BPL's 2022 MLK Memorial Lecture to Discuss black Maternal Health

Birmingham, Ala. - Join us virtually on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, as the Birmingham Public Library presents its 19th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture.

This year's topic, airing virtually from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.,  will be "A Discussion of Black Maternal Health in the Southeast." The event will be on Zoom. You can find a link to register on the BPL calendar. 

The speaker is Dr. Teneasha Washington of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health.  Washington joins us to discuss Black Maternal Health in general, with some specific data on the Southeast. She will examine the roots of the problem, how it manifests today, and how to fix the system.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality healthcare, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias. Social determinants of health have historically prevented many people from racial and ethnic minority groups from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health.” 

Dr. Teneasha Washington of UAB, 2022 MLK Memorial Lecture speaker.

Dr. Washington is  Community Engagement Lead, National Center on Health Physical Activity and Disability, and Lakeshore Foundation Assistant Professor at UAB's Department of Health Behavior. Her  current research focuses on serving as the lead of community engagement efforts for the Mindfulness, Exercise, Nutrition, to Optimize Resilience (MENTOR) program developed in collaboration with the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability, Lakeshore Foundation, and UAB.

 In this role, Dr. Washington develops micro-funding announcement opportunities for local communities. The focus of the microgrants is to provide funds so communities can implement programs relevant to their needs. In addition, she develops and provides in-person and online trainings focused on community engagement, program implementation, and building sustainable partnerships among communities, non-profits, and academia for awardees with the long-term goal of providing a public platform for communities to access training, funding, and other necessary resources for sustainability. 

Dr. Washington is also a QM-certified professor teaching undergraduate and graduate students in the UAB School of Public Health on community organizing, social and behavioral sciences, intervention development, and research methods. Dr. Washington holds several degrees from UAB - BS, Biology; MPH, Public Health; PhD, Health Education/Health Promotion, Public Health. She is presently an MBA student, expected to graduate in the summer of 2022.

Remember join us for this powerful discussion on Tuesday, January 18, at 6:00 p.m., a day after the City of Birmingham and nation pauses to observe the 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday.