Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women Initiative Awards Grant to Morehouse School of Medicine's Center for Maternal Health Equity
The funds will help underwrite work to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
ATLANTA -- June 1, 2021 -- Morehouse School of Medicine today announced it received a grant from Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women investment initiative. The funds will be used to build key partnerships, conduct research, and train clinicians to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality locally, nationally, and globally through its Center for Maternal Health Equity, which was established in 2019.
Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center for Maternal Health Equity works to directly address the disproportionate pregnancy-related mortality rate that Black women face in comparison to white women. Sixty percent of maternal deaths are preventable and through this investment, Morehouse School of Medicine and partners such as Goldman Sachs seek to reverse this troubling statistic.
Morehouse School of Medicine President Valerie Montgomery Rice MD, and a member of the One Million Black Women Advisory Council, said, “I would like to extend my gratitude to Goldman Sachs for their support through the One Million Black Women investment initiative. My goal for the Center for Maternal Health Equity is to create a model that can be used across the nation and globally to empower others to advocate and work on behalf of women. Currently, maternity mortality rates are unacceptable; women deserve to live through the experience of childbirth, hold their baby and go home.”
"The research is clear, and we've heard from thousands of Black women across the nation; there is a deficit in access to culturally competent maternal health care. This foundational grant to the Morehouse School of Medicine will be transformative for the lives of Black women and their families,” said Margaret Anadu, global head of Sustainability and Impact for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We are so thrilled to develop a sustainable partnership and believe in the leadership of Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice and the entire team at the Morehouse School of Medicine to see this work through."
Notable accomplishments by the Center for Maternal Health Equity includes the Maternal Mortality Stakeholder Group (MMSG). In partnership with organizations such as Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, the MMSG has established a committee within the Georgia Legislature to examine maternal morbidity and mortality. MMSG helped to extend postpartum Medicaid to six months and restore funding to most maternal health initiatives. MMSG also hosted a maternal health forum to increase awareness and provide resources to more than 300 women in Atlanta.
The Center for Maternal Health Equity serves on several state and national boards, including the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee, and the American College of Gynecology and Obstetrics and March of Dimes.
Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center for Maternal Health Equity and the Johnson & Johnson Health of Women Team have also partnered to establish the Georgia Maternal Health Research for Action Steering Committee, which brings researchers, policy experts and clinicians together to align on evidence-based solutions to improve maternal health for Black women in Georgia.
The funding from Goldman Sachs will advance these initiatives, create new opportunities for the Center, and support:
- Culturally competent and knowledgeable communications training among providers, which can prevent health mismanagement, delays, failure in diagnoses and poor patient advocacy.
- Additional training and education for perinatal professionals, and initiatives to create a pipeline of more diverse caregivers.
- Creation of a rural maternity health residency program designed to expand maternal health workforce in Georgia.
In partnership with Black-women-led organizations, financial institutions and other partners, Goldman Sachs has committed $10 billion in direct investment capital and $100 million in philanthropic capital over the next decade to address the dual disproportionate gender and racial biases that Black women have faced for generations, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. The initiative, One Million Black Women, is named for and guided by the goal of impacting the lives of at least one million Black women by 2030.
About Morehouse School of Medicine
Founded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is among the nation’s leading educators of primary care physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals. An independent and private historically-Black medical school, MSM was recognized by the Annals of Internal Medicine as the nation’s number one medical school in fulfilling a social mission—the creation and advancement of health equity. MSM faculty and alumni are noted for excellence in teaching, research, and public policy, as well as exceptional patient care. MSM is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award doctoral and master’s degrees. To learn more about programs and donate today, please visit www.msm.edu or call 404-752-1500.
About Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment banking, securities, investment management and consumer banking to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.
Media Contact
Nicole Linton
404-756-5238
nlinton@msm.edu