By Tihut Tamrat, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., community members, grassroots organizers, and healthcare professionals gathered at the Southeastern Live Well Center for the “Healthy Hearts, Healthy Mothers” luncheon; an educational event focused on confronting the long-standing disparities impacting Black maternal wellness in San Diego. Hosted by State Senator Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson and co-sponsored by the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), the luncheon elevated both data and lived experiences connected to maternal outcomes and chronic disease among Black women.
Three featured speakers: Courtney Christian, Deputy Vice President of Policy and Research at PhRMA; Dr. Crystal Cené, Chief Administrative Officer and Associate Chief Medical Officer for Health Equity at UC San Diego Health; and Semise Daley, Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and doctoral candidate at Azusa Pacific University, outlined the interconnected medical and structural factors shaping Black maternal health.
These experts emphasized that heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes disproportionately affect Black women and continue to shape outcomes before conception, throughout pregnancy, and long into the postpartum period. Limited access to high-quality healthcare, insurance gaps, financial stress, and a shortage of culturally competent providers only compound these risks.
A central theme of the luncheon was that these disparities cannot be understood in isolation from systemic inequity. Dr. Cené reminded attendees that “Race is a social construct, a human invented classification system that was produced by white Europeans used to justify the enslavement of the growing number of Black people. It was really for economic reasons.”
She continued, “Racism is really the root cause of these inequities that we see. Racism is not a character flaw. It is not a personal failing. But it is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on how one looks.”
PFCD’s national findings reinforce this dynamic of Black women being:
- 60% more likely to have high blood pressure.
- Significantly higher risks for diabetes and heart disease.
- More likely to develop gestational diabetes, increasing future risk of Type 2 diabetes
- More likely to experience worsening hypertension postpartum, raising long-term heart disease risks
Black women experience nearly every major maternal morbidity condition at higher rates, up to three times more, even when education and income are the same. These cumulative burdens frequently go untreated until pregnancy magnifies them, leading to mortality rates more than four times higher.
Speaker Courtney Christian, a mother herself, shared her own near-fatal experience with a late gestational diabetes diagnosis. Motivated by that experience, she now leads work advancing health equity through clinical trial diversity, research, policy development, and expanding a diverse industry talent pipeline.
Speaker Semise Daley, mentioned her ongoing dissertation research exploring how three factors shape Black woman’s experience with high blood pressure: confidence in managing self-care behaviors known as the Sociocultural Stress and Coping Experience (SCSE), which reflects cultural pressures on Black women to be strong and self-sacrificing; Superwoman Schema (SWS), and the Social Cognitive Model of Hypertension(SCM of HHTN), which looks at how individuals recognize and manage symptoms and lifestyle changes.
Why This Matters for San Diego Communities
Locally, the luncheon highlighted the direct impact of these issues on Black families across Southeastern San Diego. Speakers discussed strengthening prenatal and postpartum care, expanding cardiovascular screenings, and addressing the “Strong Black Woman” schema, which often prevents Black women from seeking the support they need.
For attendees like Antoinette Miles, an intern with Serra Mesa Village of San Diego (SMVSD), a non-profit organization that supports adults 55+ with resources and a village to remain engaged and independent in their own homes, the event resonated personally.
Miles shared, “The eye-opener for me, being an African-American woman, was all of the statistics of the cardiovascular complications and the risks that it poses specifically to Black women. Having high blood pressure myself and having to check it with a monitor regularly, I thought it was a nuisance, but now I really see the importance, and I am grateful to have a doctor who cares for me. It was great to be in a room of women professionals who looked like me.”
Inspired by the SMVSD model, Miles aims to create a similar village in the 92114 area code by 2026: one that supports the Black elderly community medically, socially, emotionally, and across generations.
Proposed Solutions and the Path Forward
Speakers closed the luncheon with targeted solutions to reduce Black maternal mortality and strengthen the health of Black women:
- Increase cardiovascular and chronic-disease screenings before, during, and after pregnancy.
- Invest and expand access to culturally competent maternal and mental health providers, including Black physicians, midwives, and doulas.
- Build neighborhood-based community support hubs modeled after village networks, to reduce isolation and connect families to services.
- Strengthen data collection and drive policy based on equity and evidence.
- Advocate for policies addressing housing, food insecurity, transportation, childcare, and economic instability.
Dr. Cené leaves us with her concluding thought, “These disparities are not inevitable; they are the result of structures, policies, and practices we can change. When Black women thrive, communities thrive. We can choose to re-imagine and re-build a system that affords everyone the opportunity for health.”
Ways You Can Take Action Today
- Join a Health Study:
If you’re an African American woman (18–64), born in the U.S., and living in Southern California, you may qualify for Semise Daley’s research study. It takes 60–90 minutes and includes a brief health survey and a blood pressure check. Participants receive a free automated BP monitor (while supplies last) and a $15 gift card. Contact Mrs. Semise Daley at (619) 438-0555 or at sdaley@apu.edu for more information. - Support a Local Senior Village:
Visit https://serramesavillage.org/index.html to learn how you can help Antoinette Miles launch a senior village in the 92114 community. - Protect Your Health:
Schedule an appointment with your physician to get screened for high blood pressure and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
