The purpose of this webinar is to further discuss how Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, first introduced the Mothers and Offspring Mortality & Morbidity Awareness Act, or MOMMA’s Act, which was instilled to address the maternal health crisis nearly five years ago. The panel will focus on the successes on the implementation of the MOMMA’S Act and what still needs to be done.

Moderator

Meagan Thompson, DNP
Senior Health Policy Advisor for Congresswoman Robin Kelly

Dr. Meagan Thompson is the Senior Health Policy Advisor for Congresswoman Robin Kelly who serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. As a nurse and former hospital administrator working at the intersection of public health and health policy, Meagan understands that we must improve the conditions in which people live, work, and play to make healthcare interventions most effective. Under the tutelage of Congresswoman Kelly, she is working on legislation to improve the quality of maternal health services, expand access to mental health services, improve access to nutritious food, and increase diversity in clinical trials.

She hails from Mississippi and received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Following her time at Ole Miss, she completed a dual masters program receiving her Masters of Business Administration and Health Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She then received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice with an emphasis in health care leadership where her dissertation focused on spirituality in African-American women and the association with Breast cancer mortality rates.

Panelist

Mia Keeys, MA, DrPH(c)
Director of Federal Affairs
Hologic, Inc.

Mia R. Keeys is the Director of Federal Affairs at Hologic, Inc. She’s formerly the Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Robin L. Kelly, and also previously served as the Director of Health Equity Policy & Advocacy with the American Medical Association, after serving as the Policy Director of Congresswoman Robin Kelly’s (D-IL) Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Health Braintrust, the premier health policy arm of the CBC.

In April 2017, The National Minority Quality Forum recognized Mia as a 40 Under 40 Leader in Minority Health. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences features Mia’s children’s book on health equity-titled Cole Blue, Full of Valor-in their national archives, “Visualizing Health Equity.” Mia has been a Kaiser Family Foundation Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholar; a Fellow for the City of Philadelphia in the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Health and Opportunity; and an HIV/AIDS researcher in South Africa. Mia was also a U.S. Fulbright Fellow to Indonesia, where she lived and worked in various teaching, public health service and research capacities for three years, while simultaneously learning the national language, Bahasa Indonesian.

Mia holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Psychology from Cheyney University, and a Master of Arts degree in Medical Sociology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow at Meharry Medical College. She is currently a doctoral of public health student at The George Washington University. Mia is also a creative non-fiction writer, with training from the University of Oxford. She is originally from Philadelphia, PA.

Originally published May 15, 2023