Presenter: Vicki Flenady (University of Queensland), Bob Silver (University of Utah), Alex Heazell (University of Manchester), & Valerie Ah Chee (Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth Brisbane)
Date: 10/12/24
Brief Description: Discusses the implementation of a Safer Baby Bundle for the United States using an equity lens and incorporating lessons learned from Australia and the United Kingdom.
Keywords/Main Subjects: Equity, e-learning, evidence based intervention
Slides: View / download (Heazell), View / download (Flenady & Ah Chee)
Copyright: copyright Vicki Flenady, Bob Silver, Alex Heazell, & Valerie Ah Chee ©2024
Vicki Flenady
Professor Flenady is co-director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth at Mater Research, University of Queensland, Australia, and is a nationally and internationally recognized perinatal epidemiologist. She is well-known for her expertise in Cochrane systematic reviews, clinical trials and the development and implementation of high-quality clinical practice guidelines. With a background in midwifery and neonatal nursing, clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, her research is now devoted to stillbirth prevention through improving identification and care for women with risk factors and improving data quality to drive change. Prof Flenady also has a major interest in improving care for parents whose child is stillborn, including in a subsequent pregnancy. She is a past chair of the International Stillbirth Alliance, and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her research into stillbirth in 2024.
Bob Silver
Robert M. Silver, MD is Chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Utah Health and a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He joined the University of Utah Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division after completing his fellowship there in 1994. He is serving as the Chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and as Co-Director of Labor and Delivery at the UUHSC. Dr. Silver’s clinical and research interests include recurrent pregnancy loss and stillbirth, cesarean delivery, placenta accreta, vaginal birth after cesarean delivery, immunologic diseases in pregnancy, and medical disorders in pregnancy.
Alexander Heazell
Dr. Alexander Heazell is Professor of Obstetrics and Director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK and the Regional Lead Obstetrician for the North-West of England. He graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2000 and began his clinical training in the West Midlands before completing his PhD in Manchester in 2008. His research portfolio includes basic science, clinical and qualitative research studies to gain a better understanding of causes and consequences of placental dysfunction, to prevent stillbirth and improve care for parents after stillbirth or perinatal death. Dr Heazell has received over £4M of grant income and has published over 280 research papers and received national and international awards for his work on stillbirth and placental dysfunction, and for improving care. He led the recent Stillbirth Priority Setting Partnership and was one of the team for the 2016 Lancet Ending Preventable Stillbirth Series. He is a past chair of the International Stillbirth Alliance. Dr Heazell is the national lead for Rainbow Clinic, a specialist clinical service for parents in pregnancy after loss. He passionately believes that a better understanding of placental disease will improve outcomes for mothers and babies.
Valerie Ah Chee
Ms Ah Chee is an Indigenous Research Midwife at the Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth, Brisbane, Australia. She graduated as a Registered Midwife in 2015 and has worked clinically in Perth at the Armadale Health Service, in Midland at St John of God Public Hospital and in Adelaide at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Her dive into research started as an Indigenous Project Officer at Ngangk Yira Institute for Change on Baby Coming You Ready? Project: a comprehensive and culturally safe way to assess the social and emotional health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women in the perinatal period, with a focus on strength and resilience. As an Aboriginal woman, mother to 6 boys and grandmother to 6 grandchildren and midwife, Valerie’s own experiences birthing in the system generated her interest to improve outcomes in Aboriginal maternal and infant health, more specifically, embedding cultural safety in the pregnancy and birth space and improving the health of Aboriginal women from a strength-based, cultural perspective. Valerie is now working on the cultural adaptation of the Safer Baby Bundle and developing a Healthy Yarning Guide for non-Indigenous health care professionals to talk about stillbirth and stillbirth prevention.
