Women in Medicine Month

At the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB), we are proud to use September (Women in Medicine Month) to recognize the outstanding women leaders driving our quality improvement (QI) efforts through their expertise, vision, and commitment to our Executive Committee and other workgroups and our internal staff. These women provide invaluable expertise and vision to drive our mission forward.

This Women in Medicine Month, we honor the women of TCHMB whose leadership and dedication are shaping perinatal QI efforts across our great state. Dr. Charleta Guillory, TCHMB chair, believes “The children of Texas need you — your voice, your passion, your vigor, your indomitable spirit.”

Their collective impact is reflected in the work of the remarkable women who serve on our Executive Committee and lead key initiatives across the state. As women medical leaders in Texas and nationwide, TCHMB women leaders in medicine advance health care quality and patient safety for all Texas mothers and babies.

Gloria Delgado, MSN, RNC-OB — Obstetrics Co-Chair, Executive Committee

Delgado serves as an Assistant Administrator of Women’s Services at University Medical Center of El Paso, overseeing labor and delivery, mother-baby care, and public health programs like Nurse Family Partnership. She brings extensive expertise in managing health care operations to ensure safe, high-quality care for mothers and babies.

Catherine Eppes, MD, MPH — Past Chair, Executive Committee

As Chief of Obstetrics at Ben Taub Hospital and a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine, Eppes focuses on quality, safety, and infectious disease management in pregnancy. She has collaborated with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Texas Medical Association (TMA) on initiatives including Zika virus prevention and perinatal care improvement.

Jasmine Farrish, CNM, MSN, MPH — At-Large Member, Executive Committee

Farrish, a Certified Nurse Midwife at Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, began her career as a postpartum doula and now oversees home visiting and midwifery programs. She is committed to providing personalized, nonjudgmental care to support families across the Dallas area.

Kendra Folh, DNP, RNC-OB, C-ONQS, CPHQ, LSSBB — Data Co-Chair, Executive Committee

Folh is Program Director for Women’s and Children’s Services at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. Drawing from her personal experience as a preterm birth survivor, she drives QI initiatives and collaborates nationally on perinatal safety to champion healthcare innovation for maternal and neonatal populations.

Alice Gong, MD — Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, Executive Committee

Gong is a Professor of Pediatrics at UT Health San Antonio and Medical Director of the PREMIEre program and the Mother-Baby Unit at University Hospital. She has spent decades advocating for newborns and families, advancing early neurodevelopmental care, and educating generations of clinicians through her research, publications, and presentations.

Gillian Gonzaba, NNPC — Neonatal Committee Co-Chair, Executive Committee

A Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and Associate Director for High Reliability/Patient Safety and Simulation at Pediatrix Medical Group, Gonzaba leads multidisciplinary teams focused on QI, patient safety, and neonatal care. She has extensive experience with simulation training and process improvement in neonatal medicine.

Charleta Guillory, MD, MPH, FAAP — Chair, Executive Committee

Guillory, Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the Neonatal-Perinatal Public Health Program at Texas Children’s Hospital, has led efforts to reduce Black infant mortality and improve newborn care. Her leadership in policy and community initiatives has had a profound impact on maternal and infant health statewide.

Sonal Zambare, MD — At-Large Member, Executive Committee member

Zambare, Assistant Professor of Obstetric Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine, brings expertise in anesthesia, analgesia, and critical care for mothers during birth and postpartum. She is actively involved in patient safety, education, and simulation programs, and she supports care for mothers with substance use disorders.

TCHMB also recognizes the invaluable contributions of the non-voting women of the Executive Committee, including Drs. Manda Hall, Gayle Olson, Rashmi Rode, Emily Briggs, Ashley Lucke, and Angela Moemeka, Misty Wilder, MSW, and TCHMB staff members Susan Dimitrijevic, MSN, BSN, RNC-NIC, and Ebony Sherrill, BSN, RN, whose collective expertise supports TCHMB’s mission and helps advance maternal and infant health across Texas.

To learn about the TCHMB Executive Committee members and staff, follow us on social media, subscribe to our newsletter, and view tchmb.org.

Meet Dr. Alice Gong, TCHMB Vice Chair

Dr. Alice Gong is the current vice chair of the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB). I spoke with Dr. Gong to learn more about her achievements and dedication to improving the health and well-being of newborns.

A Journey Rooted in Curiosity and Compassion

Dr. Gong's career began with a passion for medicine and a particular interest in pediatrics. She grew up in a small town in the Mississippi delta. After completing her undergraduate studies at Mississippi College, she began her journey in healthcare and entered medical school. Although she initially was drawn to pediatrics, it was during her clinical rotations that she was drawn to the complexities of neonatology. The delicate and critical transition that newborns make after birth fascinated her, leading her to pursue a residency in pediatrics and a subsequent fellowship in neonatology.

