Future of Maternal Care Summit

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, five-time author, international speaker and strategist for maternal and infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is a leading voice on birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood at the intersection of race, class, and policy. She is the executive director of Narrative Nation, the only Black woman-led non-profit that creates narrative-centered multi-media platforms and technology products to address racial disparities in maternal and infant health. She is the creator and founder of Irth, (as in Birth but without the B for bias), the first-of-its-kind “Yelp-like” review and rating app for Black and brown women and birthing people to leave and find reviews of Ob/GYNs, hospitals, and pediatricians as a digital tool to address bias and racism in care and to drive transparency and accountability in the medical system. Irth was a winner in the 2020 MIT Solve Global Challenge in the Anti-Racist Technology category and a recent recipient of the Goldman Sachs Impact Grant for Black Women. With funding from the California Health Care Foundation, Narrative Nation also launched
Birthright— a podcast about joy and healing in Black birth to counter the doom and gloom mainstream narrative in Black maternal health. Kimberly’s fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2017. Her next book, Birthing in Colour—A Black Woman’s Guide to Birth & Breastfeeding, will be published in the UK by Pinter & Martin in Spring 2023.

A frequent contributor to The New York Times and Washington Post, HuffPost, Slate and others, her online commentaries received over 10 million page views last year. Kimberly was named one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” by Women’s eNews for her media advocacy work in maternal and infant health. As a consultant, Kimberly creates narrative strategies for non-profit organizations and for-profit brands that serve mothers and babies, with an expertise in engaging communities of color.

For nearly a decade, Kimberly has created and directed innovative community-partnered projects in New Orleans, Birmingham, Detroit and Philadelphia, among other cities, working to improve birth, breastfeeding, and maternal health outcomes. She is the creator and co-founder of Black Breastfeeding Week and recently served as editorial director of the Maternal and Child Health Communication Collective, a national consortium of over 80 organizations, working to shift the narrative of maternal and infant health, funded by the W.K.Kellogg Foundation.

Kimberly is also the author of The Mocha Manual series of books, published by HarperCollins (2006-2009) and founded an award-winning pregnancy and parenting destination for Black parents in 2007. Her first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy was nominated for a NAACP Image Award and turned into a DVD sold at Walmart. The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit and The Mocha Manual to Military Life round out the top selling series.

Kimberly has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Cheddar TV, Anderson Cooper, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Fox News and has been featured in various international and national media outlets, including the British Medical Journal, The Guardian (U.K.), Essence, Pregnancy and in various online media.

Kimberly is a graduate of NYU and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A divorced mother of two, she lives in Queens, NY. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @iamKSealsAllers. Follow @theIrthApp on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG, is Chief Medical Officer of Maven Clinic, the largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. He is a globally recognized expert in designing solutions that improve health care, and is listed among the “40 smartest people in health care” by the Becker’s Hospital Review. His work to build equitable, trustworthy systems of care has been profiled by the New York Times, Good Morning America, and other outlets, and is featured in the Oprah-produced documentary Color of Care, and Aftershock, which premiered on Hulu in July 2022.

Dr. Shah has written more than 50 peer-reviewed academic papers and contributed to four books, including as senior author of Understanding Value-Based Healthcare (McGraw-Hill), which Don Berwick has called “an instant classic” and Atul Gawande called “a masterful primer for all clinicians.” Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, Dr. Shah founded Costs of Care, an NGO that curates insights from clinicians and patients to help delivery systems provide better care. In 2017, he co-founded the March for Moms Association, a coalition of more than 20 leading organizations, to increase public and private investment in the wellbeing of mothers. Dr. Shah serves on the advisory board of the National Institutes of Health, Office of Women’s Health Research.

Crystal Adesanya is the CEO & Founder of Kiira Health Inc. and Kiira Student Health, the first of its kind, technology-enabled healthcare company for Colleges and Universities, including nationwide telemedicine, in-person, and mobile clinics. Crystal is from Nigeria, she came to the United States to study at the University of Houston and quickly became passionate about women’s health following a personal, negative health care experience. She started Kiira Health to address women’s health inequities. Kiira’s investors include 500 Global, Bumble, Backstage Capital, Serena Ventures, and other notable investors. Crystal is a 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, was named entrepreneur magazine’s 100 most powerful women in 2020, and has been featured in publications such as Forbes, TechCrunch, Med City News, and more. Crystal is also the Founder of FemHealthTech, a yearly healthcare conference centered around women’s health innovation and technology. The conference highlights the importance of innovation in women’s health and the amazing founders behind these innovations.

