Ushma Mehta, PhD, MPH is the Epidemiologist for the Maternal Health Innovations Program within the Maternal Health Branch in the Division of Public Health (DPH), NC Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Mehta has worked in multiple roles at DPH including on the NC chemical surveillance program, managing COVID-19 outbreak and cluster data, and, in her current role, working to improve maternal health outcomes in the state using innovative approaches to augmenting and strengthening North Carolina’s perinatal systems of care. Her interest in public health was sparked as a Peace Corps Volunteer living and working as a science teacher in a small village in Nepal. After her service in the Peace Corps, Dr. Mehta went on to obtain an MPH in Family and Child Health, with a focus in international maternal and child health from the University of Arizona. Following this, she completed a doctorate in Nutrition Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina where her research focused on the relationship between maternal health and infant feeding. Dr. Mehta has worked as a consultant on several maternal health research projects including the Postpartum Mobile Mothers Study (PMOMS) at the University of Pittsburgh; the BUILD Health Challenge, a national demonstration of multi-sector collaborations to improve community health; the Title V needs assessment at the Georgia Department of Public Health; and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Clinical Updates in Women’s Health Care/Nutrition monograph.