Charlotte Stow is a second year MCH MPH student at the University of Minnesota (UMN), minoring in epidemiology. This MPH program is affiliated with UMN’s Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Health. She also works for the Center as a research assistant and looks forward to her second year in this role. Charlotte complete her B.A. in Biology, Society, and Environment from the University of Minnesota. Outside of school, she enjoys reading, hiking, and listening to loud music.
Voices at the Center: Honoring Lived Experience to Advance Maternal and Child Health
[8: Lived Experience in MCH]
About You
What is your Maternal and Child Health (MCH) focus area?
I am passionate about addressing maternal health inequities, primarily by filling long-standing gaps in women’s health research.
What do you want other MCH students to know about this particular issue within our field?
American clinical studies were not legally required to include women and/or racial minorities until 1993, when the NIH Revitalization Act was enacted (Office of Research on Women’s Health, 2024). There is a lot of ground to make up in this space, particularly when it comes to comprehensive and pain-free delivery of gynecologic care, research of chronic conditions such as endometriosis, and maternal health conditions and supportive delivery care. Enriching women’s health scholarship is an essential step in ensuring maternal and child health populations have access to equitable, quality healthcare.
What sparked your interest in MCH? Why is it important for you to explore MCH (versus other disciplines or areas of public health)?
My interest in maternal and child public health began in my roles as a nursing assistant and a medical assistant. I saw health disparities play out in real-time: high healthcare costs, frequent insurance denials, long appointment waiting lists, and inequities in access to and quality of care for non-English speaking patients and patients of color, I was drawn to addressing these issues at a systemic level. I connected with researchers at the clinic I worked for, who inspired me with their ‘upstream’ approaches to broadening care delivery and promoting innovation. I found joy working with the elderly, pregnant women and mothers, and children at the clinic, and felt compelled to serve these vulnerable populations.
MCH is uniquely vital compared to other disciplines of public health, as the health of mothers and children directly dictates the long-term wellbeing of society. I am also motivated by all of the incredible women and mothers in my life that deserve compassionate care.
How would you describe yourself?
Driven, extroverted, advocate.
Project or Practicum Experience
Describe a specific project, practicum or internship you participated in. What was your role and what did you work on?
For my practicum, I completed a Title V internship with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in Salt Lake City, UT, in collaboration with a graduate student from the University of Pittsburgh’s Center of Excellence. Our primary project was creating a toolkit for caregivers of children with incarcerated parents. This population is often overlooked, despite these kids being at an increased-risk for childhood adversity. Children with incarcerated parents are exposed to nearly five times more ACEs, on average, than their peers (Turney, 2018). The impact of these experiences manifests in many behavioral and emotional health outcomes, as the incarceration of a parent in childhood is linked with high externalizing behaviors, depression and anxiety, and academic difficulties (Muentner et al., 2025). My fellow intern and I assembled resources, educational materials, and useful tips related to coping with an incarcerated loved one as well as healthy caregiving approaches. We assembled these materials into a PDF to be shared with DHHS’s community partners, particularly those who work closely with the justice system. In this role, I also worked closely with local library outreach and created informational materials related to current topics in MCH.
Which MCH Leadership Competency (or competencies) most connects to this work? What were key outcomes or impacts from your project—on the community, organization/agency or yourself?
This experience aligns closely with MCH Leadership Competency 8, Lived Experience in MCH. During the project, we were guided by DHHS’s community partners, including those with lived experience delivering their child while incarcerated. Additionally, my internship partner and I visited the Utah State Correctional Facility to connect directly with incarcerated pregnant people. The Department of Corrections’ Intergenerational Program Director, a clinical social worker by training, introduced us to the incarcerated moms that she works with. Their stories significantly informed our approaches to the toolkit, and it was overall a moving and inspirational connection.
The toolkit is currently undergoing approvals, and is not yet publicly available; however, we received positive feedback after presenting our final draft to Utah DHHS’s incarcerated mothers subcommittee. This workgroup is comprised of justice-involved social workers, passionate pediatricians, and state correctional and public health professionals.
Please share a story about how you helped inform, contribute to or analyze a Title V program. What skills did you use to evaluate its impact? How did this inform your understanding of systems-level MCH issues?
Although my Title V experience was brief, I was able to contribute to a wide array of projects related to Utah’s 2026-2030 Title V objectives. To aid these goals, my internship partner and I supported state outreach efforts to local libraries. We created a list of Salt Lake City and County libraries located in high-need areas, determined using the Utah Health Improvement Index, and organized materials to share with them. We then drove to 13 local libraries to deliver these resources, each one receiving maternal resource guides, maternal mental health handouts, refugee support guides, and maternal cardiac condition awareness flyers. This project supported Utah’s Title V goals of advancing maternal health through education as well as strengthening community connection.
Although we have not conducted any formal evaluation on our projects, the short-term outcomes of this project fulfilled our initial goals, and most library representatives expressed interest and enthusiasm around sharing these maternal health materials with patrons. While this remains, the process of delivering to each location was quite tedious. One lesson learned was that it would be beneficial to get in contact with a city or country library representative immediately to accelerate the process. Given more time, we would have liked to return to the library locations to determine if and how the resources are being displayed. We would also have enjoyed using these lessons learned to inform an extension of this project, perhaps to target specific populations such as mothers in rural communities.
Navigating state public health initiatives quickly revealed how siloed public health departments can be, both internally and externally. My library project was one example of how to remedy such disconnection. Title V agencies can learn from community members that are working at a grassroots level, such as the library social workers who guided our efforts. Leveraging these partnerships is one path towards authentic community connection and trust-building, which is necessary for program sustainability and ethical practice.
Reflection and Growth
Explore the role of self-reflection in your growth as an MCH professional. How has reflecting on your learnings or experiences helped you align your career goals with the MCH competency/competencies you previously mentioned?
The first year of my MPH degree absolutely flew by. Reflecting on my experiences has shown me just how much I have learned in my first year of graduate school. The Title V Internship was truly a crash course in MCH practice. Applying these lessons to my future goals, it has reinforced my desire to embed research and intervention efforts in the community in a non-extractive way. I am also passionate about incorporating advocacy into my public health practice. I envision myself continuing to work with MCH populations disproportionately impacted by systemic discrimination, such as those in the carceral system. As a result of my coursework and research assistant role, I aim to continue research in some capacity, whether this is academic or community-based.
How do you define leadership in MCH, and what kind of leader do you hope to be?
I believe leadership in MCH is a skill to work towards, rather than an innate attribute. I hope to be a leader that reaches across the aforementioned siloes to amplify the voices of the populations that we serve, combining evidence and data with advocacy and grassroots expertise.
How did mentorship, collaboration or interdisciplinary teamwork contribute to your learning?
Interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration drove me to a degree in public health. Working in a clinical setting revealed the daily manifestations of health inequities. It was not until I began my coursework and internship that I understood the possibility of effecting change in this space. I aim to use my clinical experience to understand how interventions will realistically translate in medical spaces.
What is one tool, class, resource or product that you’d suggest other MCHers check out, and why?
For any first-year students looking for an internship, I couldn’t recommend the Title V Internship enough. I gained practical MCH experience, met incredible peers and mentors, all while enjoying my summer in a new city. Click the links below to learn more:
Title V MCH Internship Program
Students Celebrate Successes of the Summer 2026 Title V MCH Internship Program
What is one insight you want to share with a prospective student considering joining the MCH field within public health at large?
The MCH field is rich with genuine, passionate people. This is the right place to be for those who are driven to make a difference in the lives of mothers and families.