Dr. Diana Derige is the Director of Health Equity Strategy & Development at the American Medical Association’s Center for Health Equity. In this role she provides strategic direction for the Center for Health Equity through alliances and programming. The role of the Center for Health Equity is to embed health equity across the AMA so that health equity becomes part of the practice, process, action, innovation, and organizational performance and outcomes. Over the past twenty years, Diana has designed and managed several private philanthropic, government, and non-profit programs.  She has supported local and national investments by serving as a convener, collaborator and catalyst, responsible for nurturing opportunities for affecting positive systemic change in communities. Throughout her career, she has concentrated on promoting public health and social equity for marginalized communities. Dr. Derige is currently adjunct faculty and the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, and has held positions as co-director of the Center for Latina Maternal and Family Health Research at the University of Houston, program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust and National Director of MCH Initiatives at Urban Strategies. Dr.Derige holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and women’s studies and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan and a Doctor of Public Health from the University of North Carolina. She also holds a certificate in executive education from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and completed a leadership development program through the Center for Creative Leadership-Europe in Brussels, Belgium.

Christine Henningsgaard is the CEO and co-founder of Quilted Health, an organization that exists to build and champion a model for equitable access to compassionate, human-centered, whole-person pregnancy care. Prior to Quilted, Christine was at Amazon, where she was responsible for identifying, developing, and launching new healthcare products and businesses.

Christine spent 15 years as a senior executive in healthcare organizations ranging from small startups to large public companies. She was Chief Operating Officer at Hometeam, which provided home-based caregiving support to older adults, and was Head of Operations at One Medical Group, a consumer-focused primary care organization. In the early part of her career, Christine held increasingly senior roles focused in revenue cycle operations, gaining a deep understanding of the payer-provider dynamics in healthcare, working predominantly with non-profit and academic health systems across risk assessment, organizational design, and technology.

Christine earned a Bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Seattle with her husband and two young boys. They all stay active and are constantly on an adventure, near or far, to find new spots with crabs, skate parks, beaches, and fresh snow.

Dr. Amanda P. Williams, MD, MPH, FACOG is the Medical Director at Mahmee, a maternal healthcare company dedicated to improving health equity and empowering all families with wraparound care during the pregnancy and postpartum period. In this role, she oversees the company’s clinical programming to better support mothers and birthing people, while fostering institutional partnerships with academic medical centers, health systems, and payors.

Dr. Williams also acts as the Clinical Innovation Advisor to the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative and serves as an adjunct faculty in the OBGYN Department at Stanford University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Mahmee, Dr. Williams worked at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center where she served as Director of Maternity Services. Additionally, she oversaw the maternity continuum for the Chiefs of OBGYN across Kaiser’s 15 medical centers in Northern California. She has also served on several state and national committees, such as the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review committee and the National Quality Forum Maternal Morbidity and Mortality work group.

Dr. Williams is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA where she majored in American Medical History and Biochemistry. She completed her medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA where she also received a master’s degree in public health, focusing on health policy and management. She completed her graduate medical training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of California, San Francisco.

Eric Dy, PhD is co-founder and CEO of Bloomlife, a women’s health company designing remote prenatal care solutions to improve the health of women and babies. Eric brings a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges in emerging healthcare technologies informed by multidisciplinary technical expertise leading business development for Europe’s leading R&D institute, IMEC. Since its founding, Bloomlife has been recognized for its revolutionary vision and potential to impact lives globally, most recently receiving innovation awards and grants from Johnson & Johnson, Fast Company World Changing Ideas, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, CTIA, National Science Foundation, and the European Commission. Eric earned his BSc in Bioengineering from Cornell and his MSc and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA.

Angela Glyder, RN, serves as Lucina’s Vice President of Clinical Operations. She is responsible for providing clinical guidance and oversight to assist with the ongoing identification and management of antepartum conditions that impact maternal and infant outcomes. Angela has more than 30 years of clinical experience specializing in maternal infant care, case management and health plan operations. Prior to Lucina, Angela served as the Vice President of Population Health Clinical Operations for a national managed care organization.

