Family Health Initiatives Associate Director of Public Health Programs Presents Workshop at AMCHP Annual Conference in Washington, DC

May 21, 2026 1 min read

Lauryn Tilghman, Associate Director of Public Health Programs, presented a workshop titled Protect•Prevent•Nurture: Connecting Environmental Health and Birth Equity at theAMCHP Annual Conference in March in Washington, DC. The session, presented to an assembly of maternal and child health professionals, showcased the work of Family Health Initiative’s Prematurity Prevention Initiative and The Cooperative’s Lead & Healthy Homes co-led Protect•Prevent•Nurture campaign. Together, these efforts unite partners across New Jersey to raise awareness, educate providers and drive policy change to protect pregnant individuals and infants from lead and other environmental exposures.

The Protect•Prevent•Nurture campaign represents one of the first statewide collaborations explicitly linking lead exposure prevention with maternal health outcomes. Key achievements include:

The Protect•Prevent•Nurture campaign represents one of the first statewide collaborations explicitly linking lead exposure prevention with maternal health outcomes. Key achievements include:

  • Creating a unified platform that connects statewide partners from both environmental and maternal health sectors
  • Producing culturally relevant, literacy-sensitive patient education materials along with corresponding provider handout on lead prevention and prenatal screening
  • Developing a data map illustrating the overlap between preterm birth rates and areas with potential high lead exposure
  • Strengthening cross-program partnerships that extend beyond traditional silos, laying the groundwork for future work addressing other environmental toxins

    The workshop was co-presented by Eric Bind of the New Jersey Department of Health, Biomonitoring and Exposure Assessment Program and Elyse Pivnick, Senior Advisor at Isles, Inc.