January 2025 General Meeting – Maternal and Infant Health Disparities

Addressing Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes

Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 9:30 am
Lafayette Library and Learning Center
3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Lafayette

The DAW branch is joining with the Orinda Moraga Lafayette branch for this combined member meeting. We will have a fascinating panel of three speakers who are very involved in the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) and Contra Costa Health’s Perinatal Equity Initiative (PEI). They will share their research findings and real-world solutions to reduce the racial disparities in maternal and infant health that occur regardless of income level. In addition to reviewing the impact of these programs, they will identify ways we can support their efforts locally and statewide.

You don’t want to miss this event!

Click here to RSVP

The program is free and open to all AAUW members and the general public.
Doors open at 9:30 am. The event will run from 10:00 – 11:30 am.


About our speakers –

Natalie Berbick, MSW (she/her), is an experienced advocate for health equity and social justice in the maternal and child health arena. She is Family, Maternal, and Child Health Director at Contra Costa Health. As a graduate of UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan School of Social Work, her calling has been to support the health and safety of children and families throughout her twenty-year career by addressing health disparities and disenfranchised populations through prevention and intervention services. She launched and led the Contra Costa Perinatal Equity Initiative in 2018.

Adiam Mengis, MPH, LLB, (she/her), is both a Public Health Program Specialist for the Perinatal Equity Initiative and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome & Comprehensive Perinatal Services Coordinator at Contra Costa Health. Her broad public health background includes having worked in Seattle as Educator Consultant with the King County Department of Public Health, and as HIV/AIDS Outreach and Early Intervention Services Manager with the Center for Multicultural Health. She holds an MPH from Touro University California and an LLB from the University of Asmara, Eritrea.

Christina M. Oldini, RN, MBA, CPHQ (she/her), is Associate Director with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC), and a proud nurse with extensive direct patient care nursing experience. Ms. Oldini has led initiatives focused on substance abuse and exposure for pregnant people and newborns, as well as perinatal equity. She holds MBA and BSN degrees from the University of San Francisco.


To learn more about the Perinatal Equity Initiative in Contra Costa, click here.

To learn more about the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, click here.


Policy for Attending Branch Functions

If you are feeling ill in any way or have been in close contact with someone known to have COVID or any other significant communicable disease, please do not attend any meeting!

We encourage you to be considerate of everyone attending a function, some of whom might be more susceptible than others. COVID exposure remains a serious issue. If you have any doubts, test, wear a mask, and err on the side of caution.

While there are inherent risks in attending any in-person event, with your help we will do our best to keep everyone safe at our meetings.