Alumni Spotlight: Steel Valley alumna Jennifer Barkin helping new mothers with resource bearing her name

Understanding the challenges new mothers and their infants are facing is a critical component of healthcare. To better track the health and well-being of new moms and their children, Steel Valley alumna Jennifer Barkin, now a Professor and Vice Chair of Community Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Mercer School of Medicine in Georgia, is using a tool that she developed while at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF) can be completed by new moms or their doctors at appointments. It helps assess where the moms - and their babies - are doing well and determines areas where they might be struggling. It focuses particularly on self-care, as new mothers are often focused on other areas - their child, the rest of their family, work, etc. - post-partum rather than on themselves.

The University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute recently spotlighted Jennifer Barkin and the BIMF in a story on their website. Learn more about the critical work this Steel Valley alumna is doing for new mothers.