Significant Research in Neonatal Care Dr. Gong’s training and research has taken place across the United States. Her early research work in neonatology focused on neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, which at the time was the leading cause of death of infant mortality. She was part of some of the initial research on surfactant replacement therapy1, which became a cornerstone of neonatal care and was instrumental in improving mortality and morbidity for premature newborns.

Additional research areas included lung physiology, retinopathy of prematurity in partnership with retinal ophthalmologists, and breastfeeding quality improvement, the latter of which aligns with Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative with Safe Infant Sleep Modeling, a current TCHMB initiative.

A Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Dr. Gong’s commitment to improving neonatal and maternal healthcare remains strong. As vice chair, she hopes to ensure the progress made in urban hospitals is extended to small community hospitals, particularly those in rural areas. For Dr. Gong, the goal is to elevate care standards in high-level NICUs across the state, regardless of proximity to urban area hospitals.

In her words: "A woman that lives in rural Texas, her wants and desires for her child and her family are no different than someone who lives in an urban area."

A Legacy of Dedication

Dr. Alice K. Gong’s career is a testament to a lifetime of dedication to improving the health of newborns and supporting families in their most vulnerable moments. Through groundbreaking research, system-wide improvements, and a compassionate approach to neonatal care, Dr. Gong has changed the trajectory of countless lives. Her work continues to inspire future generations of healthcare professionals and advocates for maternal and neonatal health.

Her personal mission mirrors that of TCHMB, which works to advance healthcare quality and safety for all Texas mothers and babies and finds success in its collaboration-based efforts. Both Dr. Gong and TCHMB work to ensure better care standards can flourish across the state.

As she reflects on her career, Dr. Gong's mission remains clear: to create a world where every baby can grow up healthy, safe, and nurtured by their families and communities. Her legacy is one of scientific achievement and a profound expression of her compassion and commitment to improving the world for the most vulnerable.

Results from NAT Initiative show promising, meaningful clinical improvements in newborn healthcare

The NAT Initiative Executive Summary delivers background and overview information, results, key findings, and lessons learned from the Newborn Admission Temperature initiative.

The Newborn Admission Temperature (NAT) Initiative was the first TCHMB project to measure outcomes disaggregated by race and ethnicity from hospitals, an important step toward understanding and reducing disparities in perinatal healthcare and health outcomes in Texas. Of particular note are the following findings:

• The findings of decreased hypothermia among NICU admissions — in NICUs that consistently reported race and ethnicity disaggregated data — highlight the potential of statewide initiatives for improvement in settings caring for the most vulnerable newborns.

• The NAT Initiative identified significant disparities in hypothermia incidence, with newborns of non-Hispanic Black mothers having approximately twice the incidence compared to newborns of non-Hispanic White mothers.

More key findings, data, and conclusions & future directions are available in the NAT Initiative Executive Summary.

A Majority of Birthing Hospitals Enrolled in NAT Project

The Newborn Admission Temperature (NAT) Project is a TCHMB Quality Improvement project to increase the number of newborn infants with admission temperatures within the normal limits – released hospital-reported data from Oct.-Dec. 2021. The project uses this data to inform hospital quality assurance and performance improvement programs, ultimately affecting positive outcomes for infants who are at risk for illness, disease or death if they do not fall in the normal limits.  

From October to November 2021:  

• 3.1% of infants had hypothermia and 5.9% of infants had hyperthermia at admission to the NICU;  

• 0.5% of infants had hypothermia and 3.3 % of infants had hyperthermia at admission to the Mother-Baby Unit;  

• Very low birthweight infants were significantly more likely to have hypothermia and hyperthermia at NICU admission. 

TCHMB continues to work with the RAC Perinatal Care Region (PCR) Alliance in order to connect with every single hospital stakeholder across the state. The current number of enrolled hospitals is 158. It continues to be geographically well-represented across TX. In this reporting period, NAT project covered approximately 58% of annual deliveries in Texas (compared to 51% for the July-September 2021 reporting period).  

The summary is available on the NAT project page. 

Newborn Admission Temperature (NAT) Project Update

The Neonatal Committee of the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB) has completed two data collection periods for the Newborn Admission Temperature (NAT) Project. Of the 157 hospitals enrolled, 110 (70%) have submitted data for the most recent (second) data collection period. Overall, data quality has improved since the first data collection period, with more hospitals submitting data stratified by race/ethnicity. The NAT team is currently working on a report that will be published to the website in the coming month.

For hospitals needing additional support, we will provide weekly “NAT Office Hours” on Wednesdays from 12-2pm. Please feel free to drop in any time during these sessions for individual support. If you need the link for the meeting or if this time does not work for you, please reach out to us at nat@utsystem.edu.