Wanda Barfield was a panelist for The Forum’s discussion on Deaths from Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Dr. Barfield is the Director of the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She is responsible for promoting CDC’s Safe Motherhood Initiative, which works for optimal and equitable reproductive health, maternal health, and infant health through research, surveillance, programs, and partnerships. Dr. Barfield joined CDC in 2000 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and became Director of DRH in 2010. As director, she has strengthened CDC’s Winnable Battle on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, global and domestic maternal mortality prevention, and maternal and infant health surveillance. She also helped produce a national action plan on infertility. Dr. Barfield’s research includes over 60 publications on racial disparities in preterm delivery, stillbirth, and infant health outcomes. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and an adjunct associate professor at the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Barfield is board-certified in both general pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine and continues to provide care for critically ill newborns. She received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University and completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Harvard.
