Poster Details

Poster Submitter: Melissa Kuriloff, BA

Department: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine

Email Address: mkuriloff@uchicago.edu

Role: Student

Project Lead: Perpetua Goodall, MD / Obstetrics and Gynecology

Project Collaborators:

  • Lauren Keenan-Devlin, PhD, MPH / Faculty
  • Ann Borders, MD, MSc, MPH / Faculty
  • Julie Lester, RN, BSN, IBCLC / Nurse
  • Gabriela Betancourt, BS / Student
  • Grace Keegan, BS / Student
  • Melinique Walls Castellanos, BA / Student
  • Sana Basheer, BS / Student

Departments Included in Project: Obstetrics, Pritzker School of Medicine,

Project Classification: Patient Centeredness

Project Notes/Comments:

This project aims to advance first food equity: ensuring an equal chance for all patients to make real, informed choices about breastfeeding, free from structural and cultural barriers, via improved access to culturally congruent prenatal education and continuity of care in lactation support.

Does the work incorporate equity?

This project addresses breastfeeding disparities between publicly and privately insured patients who receive perinatal care on UCM's Hyde Park campus. Additionally, it addresses breastfeeding disparities between high-risk and low-risk obstetric patients by providing additional culturally relevant breastfeeding education and support to high-risk, publicly insured patients who face several barriers to lactation success but often stand the most to gain from breastfeeding. Efforts to address health disparities on the South Side of Chicago must include initiatives to advance first food equity. Without adequate, culturally-relevant lactation education and support for South Side families, sustained high rates of formula-feeding predisposes South Siders to preventable, costly, long-term health complications.

Does this work address any of the UChicago Medicine quality priorities as listed on the Clinical Excellence Scorecard?

Patient Experience

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