Elle Schnetzler is the Chief Clinical Officer of Quilted Health. This organization exists to build and champion a model for equitable access to compassionate, human-centered, whole-person midwifery care. Elle is an American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB) Certified Midwife and American College of Nurse-Midwives Fellow committed to reducing racial and ethnic healthcare disparities among women. Elle spent over 20 years in the United States Army where she was responsible for leading teams, projects, and programs with national-level impacts. She is a board member of AMCB as the Credentials, Administration & Reporting (CAR) Committee Chair and Adjunct Professor at Thomas Jefferson Midwifery Institute. Elle is also the Founder of Midwifery In Color, a foundation for the preservation and perpetuity of the legacy of midwives of color and the midwifery profession. Elle attended Howard University and Fayetteville State University for her undergraduate degree. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Fayetteville State in 2000. She continued her education earning a Master of Science Degree in Midwifery from Philadelphia University in 2014 and made history alongside 8 fellow midwives as one of the first graduates to earn a Doctor of Midwifery in the United States in 2019. Her doctoral work was focused on developing pipeline programs and initiatives from undergraduate programs at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to graduate midwifery programs, thereby growing the profession and increasing the number of midwives of color. Elle and her husband live in Northern Virginia and are the parents of 8 wonderful children.

Dr. Carlson was named associate executive director for The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) in 2022.  In this role, she is accountable for ambulatory, in-patient, and subspecialties in pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology (ob-gyn), as well as for TPMG’s Family Violence and Prevention, Early Start, and ACEs/trauma informed care programs.

 Throughout her career with TPMG, Dr. Carlson has held numerous leadership positions at the medical center and regional levels. From 2007 to 2019, she served as department chief for KP Redwood City Ob-Gyn, and was actively involved in the transition to Kaiser Permanente’s electronic medical record in both the outpatient and inpatient settings, the establishment of the first KP Redwood City satellite office in San Mateo, and in the opening of the new Redwood City hospital in 2014.

She was promoted to a regional role as chair of Ob-Gyn in 2017, and under her leadership ob-gyn continued to deliver nation-leading care for cervical cancer screening, minimally invasive surgery, and low-risk cesarean delivery.  In 2019, Dr. Carlson also took on a regional director role overseeing women’s health, which made several advancements in health equity, including the reduction of disparities in maternal anemia and hypertensive disease, which are the greatest drivers of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy.

Along with her work in Northern California, Dr. Carlson has held national leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente, serving as co-chair of the inter-regional ob-gyn chiefs’ group and as the clinical lead for both the Digital Experience and the KP Connected Care, a new hybrid virtual prenatal care program. She also continues to practice clinical medicine in Redwood City, in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

Dr. Carlson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received her medical degree from the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Kaiser Foundation Hospital Santa Clara and joined TPMG in 2003.

Marna Armstead, Doula; Co-founder and Executive Director of SisterWeb Doula Collective, a San Francisco-based organization and Heluna Health partner program that focuses on providing doulas of color to low-income and marginalized women of color at no charge to the families to advance birth equity for Black and Pacific Islander pregnant people. Ms. Armstead is responsible for SisterWeb’s swift programmatic and fiscal expansions utilizing her more than twenty years of experience as an entrepreneur and business developer. She also provides private doula consultations to women and families nationwide through Marna Mama Doula, and she spends a lot of quality time with her amazing, college-aged daughter who is the inspiration behind her passion for community-based doula care. Ms. Armstead studied English Literature at Clark Atlanta University, graphic design at the Academy of Art University, and full spectrum doula support at the International Center for Traditional Childbearing. She recently served on the Project Leadership team with researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco on a PCORI® Engagement Award designed to facilitate equitable and ethical research on community doula care in California.

Leah Sparks, CEO & Founder of Wildflower Health, has more than two decades of experience building innovative healthcare businesses in both venture-backed companies and Fortune 50 corporations.  Leah founded Wildflower in 2012 while starting a family of her own and seeing firsthand the gaps in healthcare for consumers.

Prior to Wildflower, Leah led business development for a personalized medicine startup that was acquired by Medco a few years after she joined the company.  She began her career in healthcare at McKesson Corporation in corporate development, where she focused on strategy and M&A.  During her tenure at McKesson, she held a variety of leadership roles including spearheading the company’s entry into the oncology market.

