The number of women who die giving birth in the U.S. each year has doubled in the last two decades.  Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications, and 80% of maternal deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented.  These are just some of the staggering statistics on women’s healthcare in the U.S.

Dr. Denise Howard has devoted her career to women’s health care.  Specifically, she works tirelessly to help identify ways that health practitioners and hospital systems can deliver first rate preventative care and interventions so that women’s health problems are diagnosed early, and so that women’s health care emergencies are identified and treated so that no woman falls through the cracks.

Dr. Howard is the Site Chief at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Vice Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology.  A native of Columbus, MS., Dr. Howard completed her undergraduate work at the University of Mississippi and then attended Johns Hopkins, receiving a MD in 1993. She completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Magee Women’s Hospital in 1997 and then a fellowship in Urogynecology at the University of Michigan.

In this episode, Dr. Howard talks with Leslie about disparities in women health outcomes – from female cancer diagnoses to maternal mortality – and the practices and procedures that can be implemented to address them.

Dr. Howard is a real inspiration. Leslie learned so much, and thoroughly enjoyed their conversation – she knows you will too. If you enjoy The Interview with Leslie, please subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review. Follow us on Instagram @theinterviewwithleslie.