Episode 9 : Black Maternal Health

Dr. Sophia:
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Dr. Sophia Podcast. I'm an ObGyn practicing for over 15 years in my native New York City. And I love to help women learn about their bodies, empower them, and embrace themselves. On this podcast, we will talk openly and with heart about all things affecting women from pregnancy, menopause periods, sexual health, fertility, and so much more. Disclaimer, this is general medical information based on my professional opinion and experience. For specific medical advice, please refer to your physician.

Hello everyone. It's me, Dr. Sophia, and welcome to the Dr. Sophia Podcast. Today I'm going to be talking about black maternal health, and I'm joined with my co-host and good friend Touseef Mirza.

Touseef Mirza:
Hi everybody. So today, we wanted to talk about black maternal health specifically because from April 11th through 17th, it's actually Black Maternal Health Week. So we wanted to make sure that we took the time to really talk about this important, topic and issue. And actually, before we go and dive in into black maternal health, I want to just take a step back and actually ask Dr. Sophia, when we say maternal health, what does that encompass actually?

Dr. Sophia:
Maternal health encompasses the time that a woman is pregnant, the time that she gives birth, and the time after she gives birth, which is considered the postpartum period, or up to a year after she has delivered her baby.

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. So it spans a pretty wide amount of time.

Dr. Sophia:
Yes. Because the, we're talking about nine, excuse me, or even 10 months really of pregnancy, where it's pregnancy is 40 weeks. So we're talking about those 40 weeks. We're talking about the time in which she actually goes through labor and delivery, and we're talking about the time after she delivers the baby, the postpartum period, which for us, really encompasses an entire year after birth.

Touseef Mirza:
So it's like 93 weeks.

So that's like almost a year and three quarters, which is a long time. And also, just to be clear, when we say postpartum; partum basically means that it's after…

Dr. Sophia:
Birth, after birth.

Touseef Mirza:
Very good. in terms of black maternal health, now we can go back and focus on that area. What would you say are a couple of key things that we need to be aware of in terms of issues pertaining to that subject?

Dr. Sophia:
Well, black maternal health just refocus us on the black experience during their pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum period. And the reason why this is such an important issue and topic for us to talk about, discuss, and cover is really because in the United States, if we are to be very specific, black women experience a mortality rate that is three to four times higher of their white and Hispanic counterparts.


Touseef Mirza:
Even to, like in 2024,

Dr. Sophia:
Well, certainly up through 2021 if we're able to look at let's say CDC data. And that's ridiculous. It's so alarming.

Touseef Mirza:
It makes no sense really.

Dr. Sophia:
It's just so hard to fathom that one race can have such disproportionate outcomes when it comes to such a wonderful period of a woman's life. So it's alarming.

Touseef Mirza:
So the next question that comes to our minds is why, why is that so, why is there such a huge disparity when it comes to black maternal health versus other maternal health?

Dr. Sophia:
Well, I think there are a couple of leading causes. The first one being the concept or the understanding that there is inherent racism in the medical healthcare system here in the United States. Two, our limited access or the limited availability of medical care for black people. And three, the trust issue, you know, with black people having a lot of mistrust of the system. But again, I think that all stems from the systemic racism that actually is apparent in the system itself.

Touseef Mirza:
So when we say the racism that is in the health system, are we talking about unconscious bias? Are we talking about conscious bias, or are we talking about both?

Dr. Sophia:
We're definitely talking about both. I think that it's important to understand the concept of unconscious or implicit biased, and there's just bias, period. You know, a black woman can walk into a medical facility and her pain is automatically discounted. Discounted in the sense that, oh, you know, maybe that's not really what she's going through, what she's feeling or what have you.

Touseef Mirza:
Or she's exaggerating…

Dr. Sophia:
Or she's exaggerating for sure. Just the concept of not really being taken seriously, not being heard, not being seen. All of those are things that actually happen.

Touseef Mirza:
So if a white woman would be coming in with same complaints; she's just viewed and didn't treat it differently.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely. And, and by the way, it doesn't matter their socioeconomic status. They can have the exact same socioeconomic status. Meaning, as a matter of fact, black women may have even more education and financial footing and still be treated the exact same way that I'm describing in comparison to a white woman who has no education or no financial gains.



Touseef Mirza:
So this is from a perspective coming more from the issue of a healthcare practitioner having either implicit or explicit bias of racism. And then there's the other side of the coin, which is the patient themselves. And whether or not because of certain trust issues, do they always feel that they can ask questions or that they can even go to the hospital if they feel that they need to be checked?