Leah has been featured as a speaker at leading events including the National Quality Forum, Health 2.0, SXSW and the Rock Health Summit.

Dr. Nwando Anyaoku, Chief Health Equity Officer, Providence/ Swedish. Dr. Anyaoku is a healthcare executive, strategic advisor, and entrepreneurial physician with extensive experience on community health boards. She has focused on health and gender equity, healthcare innovation, population health, pediatric care, and global health throughout her career. Appointed Chief Health Equity Officer with Seattle-based Swedish Health Services in March 2021, Dr. Anyaoku is also the co-lead of Swedish’s Office of Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, which drives initiatives to dismantle systemic racism, reduce barriers to healthcare access, and improve health equity. She has held several positions at Swedish since joining the organization in 2016, including Executive Medical Director of Pediatrics and Executive Medical Director of Medicaid Strategy for Population Health. In 2021, she organized Seattle’s first COVID-19 Community Mobile Vaccination program serving people of color and vulnerable populations. Earlier in her career, Dr. Anyaoku served as System Medical Director of Pediatric Medicine at CHI Health in Omaha, Nebraska, and Division Chief of General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. She earned Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, an MPH at Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA at the University of Washington. Dr. Anyaoku serves on the Heluna Health Board of Directors.

Dr. Genen is an experienced physician executive who has spent her career focused on improving the lives
of women and children. Having worked as a clinician and engaged with health plans across the nation, Dr. Genen brings the lens of medical science, statistical analysis, health plan medical policy, billing/claims, and population health thus seeing the larger picture of health care’s complex system. She has insight into the digital health space of FemTech, vetting out companies for investment opportunities by venture
capital, private equity and health plan innovation centers.

In her current role as Chief Medical Officer at ProgenyHealth, she oversees clinical operations and is responsible for the advancement of products supporting women and children. She designed, launched, and scaled the Maternity Care Management program to complement ProgenyHealth’s other offerings in the NICU space. In addition to her clinical thought leadership, Dr. Genen is pivotal in the sale cycle, analyzing pre-sales data and presenting to various senior executive leaders at Health Plans across the country.
As Senior Vice President/Chief Medical Officer for UnitedHealth Group Research and Development, she
advanced innovations in healthcare in women’s health. Understanding the need to reach more women, she created and scaled a Virtual Centering Pregnancy program that was rolled out to all 23 Medicaid States of United Healthcare. Preceding her move to R&D, she was the Chief Medical Officer for Women’s Health at Optum servicing Fertility, Maternity and Neonatal programs and had responsibility for a P&L of
$35M. She shaped the operations of these programs by directing clinical and product teams, enhancing reporting, advising analytics, and supporting sales. She is known for her pioneering approach in designing
population health programs for both Commercial and Medicaid markets and received the Innovation Award in 2019 from UnitedHealth Group.
Linda currently serves as a Board Member for Hera Women’s Health, a Maternal Fetal Medicine practice backed by private equity and consults on various healthcare enterprises. She is zealously interested in
technology and machine learning applications that will help ensure timely care and improve outcomes.
In addition to her full-time role and board service, she is a Distinguished Mentor at Stanford Medical School
in the Master of Science in Clinical Informatics Management (MCiM) program.

Dr. Genen is affiliated as a neonatologist at Northwell Cohen Children’s Hospital and is an Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics at Hofstra University Medical School. She participates in clinical research and serves
on the inaugural committee of American Academy of Pediatrics Women in Neonatology promoting female leadership in the realm of Neonatology. Dr. Genen earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry graduating with honors from Wellesley College. She received her Doctor of Medicine from the SUNY – Downstate. She completed her pediatric residency at Columbia Presbyterian Babies and Children’s
Hospital and her neonatology fellowship at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. During her fellowship, she
earned a master’s degree in public health at Yale School of Public Health.

When it comes time to relax, Linda cherishes time with her husband and two sons. She enjoys digital
photography, hiking, planning fun family adventures and checking out the newest restaurants when not
creating in the kitchen.

Jessica Karr is a Founding General Partner of Coyote Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund investing in women’s health and wellness. Jessica worked for 6+ years designing and launching the Impossible burger as the 12th employee, has worked with international startups on product strategy and helped launched impact-focused funds.

