Research Seminar: “Improving Community-Hospital Referral Systems for Obstetrical and Neonatal Care in Rural Guatemala Using Mhealth”
Presented by
Peter Rohloff, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Chief Medical Officer
Wuqu' Kawoq | Maya Health Alliance
Talk Summary
Guatemala has some of the worst obstetrical and neonatal outcomes in Latin America, especially in rural areas populated by indigenous Maya. In these areas referral systems are fragile and distrust of facility-based care is very high. In this talk we will describe several years of work at Maya Health Alliance--a rural primary healthcare system in Guatemala-- to use mobile health technology to improve outcomes and rates of facility level care and to support lay midwives and other frontline healthworkers. This work is embedded within an institutional quality improvement framework, and therefore is also a useful case study for how quality improvement methods can be used effectively in low-resource settings.
About the Speaker
Peter is Chief Medical Officer of Maya Health Alliance, a primary healthcare organization which is dedicated to providing care to indigenous Maya populations in rural Guatemala. Peter has been working in rural Guatemala for more than 15 years. He trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital. When not in Guatemala he is based in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Hosted by
Beth A. Smith, PT, DPT, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry
Department of Pediatrics
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Director, Infant Neuromotor Control Laboratory
Ashwini Lakshmanan, MD, MS, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine,
USC Keck School of Medicine
Section Head, Epidemiology and Outcomes
Fetal and Neonatal Institute
Division of Neonatology
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Douglas Vanderbilt, MD
Director, MCHB Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Training Program
Director, California Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program
Attending Physician
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Additional Information
Lunch will be provided to seminar guests; first come, first served
Help us save plastic! Bring your own water bottles. Water will be available to fill your bottles.
Brought to you by TSRI Office of Training, Education, Career Planning & Development (TECPAD)
RSVP is required to tecpad@chla.usc.edu