Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1089662
13 t m c » p u l s e | m a r c h 2 0 1 9 Q | Although you will step down as pres- ident of ACOG in May, you will continue to act as interim CEO of the nonprofit, a post you accepted when the previous CEO retired last October. Does this mean you spend a lot of time in Washington, D.C.? A | I moved to D.C. Q | How has your life changed over the past year? A | It has been an amazing opportunity to have a chance to act on issues related to improving women's health on an international scale. We are developing programs and adopting policies that affect women across the globe. We completed a program in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine to reduce death from hemorrhage in Malawi. You know, I started on a local level, then on a state level and then, as president of ACOG, on a national level, and now as interim CEO, I'm working on this international scale to influence improvements in women's health. Q | How often do you get back to Houston? A | It's really variable. I try to be here a couple of times a month, and I still work remotely. My husband [Larry H. Hollier Jr., M.D., surgeon-in- chief and S. Baron Hardy Chair in Plastic Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital] teases me because I'm always working. He's still here. Q | Do you have children? A | One son. He's 19. He's a freshman at Duke this year and he wants to be a pediatric plastic surgeon, just like his dad. Q | When you became president of ACOG, you announced three initiatives you planned to roll out, one of which had to do with pregnancy and heart disease. A | When I was president-elect I started a mul- tidisciplinary task force on pregnancy and heart disease, because we know that cardiac causes account for one in four maternal deaths. The idea with that was to update the clinical guidance that ACOG provides to clinicians. We pulled together cardiologists, high risk pregnancy specialists, general OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners, midwives, ER physicians—everyone who was going to touch these women was brought into the same room and we came up with guidelines. And that new guidance will be released, we believe, in May. My own practice identified two women with cardiac disease because of implementing these new guidelines. ➟