a consensus statement to guide care provision for perinatal depression and anxiety. She has received the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine’s Health Policy Award to examine gaps in healthcare services related to perinatal mental health. Finally, in recognizing health services gaps in perinatal mental health care, she challenged the paradigm of our current obstetric model of perinatal depression care and received a large philanthropic grant to develop and implement a collaborative care model for perinatal depression support, COMPASS, at Northwestern University.