Liz Soto, BSN, RN
I serve as the Perinatal Nurse Champion for NC Region IV, bringing 16 years of experience in maternal and child health. As a bilingual Spanish speaker, my career has included providing direct patient care and supporting a wide range of communities. In my current role, I focus on offering resources for families and providing education and support to healthcare providers and community workers. I am honored to work alongside an exceptional team to expand access to high-quality care throughout our region.
Kimberly Harper, MSN, RN, MHA
I am the Perinatal Neonatal Outreach Coordinator. I have enjoyed serving Perinatal Region IV over the last several years. I am excited to continue to support our region alongside Liz. I am a registered nurse with 19 years of experience in Maternal and Child Health. I have enjoyed the ability to support families as they grow in labor and delivery, home visiting, and leadership opportunities. The role that I enjoy the most is mom to my amazing kiddos and wife to my husband. I am honored to be a part of the team serving this Perinatal Region.
Narges Farahi, MD
I am a family medicine physician and longtime champion for person-centered and family-centered care. I serve as an Associate Professor and the Director of the Family Medicine Maternal and Child Health Service at UNC. My heart is in community health, and my outpatient practice is at Prospect Hill Community Health Center, a rural federally qualified health center. Prior to my current role, I served as the medical director of the NC Farmworker Health Program.
My clinical interests include providing seamless care for people with the capacity for pregnancy across the continuum of care, including before, between and after pregnancies. I am committed to providing trauma-informed care, supporting people and families to meet their reproductive goals, and using quality improvement strategies to help health care practices and systems better meet the needs of patients and families. I have been a leader in implementing enhanced access to comprehensive contraception options and the IMPLICIT interconception care model in the primary care setting. My goal is to center the voices of patients and families from marginalized communities and build partnerships with patients and communities to improve health.
Kate Menard, MD, MPH
I am a Distinguished Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine. In addition to my duties at UNC, I am the Medical Director of North Carolina’s Pregnancy Medical Home through Community Care of North Carolina, a statewide program that supports Medicaid beneficiaries and their care providers in access to high-quality maternity care. I am also a member of NC’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee and the Maternal Health Task Force.
My main areas of interest are highlighting the shared goals of clinical medicine and public health, thus bringing diverse perspectives together, promoting collaboration and realizing synergy. I have worked to elevate attention to maternal health needs by advancing two important initiatives: 1) Strengthening regional systems by defining Levels of Maternal Care, and 2) Providing foundational leadership for the broad dissemination and implementation of maternal safety bundles through the HRSA funded Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (AIM). My current work includes engagement with the HRSA sponsored Maternal Health Learning and Innovations Center based at the UNC School of Public Health.
Sarah Stephens, MD, FAAP Pediatric Champion
Photo & Bio Coming Soon
Erin McClain, MA, MPH
I am the Assistant Director and Research Associate with CMIH, where I direct a variety of statewide perinatal training and technical assistance initiatives. I have 15 years of experience leading health systems change and quality improvement initiatives in areas including preterm birth prevention and implementation of evidence-based tobacco use screening and counseling for providers serving women of reproductive age, with a specialized focus on low-income and marginalized women. I also focus broadly on the health of women of reproductive age, engaging in qualitative research with postpartum mothers and serving as a state coach for the HRSA-funded Preconception CoIIN and the Maternal Health Learning and Innovation Center. I have also worked with displaced women and families, both in the US and abroad.
Audrey Loper, MPH, MS
Audrey Loper, MPH, MS, is a Senior Implementation Specialist with the Collaborative for Implementation Practice in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She provides technical assistance and coaching on implementation science best practices to public sector systems and philanthropies engaging in place-based work. Her current work focuses on maternal and child health across a variety of contexts, including maternal health systems of care, early childhood education, and child welfare. Audrey previously served as the evaluation consultant for the North Carolina Division of Public Health’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives and has worked as a childbirth educator and volunteer doula. She received her Master of Public Health from UNC Chapel Hill and her Master of Science from the University of California, Davis.
