Dr. Bentley-Edwards and Dr. McMillian-Bohler on "Critical Term: Why are Black mothers and babies dying?"
The latest WRAL Documentary, Critical Term: Why are Black Mothers and Babies Dying, shines a light on the maternal and infant health crisis and what local programs are working to lower this rate.
WRAL Investigative Documentary reporter and producers set out to understand why this is happening in the Black community. Their investigation uncovered startling instances of systemic racism leading to misconceptions about Black women and myths about their pain tolerance still taught to healthcare providers in the modern era.
Dr. Keisha Bentley Edwards (Associate Professor of Medicine, Faculty in the Cook Center) is a developmental psychologist who uses a cultural lens to understand social, emotional and academic outcomes. Her work specifically examines how race, culture and racism stress influence how the world responds to Black Americans and how this influences health and social disparities.
Dr. McMillian-Bohler is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Duke University School of Nursing, she teaches Health Promotion and Perinatal Nursing in the pre-professional and Master’s Degree programs. She also leads an initiative to improve birth outcomes for Black women by increasing their access to trained Black doulas, which has received the C. Felix Harvey Award to Advance Institutional Priorities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Watch the documentary at the WRAL website: