Megan V. Smith, DrPh, MPH, assistant professor of psychiatry, in the Child Study Center and of epidemiology at Yale, and director of the New Haven Mental Health Outreach for Mothers (MOMS) Partnership, will speak at the first White House Summit on Women June 14 in Washington, D.C.
Smith will speak about women’s mental health and poverty, and talk about her experiences with the MOMS Partnership, which seeks to transform service delivery systems for mothers and children in New Haven through community and neighborhood-based resources dedicated to wellness.
This is Smith’s second visit to the White House this year to advocate on behalf of mothers and children. She is the principal investigator on several federally-funded and philanthropic grants focused on depression, trauma, and smoking interventions in pregnancy, the postpartum period, and the parenting years.
The White House conference, officially called The United State of Women Summit, will cover gender equality issues and topics like economic empowerment, health and wellness, education, violence against women, entrepreneurship and innovation, and leadership and civic engagement. It is an effort to rally together advocates of gender equality to highlight what women have achieved, identify remaining challenges, and prepare a plan for how to address them.
Organizers say approximately 5,000 people have registered to attend. A livestream of the events on June 14 may be seen here.