PCPC Conference - Charting the Path to Zero: Actionable Strategies to Reduce Infant Deaths in Pierce County
Description
Join the Perinatal Collaborative of Pierce County (PCPC) for a one-day conference held at the beautiful Environmental Services Building above Chambers Bay! Network with your Pierce County colleagues as we learn about the current state of maternal/infant health in Pierce County and deepen our knowledge of how to mitigate the impacts of oppression and associated disparities. Hear from local experts as they discuss what is happening in Pierce County to promote and protect maternal/infant health.
Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP18097, for 3.5 contact hours
Lunch Provided
Lineup
Infant Mortality in Pierce County Ingrid K. Friberg, PhD, MHS
Ingrid Friberg is a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health trained epidemiologist at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. She spent more than 20 years working in maternal and child health, global health, and health information. She has been part of analytic teams supporting the World Midwifery Report (2021) and the Lancet Ending Preventable Stillbirth Series (2016). She was also part of a team using digital health registries to improve antenatal care quality in Bangladesh, Ghana and Palestine. At TPCHD, she has been a senior epidemiologist in Assessment, Evaluation and Epidemiology since 2020 providing analytic and subject matter expertise on a broad range of domains including, infant and child mortality, pregnancy data, youth firearm violence and injuries. Infant Mortality in Pierce County Objectives: • Describe key causes of infant mortality in Pierce County • Assess the relative importance of drivers of infant mortality in Pierce County. • Characterize inequities in infant mortality and its risk factors between populations within Pierce County.
The Causes Behind the Causes: Addressing Bias and Structural Determinants of Infant Mortality Michele Andrasik, PhD, EdM
Dr. Michele Andrasik (she/her) is a clinical health psychologist working to build and enhance partnerships with priority communities in clinical research, with a focus on ongoing vaccine trials for HIV, TB, and COVID-19. Dr. Andrasik works to address psychosocial and structural factors associated with HIV risk and STI disparities among priority communities. At the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) she leads social, behavioral and implementation science efforts across the Network. Dr. Andrasik is an expert in Community-Based Participatory Research approaches, implicit bias, trauma-informed care, and Qualitative Research Methods. Prior to returning to graduate school, she worked as Director of AIDS services for a community-based organization with locations in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Currently, Dr. Andrasik is the Director of Behavioral, Social, and Implementation Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Fred Hutch) HIV Vaccine Trials Network HVTN, Principal Staff Scientist in the Vaccine and infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch, Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Chair of the Behavioral Innovations Core at the UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research. The Causes Behind the Causes: Addressing Bias and Structural Determinants of Infant Mortality Objectives: • Describe how bias contributes to adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. • Explain the role of social and structural determinants of health in shaping infant mortality. • Distinguish between individual-level risk factors and upstream structural drivers of infant mortality. • Identify actionable strategies to reduce bias and address social and structural determinants • Develop a shared understanding of collective responsibility for reducing infant deaths.
Maternal Mental Health Is Infant Health: The Role of Perinatal Depression in Maternal and Infant Outcomes Kaboni Gondwe, PhD, RN
Dr. Kaboni Whitney Gondwe, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing. Her research examines maternal-infant health outcomes across Malawi and the United States, focusing on perinatal mental health, social support, preterm birth, parent-infant interaction, and health disparities. Her work bridges biological and social pathways, drawing on expertise in perinatal stress and resilience biomarkers, epigenetics, and social determinants of health, including intimate partner violence screening. Dr. Gondwe has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and mentors students within the UW School of Nursing. Maternal Mental Health Is Infant Health: The Role of Perinatal Depression in Maternal and Infant Outcomes Objectives: • Describe the biological and behavioral pathways linking perinatal depression to adverse infant outcomes, including preterm birth, low birthweight, and disrupted infant caregiving. • Identify the structural and systemic barriers, including racial inequities in screening, referral, and treatment, that prevent perinatal depression from being effectively addressed across the care continuum. • Apply a Care Cascade Framework (ask, identify, refer, access, treat, follow up, sustain) to strengthen perinatal mental health screening and referral practices in their own clinical or community setting.
Beyond Safe Sleep: Barriers, Breakdowns, & Better Practice: A practical look at safe sleep guidance, product messaging challenges, disparities in outcomes, and real-world solutions. Shayna Raphael
Shayna Raphael is a child safety advocate and co founder of the Claire Bear Foundation, created in honor of her 11 month old daughter, Claire, who died in 2015 in an unsafe sleep environment at child care. She has spent the past decade turning her grief into action—advancing infant safety, expanding support for families, and pushing for stronger accountability. Through the Claire Bear Foundation, Shayna provides safe sleep spaces, financial support for families who have experienced infant loss, and evidence based education for parents, caregivers, and community partners. She is known for calling out deceptive marketing and unsafe infant products and uses social media to reach families with clear, accessible safety guidance. Shayna serves on the Cribs for Kids Program Advisory Board, the American Academy of Pediatrics National Collaborative for Safe Infant Sleep, ASTM infant product committees, and the Pierce County Child Death Review Committee. She has presented to state departments of health, fatality review programs, healthcare systems, residency panels, and national conferences on infant safety. In addition to her work with the Claire Bear Foundation, Shayna has spent more than 19 years in and around public education. She is a Washington State certificated special education teacher with two master’s degrees in education and educational administration. She now works as an education consultant supporting students, families, teachers, and districts through program audits, professional development, increasing best-practices to reduce disparities for marginalized groups, and engages expert witness work for litigation involving discrimination, civil rights, educational safety, and child wrongful death. Beyond Safe Sleep: Barriers, Breakdowns, & Better Practice: A practical look at safe sleep guidance, product messaging challenges, disparities in outcomes, and real-world solutions. Objectives: • Understand the most up to date evidence based safe sleep guidelines and the reasoning behind them. • Identify misinformation and deceptive marketing that shape unsafe infant sleep practices and product use. • Recognize how barriers and inequities impact infant safety and contribute to disparate outcomes. • Learn practical, culturally responsive, judgment free strategies that reduce sleep related risks across all groups and help close disparities in infant safety outcomes.
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