Elizabeth A. Howell, M.D., M.P.P. is Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science and Associate Director for the Center for Health Equity and Community Engaged Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is an ob/gyn health services researcher and her research interests include understanding and narrowing racial disparities in health and healthcare and addressing the health needs of low-income women of color, especially as they relate to antepartum and postpartum care. She is a NIH-funded researcher and has conducted randomized trials testing interventions aimed at reducing postpartum depression and increasing breastfeeding duration among women of color. She has served on several expert panels including for the Institute of Medicine, the Joint Commission, The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and NIH. Dr. Howell received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and received her medical and public policy degrees at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She received her residency training at Cornell /New York Hospital and is a board certified obstetrician gynecologist. Dr. Howell received her training in clinical epidemiology as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale Medical School.
Breastfeeding provides substantial health benefits for children and mothers and the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends breastfeeding for the first year of life. Each additional week of breastfeeding confers benefit. Unfortunately, significant racial/ethnic disparities in breastfeeding initiation and duration exist in the US with black and some Latina women having lower rates of both as compared with white women. Research demonstrates that there is a link between depressive symptoms and breastfeeding duration and that lack of preparation for common physical and emotional symptoms and experiences which occur in the postpartum period may be associated with both. We share results from a randomized trial which tested a behavioral educational intervention with the secondary aim of increasing breastfeeding duration among self-identified black and Latina mothers.
Breastfeeding provides substantial health benefits for children and mothers and the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends breastfeeding for the first year of life. Each additional week of breastfeeding confers benefit. Unfortunately, significant racial/ethnic disparities in breastfeeding initiation and duration exist in the US with black and some Latina women having lower rates of both as compared with white women. Research demonstrates that there is a link between depressive symptoms and breastfeeding duration and that lack of preparation for common physical and emotional symptoms and experiences which occur in the postpartum period may be associated with both. We share results from a randomized trial which tested a behavioral educational intervention with the secondary aim of increasing breastfeeding duration among self-identified black and Latina mothers.
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