Ijeoma Uche, a third-year MD and Ph.D. student at UC Davis, is blazing a trail at the intersection of medicine, technology and health equity. Ijeoma is this month’s guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May.
With a passion for maternal and fetal health and a drive to create systemic change, she has co-founded — a visual health platform designed to advance clinical equity for mothers across the United States.
“It started out with focus groups with moms where we sat down with them and asked, ‘We know that you're experiencing all these different complications during pregnancy and postpartum, what would you like to see happen?,’” Uche said. “And with those conversations sprouted Birth By Us in a different form.”
Birth By Us empowers pregnant individuals to better understand and advocate for their health, while supporting clinicians in delivering more equitable care. The app, which integrates patient-centered design and clinical tools, seeks to address longstanding disparities in maternal health outcomes.
“Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts,” Uche said. “And something that Serena Williams even talked about is understanding her body and understanding that 'I am at high risk of having blood clots' and people not listening to her.”
Chancellor Gary S. May agreed.
“There are some equity issues that need to be addressed in healthcare, particularly for maternal healthcare,” May said.
Uche credits much of her success to the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Susan Brown and Dr. Jennifer Rosenthal, whose support has been pivotal in both her academic and entrepreneurial journey.
Tune in to learn more about Birth By Us, what’s next for Ijeoma and her advice for aspiring leaders.
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Anila Lijo is a writer and editor for the Office of Strategic Communications, and can be reached by email.