On October 21st, Mary Beth Morrissey, PhD, JD, chaired the statewide New York State Bar Association Health Law Section Fall Meeting Program held in Saratoga.

A major focus of the meeting was Dr. Morrissey’s priority focus on maternal health and maternal mortality and morbidity. Dr. Morrissey chaired a five-member panel addressing the history of racism in the United States, persistent racial inequities in access to maternal health care, and a growing body of research evidence documenting the detrimental impacts of private equity ownership on maternal health outcomes. Dr. Morrissey also served as guest editor of a Special Issue of the NYSBA Health Law Journal devoted to maternal health, writing on the “Entanglements of Law, Jurisprudence, and Science and Their Contributions to Structural Racism and Disparate Treatment in Black Maternal Health.”

Dr. Morrissey also presented at the State Society on Aging of New York Conference on September 30th on “Health Equity: From Birthing to Brain Health to Palliative Care,” addressing life-course health inequities among black women.