Dr. Linda Randolph Discusses the Developing Families Center's Maternal and Child Health Care Model (March 7, 2013)

Listen NowDr. Linda Randolph, President and CEO of District of Columbia's Developing Families Center (DFC),  discusses DFC's unique maternal and child health care model that has drawn international attention for its comprehensiveness and its high quality outcomes.  During this 23 minute interview Dr. Randolph offers her explanation for the causes of worse maternal outcomes among minority populations, including higher income African American women.  For example, she notes inter-generational factors, the effects of toxic or chronic stress and racism.  She explains the DFC's services beyond nurse midwifery, i.e., pediatric care, the DFC's breastfeeding education and peer support program (African American women are the least likely to breast feed) and the DFC's infant and todler (newborns-to-three-year-olds) child development center or early head  start.  Dr. Randolph defends this programming against criticisms that Head Start program benefits fade as children reach the first and second grades.  Finally, Dr. Randolph emphasizes the importance of a continuum of maternity to early child development care, one that is more holistic emphasizing primary prevention - that is the mission of the DFC.  (This discussion compliments the Dr. Lubic interview.) Dr. Linda A. Randolph is a public health pediatrician with over thirty years of experience serving in Federal, state and local governments, academia, private philanthropy and not-for-profit organizations.  Dr. Randolph, a native Washingtonian and a 20 year resident of Harlem and Albany, NY, is known for her work to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in health and building upon the strengths of families and communities to effect health policy.  Dr. Randolph was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2008, she is the recipient of numerous awards in the field of maternal and child health including the American Public Health Association’s 2001 Martha May Eliot Award.  In February Dr. Randolph and Dr. Lubic co-presented the Association of Maternal and Child Health Program's John C. MacQueen Memorial Lecture.  She earned her MD from the Howard University College of Medicine and her MPH from the University of California at Berkeley. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com