Dr. Sophia:
I think when we think about the concept of trust issues, and when we think about the concept of the black persons that are seeking medical care, we have to take into account the historical context of that. At the end of the day, black people, black bodies, black slaves are the ones that were used to basically create our modern healthcare system in terms of how we treat patients; surgeries and medical breakthroughs were on the backs of slaves. These are treatments and experiments and things that were performed on slaves that we are even to this day currently using. And it's not even that long ago that we were still doing experiments on black people. And we're talking about black people who aren't slaves. When we think about things like the Tuskegee experiment.

Touseef Mirza:
Which was around what year?

Dr. Sophia:
Between the years of 1932 through 1972.

Touseef Mirza:
Wow. That's insane. That's the year I was born. So what was, not to get too much in specifics, but what was the general…

Dr. Sophia:
In general, what they did was they had men who had had syphilis that where they even were given syphilis and were not given treatment. Black men specifically were being injected with syphilis and given a placebo or not given the treatment that they knew could treat the syphilis to see the evolution of syphilis in humans.

Touseef Mirza:
So considering that grave, historical past, is that something that was culturally felt through the generations in the black community?

Dr. Sophia:
So we have to break this down into many different ways. The concept is that outside of knowing that we are already looked at as different, not treated the same for, you know, various reasons, but our skin color being number one. So we already know we're not going to get treated equally. And there's also, of course, the fear that if we are being treated, what are we being treated with?

And then to add insult to injury, the fact is, is that all of that is actually true. In the sense that we experience doctors who perhaps may feel like we don't even matter, that whatever's happening to us doesn't matter. That the concept of treating us, curing us.

Touseef Mirza:
So that also goes from their cultural background, right. In terms of how they've treated black people historically. Right.

Dr. Sophia:
So that's also coming from that perspective as well. It's an interesting point of view, the concept that a physician, who's non-black, and even those that are black, we have to think about our, what we call implicit bias in the front, coming from the sense of even as a black person who's treating other black people that there are times in which we are simply going with what's the status quo.

Touseef Mirza:
Yes. But being in a white supremacist society that we are unconsciously acting in accordance to that environment.

Dr. Sophia:
Because we are taught in the same arena that is also disproportionately affecting us in a negative way, that we simply learn that pattern of behavior. And so if we are not conscious of it, we simply adopt the same methodology and way of being, instead of acting on our own accord.

Touseef Mirza:
So this conversation went pretty deep in the sense that, you know, we're talking about black maternal health, but like, we're actually looking behind the curtain in terms of where this issue is stemming from because those numbers are very scary to see. So we have to ask ourselves those questions. It's like, well, why is that? And it sometimes, it's not just a straight answer. It can be quite complicated. It can be quite deep, and it can also surface in ways that are not clearly apparent, but they're just looming under the surface.

Because there's explicit bias and implicit bias, some doctors might not even realize that they're treating their patients differently.

Dr. Sophia:
I think many doctors don't think that they're treating their patients any differently. I think that most people will say, oh, well, you know, “I'm a decent doctor.” Right? And that the case here should be just a matter of decency. How do I treat everybody? But the reality is that you're not treating everybody the same. And the reality is that if we don't even understand that we need to be hypervigilant and focused on the fact that these disparities actually exist and to be intentional with the kind of care that we're providing, then we are a part of the problem. And it's the understanding that this is a problem that actually exists. And so therefore, in my care for black maternal health, that this is a real problem, that they are truly higher rates of black maternal mortality, that there is a true disparity in terms of access to care. You know, and that those numbers don't lie. And if we are not walking into every situation with that knowledge, so that we have a special intention with how we treat that patient, then we are simply doing a disservice.

Touseef Mirza:
So when we say intention, so I think this is an important point. So it's not a question of decency that I want to provide the right care, but it's really to try to understand where a specific black person is coming from and what are their specific needs, and to have that level of empathy towards that person.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely. It requires having a level of understanding in order to have a level of, yes, in fact, empathy. And then to use that as a building block in terms of how we share, how we actually care for that patient. Understanding that, for example, you know, something as something that is easy to say, “oh, that patient didn't come in for their appointment, they're so non-compliant,” and be very flippant with that patient; not recognizing, well, what are some of the conditions or reasons? And having that sense of exactly that empathy for why that patient didn't walk through the door. And the reality is we will automatically make excuse excuses for a white person. We'll say, “oh no, they had to work,” you know, when they've, you know, canceled their appointment or no showed for their appointment “oh, she must be taking care of her children at home.” And that same exact logical deduction does not come automatically when we're thinking about a black patient. But the same thing exists.


