Dr. Wyche-Etheridge has a strong interest in prenatal and perinatal health outcomes/disparities, especially as they relate to infant mortality. In her most recent position, she oversew 13 programs, ranging from school health to home visiting programs. She has introduced programs for at-risk pregnant teens and to promote community health screenings, as well as educational and maternal health programming through area faith-based institutions. She initiated a program for high school students to learn the basics of public health, and established Lentz University, an internal employee public health 101 program to guide the health department towards accreditation. She served as interim chief medical officer for the department, as well as co-director. In 2003, she founded the Nashville chapter of the Birthing Project. She is committed to improving the quality, access, and acceptability of care for underprivileged, underserved children, teens, and families, and to changing the systems that perpetuate the inequities. She participates actively in community advocacy and outreach initiatives, and uses the media to spread health messages throughout the community. She has worked to change clinical practice by teaching medical students and master’s students to practice culturally-competent primary care and public health. Dr. Wyche-Etheridge sees the transition of health policy into practice at the level of the community as the key to improving health.
Dr. Wyche-Etheridge received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA in 1993, and completed her pediatric residency at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 1996. She received her M.P.H. in 2000 from the Harvard School of Public Health while completing a CFHU Fellowship.
I had the opportunity to speak at a statewide meeting recently on the subject of infant mortality. This is an area of interest that I have always had, but did not have the tools as a primary care provider to make a difference. Talking to patients one-on-one was not moving the numbers. When I did the fellowship, so many light bulbs brightened. I learned the skills needed to play the public health chess game, and play it well. The leadership training has enabled me to take a step forward and align myself as the infant mortality “State” expert. With the presentation skills, and media training we did as fellows, I have made a name for myself. The connections to high level people in the CDC and Federal Government have provided me with information and insight that continues to be beneficial to me on a daily basis. Although I haven’t successfully eliminated perinatal health disparities yet, I have been able to put enough pieces of the disparities puzzle together to start the process. None of this would have been possible without the lessons learned as a fellow.