
Inspiration and empowerment: Key highlights from Atlanta's Women's Health Summit
On Thursday, May 8, 2025, business and community leaders came together to celebrate Women's Health Month at the inaugural Atlanta Business Chronicle Women's Health Summit, presented by Wellstar and hosted by 11Alive anchor Cheryl Preheim.
The event featured two insightful panel discussions and an inspiring keynote by health and wellness expert, bestselling author and Peloton instructor Emma Lovewell. Designed to inspire, connect and empower women in the workplace, the summit offered a dynamic platform for dialogue and shared learning.
The program's first panel focused on women's workplace wellness and featured Wellstar's women's service line chief Dr. Paula Greaves, Spanx's chief people officer Kali Wilson Beyah and Elektra Health CEO Jannine Versi. The panel was moderated by Thompson Hine labor and employment partner Glianny Fagundo.
Attendees learned about cutting edge benefits being offered by employers like Spanx, innovations in telehealth and access to care and a look at a woman's health journey as a continuous 'ribbon' across her life. Panelists also addressed bringing transitions like menopause to the forefront of conversations and encouraged employers to consider health benefits that address this normal part of aging.
A second panel focused on Georgia's standing among the worst states in the nation for maternal mortality and steps that community and business leaders can take to work together to solve this problem.
Georgia Department of Community Health chief medical officer Dr. Dean Burke was joined by Center for Black Women's Wellness CEO Jemea Dorsey and Augusta State University professor of obstetrics and gynecology Dr. Chadburn Ray for this discussion, which our readers can learn more about in a follow-up summary publishing in Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 27.
The program culminated in a keynote speech from Lovewell, who discussed her own personal physical and mental health journeys, how wellness is a strategy, bringing your A game to self-care as we do for those we love and key takeaways from her new book, 'Live Learn Love Well: Lessons from a Life of Progress not Perfection' that we can all implement in our personal lives and businesses.
From puberty to preventative screenings and partnership during pregnancy, menopause and beyond, Wellstar's world-class team of women's health clinicians offers compassionate and comprehensive care for every aspect of your life. To learn more, visit wellstar.org/womenshealth.
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On that note, while the maternal death rate gets most of the attention, it doesn't account for individuals who have near-death experiences or who develop lifelong disease because of something that was exacerbated during pregnancy. We talk about it in the framework of 'maternal health,' but it's really just health, period. Pregnancy doesn't typically make your conditions better. It tends to exacerbate issues. We really need to work on the social drivers of health like housing and food insecurity. Georgia has had good support from lawmakers who have pledged their support for the system that helps identify those issues. What changes has Georgia made to move the needle on maternal mortality? Dr. Burke: It all starts with the data that the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) shares with us. We identify when these mortalities occur, where they occur, what the mitigating factors were and what could have been done differently. 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