Instead, it's, “they don't care about their health, they don't care, so why should I care?.” “They're not coming in for their appointments.” “They are quote unquote noncompliant.” And they are labeled, and once they are labeled in the healthcare system, they're already labeled because of their skin, but now we label them again.

Touseef Mirza:
What do we mean by non-compliant? What does that mean?

Dr. Sophia:
Non-compliant, meaning that they are not coming in for appointments, not taking medication.

Touseef Mirza:
So they're not taking their health seriously.

Dr. Sophia:
That's the thought. A non-compliant person is not doing the things that we deem as necessary in the management or treatment of their health.

Touseef Mirza:
Is there another facet to this issue or this topic in the sense that black women have other types of health issues that ago under the radar or have more health issues that are not addressed versus the rest of the pregnant population?

Dr. Sophia:
I think as far as black women, and as far as black women, and the different perhaps disease processes or things that may be influencing their medical health, we can think about the fact that mental health is simply not addressed. And it's not addressed in a vast way in terms of the black community. But even more specifically when we think about it in terms of black maternal health. Things like anemia is addressed in a way that is different. We, we accept lower numbers in black women in terms of hemoglobin, which is an indicator of whether or not someone is anemic. And that will set the stage up for things like hemorrhage, you know?

Touseef Mirza:
Are you saying that there's a tolerance for a lower level of hemoglobin?

Dr. Sophia:
That is correct.

Touseef Mirza:
And based on what?

Dr. Sophia:
Exactly. Based on what? Based on the fact that they're black.

And the most basic thing about this is black women can be normal like everybody else, like their hemoglobin can be 12 like everybody else, and we should expect it to be, and yet a lower number is acceptable in a black person.

Touseef Mirza:
Not because usually their number is lower. It has nothing to do with that.

Dr. Sophia:
No.

Touseef Mirza:
This is mind-boggling to me. <laugh>, if it, I mean, it's a number like, you know, if everybody, you know, we're all made of blood and tissues, if that's the normal number, unless there's a difference.

Dr. Sophia:
No, there's no genetic component to this.

Touseef Mirza:
There's no genetic component?

Dr. Sophia:
No. This is us just accepting it because we say that in research and in studies, that's what we've seen. When in fact, my point being that if it can be normal, then it can be normal all the time. And we need to look at the reasons why it's not normal. And those can be other things like, so other social determinants of health for why it may not be normal. For example, why we have poor nutrition in the black communities, because we simply don't have access to healthy op food options, for example. You know what I mean? And so the acceptance of that lower number is not a genetic thing; that's not because black people somehow don't make the same amount of hemoglobin. No.

Touseef Mirza:
So let's just shift gears in terms of, now coming back to the actual black maternal health. You talked about like three different phases, main phases of maternal health. First the pregnancy, then the childbirth, and then postpartum.

So in the pregnancy, are there like one or two different aspects that are more high risk for black maternal women?

Dr. Sophia:
Yes. Mental health is the number one cause of black maternal death.

Touseef Mirza:
In what way?

Dr. Sophia:
In the sense that because their mental health is not addressed, it leads to an increase in things like addictive disease, and suicide, and deaths related to that.

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. And the mental health component, is it associated with them being pregnant or it might not be associated? It can be any type of mental health.

Dr. Sophia:
We are talking about the concept of dying from a mental health illness within that first year of delivering.
That mental health illness can be postpartum depression, that leads to postpartum psychosis, that leads to that person then considering and executing, let's say suicide.

Touseef Mirza:
So that's postpartum.

Dr. Sophia:
But we're always talking about the postpartum period. The postpartum period. Is that full year right after a woman delivers. And the cause, whatever it may be, even if they had, let's say, a mental health issue before pregnancy.

Now we're talking about the time after pregnancy, the fact that they still have that issue, and the fact that that issue is still not addressed is still a part of black maternal health. Because it's in that timeframe after pregnancy.

Touseef Mirza:
So you're saying that the mental health issue, whatever it may be and whether or not it's associated or an effect of the pregnancy can begin in pregnancy and then can carry itself through postpartum?

