Solaire Spellen, MPH
Associate Director for PTBi-CA
Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Sciences
School of Medicine

Solaire Spellen is the Interim Executive Director of the California Preterm Birth Initiative at UCSF and Co-Founder of the California Coalition for Black Birth Justice. Ms. Spellen has led several multimillion-dollar initiatives focused on collective impact and birth equity research strategies grounded in health equity, anti-racism, and community partnership practices.

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With over a decade of professional experience in Black maternal health research, community engagement, and the delivery of anti-racism training for hundreds of healthcare providers and public health practitioners nationwide, Ms. Spellen works to empower organizations and leaders to address racism as a root cause of health disparities through sustainable, community-informed solutions.

Websites

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• Voices for Birth Justice (voicesforbirthjustice.org)
• California Coalition for Black Birth Justice (cablackbirthjustice.com)
• California Preterm Birth Initiative (pretermbirthca.ucsf.edu)

Publications (9)

Top publication keywords:
Health Care SurveysCapacity BuildingHealth EquityPregnant WomenLeadershipRacismChild AdvocacyAcademic Medical CentersPremature BirthStress, PsychologicalHealth Status DisparitiesChild HealthResilience, PsychologicalSocial ResponsibilityPublic Health

• Addressing anti-black racism in an academic preterm birth initiative: perspectives from a mixed methods case study.
  BMC public health 2023 Rutman SP, Borgen N, Spellen S, King DD, Decker MJ, Rand L, Cobbins A, Brindis CD
• Using Collective Impact to Advance Birth Equity: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sector Efforts in California.
  Maternal and child health journal 2022 Decker MJ, Price M, Harrison S, Spellen S, Hutchings N, Martinez E, Rutman SP, Shaver A, Franck LS, Brindis CD, Fuchs J
• The Road to Black Birth Justice in California
  The Road to Black Birth Justice in California 2022 UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative and First 5 Center for Children's Policy
• 2021 PTBi Impact Report
  2021 PTBi Impact Report 2022 UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative
• The association of COVID-19 infection in pregnancy with preterm birth: A retrospective cohort study in California.
  Lancet regional health. Americas 2021 Karasek D, Baer RJ, McLemore MR, Bell AJ, Blebu BE, Casey JA, Coleman-Phox K, Costello JM, Felder JN, Flowers E, Fuchs JD, Gomez AM, Karvonen K, Kuppermann M, Liang L, McKenzie-Sampson S, McCulloch CE…

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• Racism as a Root Cause Approach: A New Framework.
  Pediatrics 2021 Malawa Z, Gaarde J, Spellen S
• Exposures to structural racism and racial discrimination among pregnant and early post-partum Black women living in Oakland, California.
  Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress 2020 Chambers BD, Arabia SE, Arega HA, Altman MR, Berkowitz R, Feuer SK, Franck LS, Gomez AM, Kober K, Pacheco-Werner T, Paynter RA, Prather AA, Spellen SA, Stanley D, Jelliffe-Pawlowski LL, McLemore MR
• A Transdisciplinary Conceptual Framework of Contextualized Resilience for Reducing Adverse Birth Outcomes.
  Qualitative health research 2019 Sumbul T, Spellen S, McLemore MR
• Race Equity 101: A Series of Tools to Advance Racial Equity in the Workplace
  Race Equity 101: A Series of Tools to Advance Racial Equity in the Workplace 2019 Z Malawa, S Spellen, J Gaarde