Alice has been a women’s health enthusiast throughout her career spanning global health, clinical medicine, and the private sector. She is currently a Principal at RH Capital, a women’s health-focused venture capital and impact fund, leading investments in innovative women’s health companies across the life sciences, digital health and consumer health. Alice was previously a women’s health practice leader and management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she served biopharma, diagnostics, global public health and private equity clients across R&D and commercial strategy topics.

Earlier in her career, Alice’s passion to improve lives for the underserved led her to work in East Africa and Asia in reproductive health and family planning. As a clinician, she focused on women’s health globally and published articles examining healthcare in low-income countries.

Alice holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MD and MPH from the University of Michigan, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar. Alice is a frequent speaker on FemTech and women’s health innovation and holds advising and mentoring roles with multiple women’s health accelerators and forums including Springboard Enterprises, Tech4Eva, FemTech Lab and the Women’s Health Innovation Summit series.

Layo George is a nurse, healthcare administrator and an entrepreneur focusing on maternal
health, equity and social determinants of health. Layo is the founder and CEO of Wolomi, a
maternal health startup that supports a companion app that provides resources and guidance to
improve the experiences and outcomes for women of color during their perinatal periods. She
leads a team of culturally competent multidisciplinary subject matter experts to address the
maternal health crisis. She has led the creation of groundbreaking products for Health IT,
Marketing and Health Information Exchange companies. Before founding Wolomi, as a quality
improvement specialist at the District of Columbia Primary Care Association, Layo led 15
healthcare centers through value-based practice transformation and oral health primary care
integration. She also served on the District of Columbia Board of Nursing for over 3 years.
She currently serves on the Board of Unity Healthcare, the largest federally qualified health
center in the District of Columbia. Layo can be found supporting mothers on social media
@wolomiapp.

Emily Zhen is a senior associate on the healthcare investing team at NEA. She invests in digital health and life sciences companies across the venture and growth stages. She’s particularly passionate about women’s health and health equity and spends a lot of time meeting with companies in both spaces. Emily is a Board Observer for Slope, Spiras Health, and Senti Bio, and works closely with Vori Health, Curana Health, Strive Health, Waymark, and ChromaCode. Prior to joining NEA, Emily worked in healthcare investment banking at Goldman Sachs in New York City. She has also previously worked at the U.S. Department of Treasury, PwC, and early-stage digital health startups Healthie and NeuroFlow. Emily graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management, where she earned a B.S. in Finance from Wharton, a B.A. in Biology, and a certificate in healthcare policy as a Public Policy Research Scholar

Crystal Pirtle Tyler PhD, MPH brings over 15 years of experience advancing reproductive and maternal health equity.  As the Chief Health Officer at Rhia Ventures, she translates the needs of the women and birthing people most affected by systemic inequity into programming that fosters equitable reproductive health products and services.  Most recently, Crystal served as the Executive Director of Ci3 at the University of Chicago, a research center addressing the social and structural determinants of adolescent reproductive health and well-being through design, storytelling, play, and policy change. 

Crystal began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta first as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer then as an Epidemiologist within the Division of Reproductive Health. There, she served as a subject matter expert on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and translating research to public health and clinical practice. From CDC, Crystal became the Director of the Michigan Public Health Institute’s Center for Child and Family Health, where she implemented systems level improvements to promote equity in the quality and availability of public health programs.  She also served as a Senior Research Leader at IBM Watson Health, where she supported state implementation of Medicaid policy changes to advance maternal and child health outcomes.

Crystal is a trained facilitator and strategic planner who serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Family Planning. She has published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Journal of Adolescent Health, Contraception, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, among others. Crystal completed both her Ph.D. and MPH in Epidemiology at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, respectively, and her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies at Spelman College. 

Liz Miracle, PT, MPT, WCS is the Head of Clinical Quality and Education at Origin, the leading provider of physical therapy for maternity, menopause and sexual health, with deep expertise in the pelvic floor and full body. Origin’s unique model of care is clinically proven to have life changing results and has helped thousands build strength and avoid countless unnecessary surgeries.