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely.

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. So while the woman is pregnant, aside from mental health, what are other risks or issues that we're seeing of higher prevalence in?

Dr. Sophia:
Well, we know that there are the risk of having a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy, the risk of having a hypertensive disorder that can lead to things such as preeclampsia, eclampsia, stroke, seizure, and death. So that's one. We know that hemorrhage is another. And we are talking about things that are happening at the time or around the time of the birth the last couple of weeks before we go into labor. The hours and days that you're in labor and the days after labor and delivery.

Touseef Mirza:
So can you explain what preeclampsia is?

Dr. Sophia:
Yes. And so preeclampsia, again, just is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. A woman may have high blood pressure in association with protein in her urine and may have other physical signs such as headaches, such as changing her vision, such as abdominal pain. She may also have a baby that's growing abnormally small. She may have vaginal bleeding that's due to a premature separation of her placenta. So there are so many things that go on when we talk about preeclampsia with the root cause being the hypertensive part of it.

Touseef Mirza:
And that can lead to stroke and potential…

Dr. Sophia:
And that can lead to stroke and potential death. Yes.

Touseef Mirza:
And so all these different conditions that we just talked about are also, are they also present in other populations?

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely.

Touseef Mirza:
But it's just that they're detected or they're addressed versus the black population where it's not addressed proactively?

Speaker 1 (23:22):
I think what we need to recognize is that all of these disease processes are things that can happen to any woman. It's the simplicity; instead of understanding how a black woman is treated, it's not whether or not they're going to address it, it's how they're addressing it. It's how they're actually treating that black woman. So if she comes in and says she has severe abdominal pain, again, it's being perhaps flippant with her, the kind of pain that she's having when she may be having pain because she's having something called an abruption. An abruption meaning an early separation of her placenta that can lead to a stillbirth, that can lead to the death of that woman, because she's now bleeding internally.

And also, let's just, let's go back a minute, let's talk about access. Let's talk about the fact that the woman actually getting to the hospital, finding a hospital that can actually take care of her, in her community.

So we are in a state and in a city where we have a lot of hospitals and there are a lot of hospitals that offer labor and delivery care. But even here in our city, we have hospitals that close their labor and delivery. And therefore now have shifted where a woman gets her care or have overburdened other hospitals where a woman goes to get her care. And so all of that plays a role when we're talking about healthcare and black maternal health.

Touseef Mirza:
So we talked about access, which is huge. If you don't have the hospital, like where you going to go?

Dr. Sophia:
Where are you going go? You have to go further. You have to go further.


Touseef Mirza:
And then it's higher risk, obviously.

Dr. Sophia:
And if you have to go further, what about you actually getting there? You know, do you have transportation? Do you have the funds? Do you have the means? And then we have to talk about things like do they have insurance? Do they not have insurance? The kind of physicians that they're seeing; are they able to have one provider versus every single time they go to an office, they're seeing a different provider? Where is the ownership of the patient? So the scope of the problem is so vast when we're talking about this and having this conversation, it's really to introduce the concept that it is an issue in the first place. And if we don't recognize that and don't first acknowledge it, then there's no place where we're going to start to think about the solutions to why black women are dying three to four times more than our white and Hispanic counterparts.

Touseef Mirza:
So the second thing I wanted to ask is, we talked about like pregnancy and then like during childbirth, are there certain specific areas or scenarios that black women have a tendency to be more affected by?

Dr. Sophia:
Preeclampsia, hemorrhage. Well, those are the top two.

Touseef Mirza:
Alright. That's, that's fine. Those are big. All right. And then with the same type of reasoning in terms of the reasons why, as we talked about for pregnancy in terms of the access, in terms of not really giving the care with the same level of urgency, compassion, and so forth. Like it's the same reasons.

Dr. Sophia:
Nothing changes, nothing changes. The cause in terms of the medical issue, right? It could be an anesthetic complication, for example. Maybe the anesthesia that was given, was given in a way that has some type of a complication. It could be that there is some other medical problem happening with the patient that is simply not recognized in a timeframe where treatment rendered would actually lead to a better outcome.

The bottom line is, when we think about black women, we have to understand that there's a difference in how they are cared for, and that that difference should not exist. But it does.

Touseef Mirza:
And so the first point is to acknowledge that.

Dr. Sophia:
Yes. That we should not be like, “well, no, it's not me,” or “no, I don't do that.” Or “no,…”

Touseef Mirza:
You're talking about the doctors saying that.

