Preeclampsia Foundation hosts Capitol Hill Briefing on Improving Maternal Mortality & Morbidity
Washington, DC – April 11, 2024 – On April 10, one day before the start of Black Maternal Health Week, the Preeclampsia Foundation in partnership with Thermo Fisher Diagnostics held a Hill Briefing – “Putting Pressure on Maternal Morbidity & Mortality.” Congresswomen Kim (R-CA) and Kelly (D-IL), co-chairs of the Bipartisan Maternity Care Caucus opened the event with remarks about the importance of finding new solutions to identify and manage preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Eleni Tsigas, CEO of the Preeclampsia Foundation and Ebony Ford, a two-time survivor of preeclampsia, spoke about the importance of self-measured blood pressure during pregnancy and the postpartum period, highlighting the Foundation’s successful CuffKit™ program to get blood pressure cuffs and education information into the hands of all pregnant and postpartum moms. The Foundation highlighted the role of the federal Healthy Start program in providing cuffs and information to underserved communities. Cornelia Graves, MD, Medical Director for Perinatal Services at Ascension Saint Thomas spoke about advances in identifying and managing preeclampsia through new biomarkers recently approved for preeclampsia management by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The panel highlighted the dire importance of addressing the scourge of preeclampsia along with the hope of a more robust toolbox of solutions promising better outcomes.
Over seventy Congressional Staffers, Administration officials, and community partners attended the briefing.
About the Preeclampsia Foundation
The Preeclampsia Foundation is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2000 to improve the outcomes of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy by educating, supporting, and engaging the community, improving healthcare practices, and finding a cure. We envision a world where preeclampsia and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy no longer threaten the lives of mothers and babies. For more information, visit www.preeclampsia.org.
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