PublicHealth Focus/Interests:
As an African American female, Dr. McCoy White saw and experienced health disparities and maternal health disparities first-hand. Many of the women in her family had high risk pregnancies even though they had insurance through their employers. They experienced the lack of being heard when they felt something was not quite right during and after their pregnancy. That led to many of her family members having premature births or, unfortunately, losing their infant. Dr. McCoy has shares her own experience with health disparities:
"As a mother, I experienced the worst possible healthcare customer service one could imagine. I have four children and my oldest was 13 years-old at the time. She was experiencing pain in her neck and having terrible headaches. None of the over-the-counter medicine worked; I decided to take her to urgent care. They stated she had pulled a muscle because she is an athlete and told me to continue with the medicine I was giving her. It did not work; she got worse, and we went to the emergency room where she told them her vision was blurry. They told her it was because she is in pain, and the pain is affecting her vision. They never examined her eyes and sent me home with valium for a 13-year-old. I decided to take her to Walmart to get her vision checked. Walmart then saw her optic nerves bleeding. They let me know the hospital should have done a CT scan or MRI to see why her vision was so blurry. The bleeding was so bad that the Optometrist stated my daughter could have lost her sight if I did not get her to the emergency room immediately. This was a very scary and frustrating ordeal for my daughter; she no longer trusts physicians she encounters now. These experiences have propelled me to advocate for health equity."
Education:
Doctor of Public Health, 2019
Capella University, Minneapolis, MN
Master of Public Administration, 2005
University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI
Bachelor of Arts, Chemistry, 1999
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Professional Experience/Expertise:
- Community Engagement
- Health Equity
- Safe and affordable housing advocate
- Maternal Child and Infant Health
- Social Determinants of Health
- Health Disparities
Professional Activities or Current Research:
- Maternal Health Multilevel Intervention for Racial Equity (MIRACLE) Project. This project has three levels, system level, community level, and provider level.
- Appathon: similar to a Hackathon. Engage with community members and organizations to develop a computerized application for health equity intervention.
Recent Publications, Presentations:
Johnson, J. E., Roman, L., Key, K. D., Vander Meulen, M., Raffo, J. E., Luo, Z., Margerison, C. E., Olomu, A., Johnson-Lawrence, V., McCoy White, J., & Meghea, C. Study protocol: The Maternal Health Multilevel Intervention for Racial Equity (Maternal Health MIRACLE) Project. Contemporary Clinical Trials, Volume 120, September 2022, 106894.
Hailemariam, M, Bustos, T.E., Felton, J.W., Key, K., Greer, D., Jefferson, B.L., Miller, R., Richie, F., Summers, M., McCoy White, J., & *Johnson, J.E. (2022). Belonging to something greater than self: Flint women giving back to the community. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. https://preprint.press.jhu.edu/pchp/preprints/belonging-something-greater-self-flint-women-giving-back-community
Sneed, R., Hailemariam, M., Key, K. D., Jordan, T., Richie, F., Saddler, S., Spencer, B., Summers, M., White, J. M., & *Johnson, J. E. (2021). Developing and maintaining intergenerational relationships in an economically vulnerable community: Findings from the Flint Women’s Study. Journal of Women & Aging
Masten, M., Vega, S., Hailemariam, M., Kagotho, N., Key, K., Jefferson, B., Muhammad, J., Summers, M., Spencer, B., Robinson, D., Richie, F., Miller, R., McCoy White, J., Greer, D., and *Johnson, J.E. (2020). The Flint Women’s Study: Community perspectives on contraception and family planning, sexuality education, and barriers to reproductive health. Culture, Health, and Sexuality, Jun 2, 1-15.
Hailemariam, M., Felton, J.W., Key, K., Greer D., Jefferson, B.L., Muhammad, J., Miller, R., Richie, F., Robinson, D., Saddler, S., Spencer, B., Summers, M., McCoy White, J., & *Johnson, J.E. (2020). Intersectionality, special populations, needs and suggestions: The Flint Women’s Study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 19(1), 18. PMC6995063.
Hailemariam, M., Bustos, T., Felton, J., Key, K., Green, D., Jefferson, B., Muhammad, J., Robinson, D., Saddler, S., Spencer, B., Miller, R., Richie, F., Summers, M., McCoy White, J., & *Johnson, J. E. “We bounce back from the worst of the worst”: Assets of Flint-area women identified in the Flint Women’s Study. Journal of Community Psychology (2023).