Dr. Sophia:
The doctors, the healthcare system, the hospitals. And we have to be clear that even the best of us can make mistakes. And that those mistakes can be a direct result from our own internal biases. And our own mindset in terms of how we look at black patients and black women in particular.

Touseef Mirza:
And then the third part, which is postpartum, which is a year after giving birth, are there other types of issues that black mothers…

Dr. Sophia:
Face? I mean, if we look at just in terms of, let's say things like the social determinants of health, the fact that women in general in this country have to go back to work within six weeks of a delivery. And then let's think about black women. Black women are typically the head of household. So it is even more crucial for them that they go back to work as soon as possible. And so when we're thinking about access or lack thereof, we have to take into account that that woman has no ability to seek care at times. Even if she is having a medical issue or problem.

Touseef Mirza:
She can't get there.

Dr. Sophia:
She can't get there. She has to take care of her other children. She has to take care, she has to be concerned with making an income.

Touseef Mirza:
So this is a whole socioeconomic layer.

Dr. Sophia:
Yeah. This is a part of what we call social determinants of health. The social aspects that also influence the medical care in which that we provide and the way in which a woman is experiencing the healthcare system. The things that are affecting her in totality. It's not just the disease.

Touseef Mirza:
From a doctor perspective, how can they become, I guess, more aware or how have you maybe like, talked about it or like expressed how others need to talk about this with mothers or soon to be mothers?

Dr; Sophia:
As a black woman who also happens to be a physician who has truly evolved, I'm not going to say that I was ever perfect, and I'm not perfect now. I simply work with a certain level of intention. So I understand the scope of the problem, and I am aware of my own actions, and how that can make a change. It's in how I treat my patients. It's in how I make sure that my residents and medical students are treating patients, that they are aware if they have said or done something that may be offensive, unkind, or untrue in terms of their interaction with a patient. And it's that kind of level of understanding and, and, and making sure that we're checking each other and checking ourselves. So that way we're always putting forth not just the best foot forward, but rather truly the best intention when it comes to the patient. So it's not about labeling the patient. It's not, it's understanding our own ability and the work that we do to impart change.

Touseef Mirza:
I guess it's coming from a place of what you said before, which is we need to acknowledge that women, that black women are being cared for differently as a baseline.

Dr. Sophia:
We need to accept that as a baseline.

Touseef Mirza:
So like that should be a post-it in like different rooms, <laugh> or something in the hospital just to be a reminder. Because I think this is what happens…you know, it's like when we live in a society and we're just used to certain messages, it's hard to become aware of things, you know, that are outside of the status quo. And so sometimes we need cues or be reminded constantly that…

Dr. Sophia:
We need the constant reminder. Yes. We need the constant reminder. It's not just one seminar, it's not just. It's not just one day lecture. It's not just a grand rounds. It is a constant daily reminder that this is an issue and how are we checking ourselves, checking in with ourselves, and making sure that we are always going towards the goal of equity and equality in the care that we give.

Touseef Mirza:
I think that's quite powerful. It's simple, a reminder; because if you mean well, maybe you just are not thinking about it, but you still mean well, but you're just not thinking about it. So that reminder is actually a huge shift in perception that can actually bring about a whole different way of approach of how you're dealing with black women. So that is from the physician side.

If we look from the patient side, what can a black woman proactively say or do to try to maybe remind or to instigate a different level of awareness considering the situations that they're usually in?

Dr. Sophia:
Wow. Well, a question like that, I mean, we have to understand our own selves, know that we have the right to say, “Hey, stop, look at me, listen to me. something is wrong and I'm here for your help; but I'm here to get that help in a respectful and equitable manner.” What does that actually sound like is, “doctor, I'm nervous, I'm scared. I need you to take a moment to hear what I'm saying; I need you to take a moment to explain exactly what is wrong with me, what can help me, what are our next steps.” It's calling someone out, calling a doctor out. If you feel like you've been disrespected, if you feel like you've been mistreated, and if you feel like the medicine doesn't add up.

Touseef Mirza:
So how can we call out a doctor in a way that's still respectful, I guess? Because you want to be able, if that's your only choice of a doctor, you know, I don't know if you're like in a small town or something…

Dr. Sophia:
That's many women and many are in a small town. Exactly. In this country, you're absolutely right. And sometimes that is the problem, that there's only one doctor available in that small town. And this is where you use your community. This is where your community has to be able to get together and say, we are going to demand better.

