Dr. Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Associate Director of Research with the Cook Center and Associate Professor of General Internal Medicine with the Duke Department of Medicene, was recently interviewed by WSOC-TV 9 for their feature news story titled “Doula advocates for Black women to be taken seriously in the delivery room”, by Deneige Broom.
In the interview, Dr. Bentley-Edwards comments on Black maternal mortality and systemic racism, saying:
Maternal mortality decreases significantly, drastically, for educated white women, but it doesn’t for educated Black women. So there is something going on in the system that is causing issues.
Dr. Bentley-Edwards’ research focuses on how racism, gender, and culture influence development throughout the lifespan, especially for African Americans. Her research emphasizes cultural strengths and eliminating structural barriers to support healthy development in communities, families, and schools.
