MNCH Speaker Series: Maternal/Infant Health Symposium

About the MNCH Speaker Series:

Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health (EIGH) is committed to addressing the critical healthcare needs of pregnant and postpartum women and their children. The EIGH fosters interdisciplinary collaborations and inspires advancements to improve maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) outcomes within communities in Indiana and around the world.

The Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) Speaker Series is hosted by the Eck Institute for Global Health to bring awareness to local and global health-related issues that impact vulnerable populations.

Schedule of Events:

About the Invited Speakers:

Jack Turman Jr., PhD 

Jack Turman, Jr., Ph.D. is a Professor in the Dept. of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. He is the founder and director of the Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative for Indiana. This initiative, in just five years, has brought about significant systems changes to help our state’s most marginalized MCH populations. Jack has dedicated his 30 years in academia to growing education, research and outreach programs that optimize MCH outcomes. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, he earned his PhD from UCLA and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He was a professor for 15 years at the University of Southern California where he ran the perinatal neuroscience lab and a created an interdisciplinary center for preterm infants, their families, and communities. Jack then moved to Nebraska to become a professor and program director at the University of Nebraska Medical Center wherein he created programming to address racial disparities in birth outcomes in partnership with Omaha’s African American Community. He moved to Indiana in 2013 to become the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Indiana State University, where he worked to grow programming to serve low-income moms and families in the Wabash Valley. He came to IU in 2017 and has grown his work across Indiana, the USA and world to develop MCH programs focused on systems change to bring equity to traditionally marginalized women and children. He was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and worked in Morocco to build the nation’s first Masters of Public Health program. Jack’s international work has supported MCH efforts in Egypt, Venezuela, and Honduras. Jack was recently honored by the American Public Health Association by being named as a 2022 Thought Leader because of his work growing grassroots efforts to bring equity to maternal and child health in our nation.

Carlos Bolden, MD, FACOG

Carlos R. Bolden, MD, is chairman of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Memorial Hospital South Bend. He also works as an inpatient obstetric hospitalist with Pediatrix Services, Inc., at Memorial, providing comprehensive obstetric care to women with high-risk pregnancies from Michiana and surrounding areas. After years of office-based practice in obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Bolden transitioned to an inpatient-only practice in 2017.

He received his undergraduate degree with high honors in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Bolden completed his residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he received specialized training in high-risk obstetrics and in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. He is board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In addition to his inpatient practice, Dr. Bolden serves as a teaching/supervisory physician with the Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, Beacon Medical Group Midwifery Centered Care and prenatal services at HealthLinc Clinic South Bend. He is the past Vice Chairman of the OB/GYN department at Memorial Hospital South Bend and serves on several hospital committees and community boards. He is also a small business owner in Michiana.

He is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a member of the Indiana State Medical Association and Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists. He is committed to highlighting and working to systematically address the readily apparent yet oft-overlooked racial disparities in the American healthcare system.

Kelli Brien, CD(DONNA) LCCE, CLS, SpBCPE CPE

Kelli Brien, CD(DONA) LCCE, CLS, SpBCPE, CPE is a certified birth doula, childbirth educator, lactation specialist and perinatal educator. She created the Speak Life Doula program and co-authored the Safety PIN grant submission that garnered multiple awards from the Indiana State Department of Health. Kelli founded In Full Bloom Maternity Service LLC and Mahogany Maternity, a 501(c)(3), has served in hospitals, home births and birth centers, for over 15 years, established the 32nd Milk Bank Depot in Indiana and serves on the board of The Milk Bank.

Originally published at globalhealth.nd.edu.