04/19/2026
She did “everything right.” She was a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologist. She knew the risks of Black maternal mortality and postpartum hypertension better than most of the clinicians who would treat her.
She chose a strong OB-GYN, built a detailed birth plan and followed every instruction to bring Soleil into this world safely.
And yet, Shalon had been trying to tell providers she didn’t feel right after childbirth. Her blood pressure was dangerously high. Her legs were swollen. She was gaining weight rapidly. And still, they sent her home.
One night, my daughter collapsed. She would never wake up. Shalon died just seven days later from childbirth-associated blood pressure complications.
Shalon was so much more than a maternal mortality statistic. She served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She was the first student to earn a dual-titled Ph.D. in sociology and gerontology from Purdue. She was committed to putting research into practice, working with communities and using participatory approaches that treated people as partners, not simply subjects. She was a once-in-a-generation public health mind.
And yet, the system that is supposed to keep new mothers alive failed her anyway.
Read this full piece, contributed by Wanda Irving, founder, CEO and board chair of Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project ➡️ https://bit.ly/4cgx56f
🖋️ : Wanda Irving for the AJC
