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The National Academies Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society, with support from the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education, will host a five-part webinar series focused on opportunities to improve maternal health. The webinars will explore social determinants of health that negatively affect maternal health outcomes. Expert speakers, including health care providers, researchers, and academicians, will share data and lived experiences of pregnant women from communities that have been marginalized.

This event is the first of five public webinars organized by the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine with support from the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. Topic areas for discussing maternal health disparities are framed by the social determinants of health, in areas such as mental health, the work of doulas, implicit bias, community-based organizations and models, active-duty service women, and trust in health care.

The first webinar in the series will be held on Friday, May 3 at 12:00pmET. Speakers and panelists will explore the mental health needs of pregnant women and mothers in underserved communities and the work of birthing doulas to connect them to formal mental health services.