Medical student creates app to empower women and save lives
Ijeoma Uche seeks to better inform women of color about healthy pregnancies, prevent maternal deaths and advance health equity
(SACRAMENTO)
When second-year medical student Ijeoma Uche isn’t studying or researching, she’s plugging away at an app she co-created that’s gaining national attention for reducing health disparities.
The app, Birth By Us, is a pregnancy, birth and postpartum platform that uses data analytics and AI to empower families of color toward a healthy perinatal experience.
So how does a UC Davis School of Medicine student have time to work on an app? She makes the time — because of the urgent needs behind it.
Uche is driven by alarming statistics. Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than women of other races and ethnicities. A staggering 84% of pregnancy related deaths deaths are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk of postpartum depression is 1.6 times higher for Black women than White women.
Ijeoma Uche, an aspiring physician, wants her Birth By Us app to improve pregnancy and postpartum outcomes and reduce preventable pregnancy-related deaths and complications.
“It’s definitely disappointing as someone in medicine and as a Black woman,” Uche said. “But knowing that so many people are working on this mission now gives me hope.”
The app was released last year for iPhone and Android users. It is based on a website Uche and her co-founder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Mercy Oladipo, created a few years ago, when Uche was a recent Brown University graduate and Oladipo was still an undergraduate.
But that’s not Uche’s only accomplishment. Far from it.
Along the way, she has contributed to numerous research papers on women’s health and won technology startup contests to support her digital advocacy projects. She has taught herself coding, dominated NCAA long-jump competitions and attained a master’s in public health.
“Ijeoma is driven — driven as a scholar, and mission-driven to reduce maternal health disparities,” said Susan D. Brown, a mentor and UC Davis Health internist who researches maternal health equity. “Her outstanding intellect, openness to new knowledge, skill in collaboration, and commitment to advancing tech-enabled solutions to address health inequities make her truly exciting to work with.”
Passionate about solving a maternal health crisis
Uche was born and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, outside Atlanta, and always gravitated toward a career in health care — it ran in the family.
Her mother is a nurse. Her older sister is an anesthesiology resident at Tulane University School of Medicine. Her younger sister is a recent nursing graduate.
Uche was aware of women’s health disparities long ago. She took a deeper interest in the topic as an undergraduate student at Brown University. “I got introduced to public health, then the maternal health crisis we’re in,” Uche said, “specifically for people who look like me.”
The more Uche researched the worrisome outcomes of maternal health, the more she realized that the recommendations in published studies weren’t reaching the people who most need to hear it — women in marginalized communities before, during and after their pregnancy.
“There’s great academic literature, but it’s a disservice to mothers because it doesn’t provide any actionable steps for them to feel empowered, and that didn’t sit well with me,” Uche said.
“How can we address whatever needs moms have right now, in real time?”
The answer would lead to the development of the website, Birth By Us.
Medical student Ijeoma Uche co-created the Birth By Us app to provide much-needed information to women — before, during and after they give birth — and their care providers. The app uses data analytics and AI to advance health equity among women of color.
Launching a website and app
To get there, Uche connected with Oladipo, who was studying biology and computer science. They conducted more than 250 focus groups with health care providers and maternity experts across the U.S, all connected to the birthing process.
The site launched in 2021, shortly after Uche arrived at UC Berkeley to pursue her master’s in maternal, child, and adolescent health.
Birth By Us is what Uche calls “a digital perinatal equity, co-built with the communities it seeks to empower.” It provides data-driven insights and community resources. The site displays photos of mothers from diverse backgrounds with their babies and partners. A prominent banner states: “You are irreplaceable. We take care of you so you can take care of your newborn.”
The Birth By Us app uses data analytics and AI to empower families of color during pregnancy and postpartum, identifying and adapting to their needs. The platform starts with holistic health check-ins, flags warning signs and guides users in advocating for themselves in health care settings. It offers tailored resources such as articles, videos, events, and community groups — and soon, community-based organizations — while providing health care providers with insights from user feedback.
Uche and her team continue to improve the app based on community feedback. They are working on making it a centralized hub where families can easily access and connect with community-based organizations and birthing professionals to improve referrals and care continuity.
“We want to give families a patient-centered tool to give them confidence and assist in their journey, and when to seek care,” Uche said.
In addition to providing valuable resources to pregnant and postpartum women, Uche also informs health care providers and hospital systems how to best support their patients’ pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences. In doing so, Uche seeks to reduce preventable maternal deaths and complications.
The app and website are run by 15 people, including physicians and paid staffers, under the direction of Uche and Oladipo.
Winning recognition in technology competitions
After receiving her MPH from UC Berkeley in 2023, Uche was accepted at the UC Davis School of Medicine. She started her medical education in ARC-MD, Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors. That’s the five-year pathway with an emphasis on research and career mentorship. Driven by her enthusiasm to expand her knowledge and impact, Uche transitioned into the MD-PhD program to further deepen her research and training. She is enthusiastically supported by mentors.
Uche and Oladipo, a recent Fulbright scholar, fund their research and operations through private and public grants. They’ve also been fortunate to receive top honors and prestigious recognition in technology startup competitions, including:
Like other ARC-MD and M.D.-Ph.D students, Uche must rely on external funding to support her research, which is separate from the work she puts into the app. She recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to study gestational diabetes.
The M.D./Ph.D program at the UC Davis School of Medicine allows Ijeoma Uche to concentrate on pregnancy related research.
Last year, Uche was the sole medical student on a team of experienced faculty members and other experts from UC Davis Health that received funding from the Association of American Medical Colleges for a new telehealth program to improve perinatal outcomes for Black women.
The program’s goals are closely aligned with Uche’s passion and experience.
One of the telehealth program’s team members is Jennifer Rosenthal, a pediatrician who is also a mentor to Uche.
“Ijeoma is exceptionally hardworking, innovative and collaborative. She is such a pleasure to work with,” Rosenthal said. “Her enthusiasm and passion are inspiring and contagious.”
Rosenthal then went on to make a prediction:
“I foresee a remarkable career ahead for Ijeoma as a physician scientist who reduces disparities in perinatal care and maternal health outcomes for Black birthing people.”
