The legacy of excellence that Xavier University of Louisiana has bolstered for nearly a century has been possible in no small part due to the great works of its alumni. Instilled with the mission to promote a more just and humane society, as gifted to the university by its foundresses St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, those who graduate from the nation’s only historically Black and Catholic institution have long fought for equity, social justice, and a better future. One such alum, Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell (‘00), the Senior Site Lead and Section Head of Women’s Services at Ochsner Health, Kenner, recently let her voice be heard across the nation after her op-ed on the stark realities of Black maternal health was published in the New York Times.  

Among 11 developed nations, America has the highest maternal mortality rate. For Black women in America, this rate is even worse, with the rate of Black maternal mortality more than two times that of white women. Frighteningly, these rates are only getting worse. Dr. Gillispie-Bell calls for solutions to this failing of the nation’s medical system in her thoughtful, powerful editorial. Read more here.