Liz is a Texas native and graduate of Texas Woman’s University School of Physical Therapy.  She began practicing pelvic floor physical therapy in 2006 and has since received her Clinical Specialization in Women’s Health from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Liz was honored to both teach nationally for and chair the Academy of Pelvic Health’s Pelvic Certification committee. She has served as an Assistant Clinical Professor for the University of California San Francisco’s Graduate Program in Physical Therapy since 2010 and collaborated on the creation of the first smart pelvic floor exerciser, kGoal.

After running her own practice for a decade, she was excited to join Origin Physical Therapy where she works to implement the highest standards of evidence based care and help train the next generation of pelvic floor therapists.

Melanie Silverman is the Chief Clinical Officer at health technology company Pacify, which provides new parents 24/7 access to healthcare experts from their smartphones. Melanie is a pediatric registered dietitian and a board-certified lactation consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the hospital and private practice setting. She has committed her career to helping new parents access on-demand healthcare services to improve health outcomes and has built Pacify’s clinical networks from the ground up since its start in 2014.

Kay Matthews is a Licensed Community Health Worker, Motivator, Advocate and Mental Health & Wellness Advisor. Kay lives in Houston Texas and is the Founder of The Shades of Blue Project which addresses cultural barriers in maternal mental health and servicing minority women experiencing maternal mental health complications. She has also received numerous awards from both her community and her peers, and sits on the Board and is Partners with several National organizations. Kay is now actively teaching and speaking to women of all ages to help them better understand how important it is to advocate for themselves before during and after childbirth.

Ijeoma Uche is a co-founder of Birth By Us and a pre-med graduate student at UC Berkeley pursuing a Master in Public Health with a focus in Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health. Prior, she spent her time at Brown University researching disparities in maternal health and is thrilled for the growth digital healthcare can bring to reproductive health.

Dr. Zea Malawa, Founder and Physician Director, Expecting Justice. Dr. Malawa is a mother, pediatrician and public health professional committed to improving health outcomes for children of color. Upon completing her undergraduate degree at Columbia University, she earned a medical doctorate from UCLA and a master’s degree in public health from UC Berkeley. Because Dr. Malawa recognizes that medical care will not close racial disparities, she has become adept at integrating political advocacy and anti-racism strategies into her practice. Currently, Dr. Malawa sees patients at San Francisco General Hospital and she works for the San Francisco Department of Public Health leading a statewide collaborative to address maternal outcome disparities through the Abundant Birth Project, the first pregnancy guaranteed income program in the US. The project has been featured in TIME magazine, CNN, and Teen Vogue.

Dr. Pooja Mittal is the Chief Health Equity Officer (CHEO) for Health Net. She leads the company in developing, implementing, facilitating, and embedding health equity strategic initiatives into Health Net’s programs, services, actions, and outcomes. Dr. Mittal joined the company in June 2016.

In addition to her role as CHEO, Dr. Mittal practices primary care at a Federally Qualified Health Center in San Mateo County and works at the National Clinicians Consultation Center at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As a family physician and recognized national expert on Perinatal HIV care, she has a unique perspective to design strategic initiatives that improve health outcomes for California’s most vulnerable populations.

Dr. Mittal has an expertise in Digital Health and is part of Health Net’s Digital Health Transformation Committee which ensures that the technology used by the company for Medicaid members is equitable. She is also part of the UCSF S.O.L.V.E. Health Tech advisory board which focuses on bridging health equity and innovation to create and adapt products that reach marginalized populations.

Dr. Mittal also dedicates her time to increase health equity through teaching the next generation of workers (Stanford Internal Medicine Residents). She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at UCSF and Stanford University School of Medicine. In addition to her clinical work, she has been published in the areas of well-childcare, group visits, preconception care, health equity and perinatal HIV.

Dr. Mittal earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Boston University and her Doctor of Medicine from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences. She completed her Faculty Development Fellowship at UCSF and is a graduate of the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) Leadership Fellowship program.

Dr. Toncé Jackson, Ed.D., MPH, RDN, CLE, Co-Founder of CinnaMoms and Senior Health Equity Manager for Heluna Health’s WIC program in Southern California. Dr. Jackson brings a unique population health perspective to her work in nutrition, lactation, and health equity. She wrote her PhD dissertation on “The Real Determinants of Health: Addressing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity through the Voices and Lived Experiences of Black Women Receiving WIC.” Dr. Jackson founded CinnaMoms, a modern breastfeeding and parenthood support brand where Black families re-imagine and re-define their vision for birth equity. She is a National WIC Association Health Equity Champion, co-lead of WIC’s Council on Racial Equity (C.O.R.E), and co-chair of Heluna Health’s Workplace Inclusion Initiative. Dr. Jackson chaired the National WIC Association Maternal Mortality in WIC Task Force. Dr. Jackson was raised in a 16-block radius of South Central LA and is a first-generation college graduate. She earned a BS and EdD from Cal State University, Los Angeles and a MPH from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and a Certified Lactation Educator. She is the recipient of the California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2021 “Excellence in Community Nutrition” Award.

