Presenter: Laurie Baksh (Utah Department of Health and Human Services), Danielle Uribe (Utah Department of Health and Human Services), & Susannah Leisher (University of Queensland)
Date: 10/12/24
Brief Description: Discusses the SOARS study and the role of the health department in addressing stillbirth.
Keywords/Main Subjects: Heath department, policy, Utah PRAMS
Slides: View / download (Uribe), View / download (Andejlic)
Copyright: copyright Laurie Baksh, Danielle Uribe, & Susannah Leisher ©2024
Laurie Baksh
Laurie Baksh is the Director of the Office of Maternal and Child Health, Division of Family Health, Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Laurie has also served as the Maternal and Infant Health Program Manager and as the epidemiologist for the Utah Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Laurie was part of the team that developed and implemented the Utah Study of the Associated Risks of Stillbirth (SOARS) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ms. Baksh received a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and health and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Utah.
Danielle Uribe
Danielle Uribe is the Data Manager for the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) and Study of the Associated Risks of Stillbirth (SOARS) surveys at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, she was a Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) fellow, focusing on infant mortality surveillance and out of hospital birth safety. She received a Bachelor’s degree in community health education from Central Michigan University and a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from Grand Valley State University.
Susannah Leisher
Susannah (Zan) Hopkins Leisher is a stillbirth epidemiologist and parent to Wilder Daniel, stillborn at 38½ weeks on July 13, 1999, with no cause found. Her stillbirth research interests include structural racism and epigenetic mechanisms of effect. Dr Leisher is working to launch the first Stillbirth Center of Excellence in the United States. She is an honorary research fellow of the Stillbirth Centre for Research Excellence at the University of Queensland, Australia; ex-officio chair of the International Stillbirth Alliance; co-chair of the Stillbirth Advocacy Working Group; and a member of the Steering Committee of AlignMNH, the MFMU Network’s Community Engagement Board, and the WHO/UNICEF’s Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere Management Team. Prior to becoming an epidemiologist, Dr Leisher was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and then spent over 20 years working on global poverty and social justice in Asia, Africa and Central America, including ten years in Vietnam.