And honestly, it's easy for me to say that here. It's easy for me to say, just do this and just do that. But that's not the reality. However, at least on an individual level, when you feel like a wrong has been done against you by a physician, you need to remind that person, “I'm human and I know you are human too, so please take a moment to remember that humanity, and I really don't understand what you're saying,” or “I don't understand this treatment, or I don't feel like you're really helping me.”

Touseef Mirza:
I'm wondering also from a perspective of literally saying, you know, I acknowledge that sometimes certain aspects of my condition or my state is not viewed as seriously as others. You know, I would like to be approached with the same level of care and the same level of compassion. I mean, I know that's a lot what I just said, but I'm just trying to figure out like, what is the way that we can communicate to a healthcare provider that… Remind them, number one, remind them that these are the facts.

Dr. Sophia:
I think it's fair for us to be able to walk into a room and say, “I am clear and aware of the statistics and the odds that are up against me. Let us be in partnership.”

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. I like that.

Dr. Sophia:
“So that we both come out ahead. I'm sure you want good outcomes for me as I want them for myself.” I don't think it's wrong to call that out. I think it's important that your healthcare provider knows that you are aware of the state that you are in. And I'm not just talking about your medical state, I'm talking about exactly the state of black maternal health. And I don't think we should be afraid to say that at all.

Touseef Mirza:
I really like the concept of “can we be in partnership?” Because I think then we're not necessarily putting them on the spot. We're actually also taking responsibility of like, you know, I want to communicate, I want to partake in the care of myself as well. And so that way it just sort of brings this like mutual connection of care.

In terms of different resources or different areas that women can go to either for community or to get help through resources, are there anything of that sort that you know of?

Dr. Sophia:
I think women, before they see a doctor need to talk to all of their girlfriends who've had babies who've been pregnant. They need to find out who are the doctors in their community that their friends liked, that their friends had a good experience with. They need to talk to their advocacy groups and community leaders and find out, the churches. And they can even go to social media and technology. There's some something called the earth app right now. And another app called…

Touseef Mirza:
Earth?

Dr. Sophia:
Earth as in I birth, but you drop the B. IRTH. Okay. And it is an app actually that has a rating system for doctors for OBGYNs

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. And what was the other one? The other app you were saying

Dr. Sophia:
She matters. Again, another way in of which to connect with other women. And they have a review system as well.

Touseef Mirza:
So as we close, I think the thing I took away from that is really how black women are being treated differently. That's just a fact. And that to have self-agency and advocacy, because it's really hard to change all the world around you. Like, you know, we can take steps for that. But also that you have the power to also…

Dr. Sophia:
Evoke change

Touseef Mirza:
And voice your point of view in terms of the care that you want and that you deserve.

Dr. Sophia:
Yes, we do. We have a voice and we need to use it. And it's unfortunate that it's not always heard, but if we're not speaking, then definitely no one will be listening.

Touseef Mirza:
So let's keep talking.

Dr. Sophia:
And we absolutely have to continue this conversation. If we are going to put any dents in creating change,

Touseef Mirza:
We will.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely.

Touseef Mirza:
We just have to keep talking and keep doing.

Dr. Sophia:
We have to keep talking.

Touseef Mirza:
In closing this month, March is actually Women's History Month, which should actually say women's HERstory Month.

Dr. Sophia:
<laugh>. I like that. Definitely. It should be her story month.

Touseef Mirza:
Yes. Her story.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely.

Touseef Mirza:
And we wanted to celebrate.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely. I always want to celebrate. I'm so excited that March is Women's History Month and I want to take the time out to acknowledge the first black woman physician, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler. And it's amazing that this woman graduated from the female medical school in Boston in 1864.

Touseef Mirza:
That's amazing.

Dr. Sophia:
The fact that she was able to graduate from medical school even before we had the Emancipation Proclamation <laugh> before we, before we were freed as slaves, actually. And she went after she got her degree to Virginia to treat newly freed slaves. And one of the things that she did actually, which was really amazing, was the fact that she wrote a book that was to help black people who could not afford medical care have a rule book on how to treat disease. And so that's Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler.

Thank you for listening. Until next time. Bye.

This is General Medical Information based on my professional opinion and experience. For specific medical advice, please refer to your physician. Until next time, embrace your body. Embrace yourself.