Over 30+ years, Linda has invested in public and private life science companies as an institutional investor, a corporate M&A executive, a hedge fund analyst, and a private venture investor; she’s held roles at companies including Essex Investment Management, Banc of America Securities, Novartis Diagnostics, Applied Biosystems (sold to Life Technologies Corp.) as well as at venture-backed life science companies such as VitaPath Genetics, Singulex, Raindance Technologies (sold to Bio-Rad), and Linkage Biosciences (sold to Thermo Fisher). Her areas of expertise includes finance, operations, and mergers and acquisitions and, within the life sciences specifically, diagnostics, genomics, healthcare services, and life science tools. In 2019, she co-founded Avestria Ventures, which invests in early-stage women’s health and female-led life science ventures.

Olga Kokshagina is a co-founder of Ninti – employee and fertility benefits platform that provides services related to fertility and hormonal health, menopause and mental health. Olga is a women’s health advocate, she is passionate in bringing technology and design to improve care practices of women and their families. On top of managing Ninti, Olga is an Associate Professor in innovation and entrepreneurship at EDHEC Business School and Monash University. She is also a member of the French Digital Council (CNNUM). She co-authored several books, her work was published in the leading academic and practitioner outlets

Flojaune​ ​Griffin​ ​Cofer​ ​is​ ​a​n epidemiologist​ ​who​ ​serves​ ​as​ ​the​ Senior Director​ ​of Policy for Public​ ​Health​ ​Advocates. She manages a team of staff leading health equity

initiatives focused on California state policy, boys and men of color (My Brother’s Keeper), community-based 911 response (First Response Transformation), youth

trauma prevention in cities (All Children Thrive), and most recently public health

response to COVID-19 (California COVID Justice: Recovery, Response, Repair). ​Her​ ​professional​ ​interest​ ​is​ ​addressing ​emerging​ ​and​ ​persistent​ ​public​ ​health challenges through research, policy, and community engagement. Her work primarily focuses on public health prevention.

Prior​ ​to​ ​joining​ Public​ ​Health​ ​Advocates,​ ​she​ ​led​ ​the​ ​preconception​ ​health

initiative​ ​for​ ​the​ ​California​ ​Department​ ​of​ ​Public​ ​Health.​ ​Flojaune received​ ​

Bachelor’s​ ​degrees​ in​ ​Chemistry​ ​and​ ​Women’s​ ​Studies​ ​from​ ​Spelman​ ​College. Her​ ​

public​ ​health​ ​training​ ​was​ ​at​ ​the​ ​University​ ​of Michigan,​ ​School​ ​of​ ​Public​ ​Health​ ​

where​ ​she​ ​earned​ ​a​ ​Master’s​ ​in​ ​Public​ ​Health​ ​and doctorate​ ​in​ ​epidemiology.​ ​

She is an alumna of California Epidemiologic Investigation Service and the Nehemiah

Emerging Leaders Program.

Flojaune ​is​ ​deeply​ ​committed to civic engagement having served in various

capacities on local boards, committees and commissions, including the Active Transportation Commission, Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change, Sheriff’s Outreach Community Advisory Board, Board of Directors for Girl Scouts Heart of Central California. She is currently serving her fourth term as chair of the City of Sacramento Measure U Sales Tax Community Advisory Committee and is a member of the People’s Budget Sacramento. She helped to create the

Sacramento Sister Circle Voter Guide in partnership with the Sacramento chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) and co-hosts the Sacramento political podcast, Voices: River City. For her professional contributions and community participation she was awarded the Young Professional of the Year Award by the Sacramento Urban League, the Exceptional Woman of Color Award by the Sacramento Cultural Hub, the 40 Under 40 Award by the Sacramento Business Journal, and the Sacramento Black Wellness Award from the Gender Health Center.

