Background & Bio
Jessica is the program manager for infant health at AMCHP. She is originally from Bethesda, MD and is passionate about improving maternal and child health systems. She has a Masters of Public Health and a Masters of Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to joining AMCHP’s Women’s & Infant Health Team, Jessica has a background as a birth doula and lactation consultant. While in her graduate programs, Jessica completed an internship with the Division of Perinatal Health at DC Health. She also supported research around understanding maternity care and birth outcomes for incarcerated women in North Carolina. She previously worked in the Clinical Research department at Whitman-Walker Health, a health center in DC committed to providing affirming health care with a specialty in LGBTQ and HIV care.

My Current Work
At AMCHP, Jessica primarily leads the Healthy Beginnings with Title V project funded by the Pritzker Children’s Initiative and the Kellogg Foundation. The Healthy Beginnings with Title V project seeks to build Title V programs’ capacity to engage in anti-racism work through partnerships with community-rooted organizations and participation in a learning and practice cohort. Jessica recently led the development of a series of learning modules about how Title V programs can expand their work in the space of early child nutrition. She also supported the implementation and conclusion of the Infant Mortality Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network on Social Determinants of Health (IM CoIIN SDOH). This learning collaborative brought 13 state teams together to change policies and practices to impact social determinants of health and improve infant health.

Ask Me About
Infant health, human milk feeding, health equity, anti-racism, birth equity, cats