Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH, FAAP, is the Director of the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) within the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is a retired Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Dr. Barfield joined CDC in 2000 as part of its Epidemic Intelligence Service where she worked in neonatal and perinatal health. She was named Division Director in 2010. Dr. Barfield’s research focuses on maternal/infant morbidity and mortality, early child health services utilization, improving access to risk-appropriate perinatal care, and advancing the quality of maternal, infant, and reproductive health data for public health action. She has published over 120 scientific articles in these areas.

As DRH Director, Dr. Barfield has led efforts to provide optimal and equitable health to women, infants, and families through improved surveillance and applied public health research during the critical junctures of population health; pregnancy, infancy, and adolescence. She has built and strengthened numerous strategic partnerships with multiple MCH organizations. Her division currently leads several activities to monitor maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, prevent opioid use disorder and overdose among pregnant and postpartum women, and reduce the risk of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and associated adverse infant health outcomes.

She received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University and subsequently completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Harvard’s Joint Program in Neonatology (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, and Children’s Hospital, Boston). Before joining CDC, Dr. Barfield served as a medical officer, pediatrician, and neonatologist in the U.S. Army.

In addition, Dr. Barfield is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She is a Fellow with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and is the CDC liaison to the AAP Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (SoNPM) and Committee on Fetus and Newborn (COFN). She also serves as ex-officio member to the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality. She continues to do clinical work in neonatology, providing care to premature and other critically ill newborns.

Mishka Terplan MD MPH FACOG DFASAM Mishka Terplan is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in addiction medicine. His primary clinical, research and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health. He is Associate Medical Director at Friends Research Institute, Deputy Chief Clinical Officer at the Department of Behavioral Health for the District of Columbia, and adjunct faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco where he is a Substance Use Warmline clinician for the National Clinician Consultation Center. Dr. Terplan has active grant funding and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles with emphasis on health disparities, stigma, and access to treatment. He has spoken at local high schools and before the United States Congress and has participated in expert panels at CDC, SAMHSA, ONDCP, OWH, FDA and NIH primarily on issues related to gender and addiction.

Hendree Jones, Ph.D., Executive Director, UNC Horizons, and Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Dr. Jones is an internationally recognized expert in the development and examination of both behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for pregnant women and their children in risky life situations. She has received continuous National Institutes of Health funding since 1994 and has written more than 200 publications. Dr. Jones has also authored two books, one on treating patients for substance use disorders and the other on comprehensive care for women who are pregnant and have substance use disorders. She also has written multiple textbook chapters on the topic of pregnancy and addiction. While winning multiple awards, most recently in 2020 Dr. Jones won the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) R. Brinkley Smithers and Distinguished Scientist Award. She is a consultant for the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Dr. Jones leads or is involved in projects around the world focused on improving the lives of children, women, and families.

Family Medicine Physician Swedish Addiction Recovery Services Seattle, Washington

Dr. Rudolf completed Family Medicine Residencies at the Multicare Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, and at the Family Medicine Arizona Center For Integrative Medicine-University of Arizona in Phoenix, Arizona. She completed an Integrative Medicine fellowship at the Swedish Addiction Recovery in Seattle, Washington, and an Addiction Medicine fellowship at the University of Washington Graduate School, Public Health.

She is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Family Medicine.

Masitsa Muhanji, Patient Advocate

"My name is Masitsa Muhanji and I am a proud person in recovery for 3 years now. I am an advocate for woman and have worked with the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, to help advocate for healthy woman and babies. I continue to inspire and I am dedicated to compassionate care and to help break stigma."