Reema Taneja, Esq. is Senior Counsel at Nixon Gwilt Law. She draws upon a depth of experience in the healthcare industry from both a legal and policy perspective. She has experience advising digital health companies, hospitals, health systems, and pharmacies on regulatory compliance, innovative business arrangements, and leading-edge healthcare policy reforms. Her areas of expertise include digital health; telehealth; remote care management; MSO implementation; telepharmacy; veterinary telemedicine (TelePet); provider
reimbursement; fraud, waste, and abuse; and advising provider groups on growth
opportunities. Prior to joining Nixon Gwilt Law, Reema served as the Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), where she advised members on pharmacy regulation and policy, federal fraud and abuse law, pharmacy innovation and partnerships, and long-term care. Earlier in her career, Reema practiced at a healthcare law firm in Washington, D.C. where she represented hospitals and health systems. In addition, Reema spent some time as an extern with the HHS Departmental Appeals Board (DAB) where she wrote Medicare appeals decisions for DAB ALJs. Reema graduated cum laude from George Mason University and then attended American University Washington College of Law where she served as a senior member of the American University International Law Review and as Managing Editor of the Health Law & Policy Brief. She is a member of the Maryland and D.C. Bars, the American Bar Association – Health Law Section, the American Health Law Association, and the American Society for Pharmacy Law.

Sarah is a political social worker who has spent her career engaging young adults and womxn in government and politics. Sarah has started Youth Advisory Boards for 4 Congressmembers, mobilizing over 500 students. At Vote Mama PAC, she leads the political and programmatic work to support mamas running for office. This includes coordinating candidate endorsements, fundraising decisions, campaign contributions, and mentorship opportunities across different states. Previously, Sarah served as NY Chief of Staff for a member of the U.S. House, where she worked on supporting family-friendly legislation among other important initiatives. Sarah holds an MSW degree from Columbia University School of Social Work and a BA in Social work, Sociology, and Peace and Conflict Studies from Gordon College.

At Avestria Ventures, Tracy brings a unique blend of strategic and operational experience to support portfolio companies, drawing on her digital health and life science innovation experience.  She has advised global Fortune 500 companies, startups, and NGOs, working with organizations like the Novartis Digital Accelerator Lab and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Tracy’s corporate experience spans innovation pipeline development, strategy, and operations.  At Novartis Diagnostics (acquired by Grifols), Tracy served on the Deal Review Committee, Operating Committee, and Commercial Council.  She joined Novartis as Chief of Staff to the President, leading strategic planning and early-stage innovation partnerships.  She subsequently served as Head, Global Support & Operations at Novartis and Grifols with responsibilities for portfolio-wide business operations, including lifecycle management and new channel entry for over 15 product launches.  

Tracy began her career as a healthcare mergers & acquisitions investment banker.  She advises entrepreneurs through the TechStars x United Health accelerator, UCSF Health Hub, and serves on the Springboard Women’s Health Executive committee, along with the Research & Evidence subcommittees of the MedTech Color Collaborative Community.  

Tracy holds an MD from Stanford and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Parikh is an experienced healthcare technologist and product development leader with specific expertise in maternity care, integrated care management and medical diagnostics. Her background has centered on leveraging technology to drive improvement in health and economic outcomes.

As COO for Wildflower, she is responsible for companywide operations, including client services, clinical operations and data analytics for evaluating the clinical and economic impact of Wildflower’s solutions.

Over her career, Parikh has successfully taken products through development, clinical trials, FDA approval and market launch. She has specific expertise in integrating multidisciplinary technologies across biology, chemistry, optics, electronics and mechanics.

Parikh previously served as the Head of US Chief Technology Office for Roche Diagnostics, Prior to Roche, she was a special advisor to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, supporting the organization’s Center for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics.

Parikh is the founder of two successful medical device companies which collectively raised more than $75 million in venture financing to support innovations in prenatal diagnostics and asthma management.

She earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Medical School/Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She holds multiple patents and has been published in various peer-review journals within the healthcare space.

Dr. Alissa Erogbogbo, MD is the Medical Director at Maven Clinic where she ensures Maven provides best-in-class care for women and families. She has over 18 years of experience as an OB-GYN, a noted contributor to MedPage, NPR, and a lecturer at Stanford University.