MCH Alum Joins CDC’s Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program

Dear MCH Friends and Partners:

I am excited to welcome Dr. Amanda Bennett, PhD, MPH, as CDC’s new Team Lead for the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program (MCHEP) within the Field Support Branch of CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health. In this critical leadership role, Dr. Bennett’s will support state MCH leaders through assignments of senior CDC maternal and child health (MCH) epidemiologists and fellows, training future MCH leaders, and increasing states’ ability to apply scientific evidence at the agencies where the senior MCH epidemiologists are assigned.

Dr. Bennett’s Bio:

Most recently, Dr. Bennett was the MCHEP Assignee to the State of Illinois for 9 years. In Illinois, she provided scientific leadership to the state’s maternal and child health (MCH) programs and conducted epidemiologic studies related to disease surveillance, needs assessment, and program evaluation. She built MCH epidemiology capacity in Illinois by helping the state create new positions, providing training/technical assistance to state colleagues, and mentoring more than 20 early career professionals through fellowships and internships. She supported data-driven decision-making for MCH programs and policies through projects such as: implementing the CDC’s Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe), transforming the state’s maternal mortality review process, supporting the data needs of the Perinatal Advisory Committee and Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, strengthening surveillance of perinatal mental health and substance use disorders, and developing the performance measure framework for the Illinois MCH Services/Title V program.

Before her MCHEP assignee tenure, she worked in applied epidemiology with the Illinois Title V program for seven years, including two years as a Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Applied Epidemiology Fellow. Her areas of expertise include maternal mortality and morbidity, infant mortality, breastfeeding, perinatal regionalization and levels of care, and perinatal mental health and substance use disorders. She is passionate about supporting workforce development for applied epidemiologists, communicating data effectively, and using science to inform evidence-based public health practice. She received her PhD and MPH in MCH epidemiology from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Dr. Bennett to the Field Support Branch’s leadership team.

Warm regards,

Carrie K. Shapiro-Mendoza, PhD, MPH (she/her)
Chief, Field Support Branch

Division of Reproductive Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention