Strength and Serenity newsletter – Strength and Serenity

Strength and Serenity offers a concise monthly email newsletter from Mass General Hospital Global OB-GYN, with field perspectives and informative content on topics related to global health and gender-based violence.

Read past issues

August 2026: “Why Can’t She Just Leave?” by Dawnn Pauline C. Bituin, MD, MPH, MMSc; Postcards from Mabinay by Dawnn Pauline C. Bituin, MD, MPH, MMSc; The Colonial Erosion of Women’s Power in the Philippines by Dawnn Pauline C. Bituin, MD, MPH, MMSc; Listening with Care: Filipino Women’s Voices and the Ethics of Responding to Intimate Partner Violence by Ellen M. Robinson RN, PhD and Angelika A. Zollfrank M.Div., BCC, ACPE
July 2026: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? by Drs. Tohmina Akhter, Shahana Pervin, and Annekathryn Goodman; Being Heard, Yet Dismissed by Dr. Dhwani Mehta; Permission to Speak by Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD
May/June 2026: Beyond Safe Surgery: Empowering Dignity, Alleviating Fear by Dr. Dawn C.S.C. Poh; Interview with Dr. Suat Yan Lai with Post-Interview Commentary by Dr. Dawn Poh; Interview with Dr. Nadirah Babji with Post-Interview Commentary by Dr. Dawn Poh; What of Women’s Dignity? Reflections on Dayung’s Story by Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD
March/April 2026: When Power Speaks: Gender, Politics, and the Cost of Showing Up by Temitayo Abayomi, PhD, MPH; The Boys Behind the Men: Raising Boys Who Respect Women in Power by Solomon Idowu and John ‘Dare Okafor; An Ethical Imperative: Confronting Gender-Based Harassment in Political Leadershi by Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD
November/December 2025: Sanitation Engineering in Resource-Limited Settings: Culture, Constraints, and Creative Solutions by David Abrams, BSEE, MSEE, JD; Reimagining Toilets: The Promise of Circular Sanitation in Rural Guatemala by Emma Eisenhauer; Ancient Maya Lessons on Maintaining Water Quality by Lisa J. Lucero, PhD.
October 2025: Ethics Across Borders: The Complexities of Shared Decision-Making in Diverse Cultural Contexts by Hemal Sampat, MD; Navigating Challenging Ethical Scenarios in a Developing Country: A Perspective from India by Juhi Amin, MD; Interview with Juhi Amin, MD; The Ethics of Care: A Framework for Centering Care and Compassion in Ethical Decision-Making by Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD.
July/August/September 2025: Caring for the Stranger: A Timeless Moral Imperative by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; Shifting the Imagined Space of Global Health: A Call for Democratic Action by Alex Stoljar Gold, MD; Empathy, Solidarity, and Humanism in Global Health by Ellen M. Robinson, RN, PhD.
June 2025: Respect for Human Dignity: A Guiding Value During Dark Times by Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD; To Humanize is the First Step to Healing by Fiona Danaher, MD, MPH; Caregiving as an Act of Resistance by Juliana Taney, MD.
May 2025: Weaponizing Hunger: An Inherently Violent Act by Yara M. Asi, PhD; Hunger and Resiliency in the Armenian Enclave of Artsakh, Interview with Gail Guzelian, MD and Kim Hekimian, PhD; The Last Baby Out, Interview with Tiruhi Harutyunyan, MD.
March/April 2025: A Country of Contrasts: Women’s Health in India by Aarthri Jayraj, MD; The Challenges of Taking Care of Women with Gynecological Cancers in Resource-Limited Regions of India by Angali Jain, MD.
February 2025: The Courage to Say “No” by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH.
December 2024: Faith, Hope and Love, But the Greatest of These Is Love by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; The Power and Responsibility of Visual Storytelling by Kate Flock.
October/November 2024: The Gifts of Telling and Receiving Stories. Making Space for Stories by Tamar Abrams; Tell Your Kids You Used to Be Thin by Maryelien Goodman, LICSW; Prioritizing the Patient Experience by Iyanna Liles, MD; The Power of Storytelling to Spark Connection, Catharsis, and Change by Sahana Narayan, MS, MSPH; From Fear to Exuberance: Taking a Risk to Tell a Story by Sara Goodman.
August/September 2024: Bearing Witness: The Social Ecology of Trauma and Treatment Along the Migrant Trail by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; Medical Care at the Border: Striving for Health Amid Shifting Policies by Juliana Morris, MD, EdM; Planning for a Safe Mission: Lessons from the US-Mexico Border by Kristen Giambusso, MPH; Reflections on Wanting to Help: Tempering Altruism with Readiness by Giuliana Rivera Casul, MD.
July 2024: Women’s Health in Ukraine: Surviving the Turmoil of War by Christina Vosbikian, MBA ’25; A Crisis Within a Crisis: Pregnancy in Wartime Odessa by Volodymyr Artyomenko, MD, PhD; MGH OB-GYN Department Assists Obstetrics Teams from Ukraine by Christina Duzyj Buniak, MD, MPH; Medical Missions to Ukraine Support Women’s Health, Interview with Irena Karanetz, MD and Amy Bradley, RN; On the Ground in Dnipro, Interview with Volodymyr Panov; Refugee Aid Work in Ukraine, Interview with Christie Nelson, LMFT, CTRS.
May/June 2024: The Hill We Climb by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; Two Years After Roe Reversal: Intersecting Clinical Impacts are Starkly Apparent by Lisa Barroilhet, MD, MS; Interview with Erin Bradley, MD; Legal Aftershocks Persist in the Wake of Dobbs by Joanne D. Rosen, JD, MA; One Thing I Know: Abortion Restrictions are Harmful to Everyone by Danielle Bessett, PhD.
April 2024: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Brazil: A Critical Priority by Marcella Cardoso, MSc, PhD; Interview with Patrícia Ramos Silva dos Santos; How Power Dynamics during Brazil’s Colonization Process Still Influence Society by Arielle Sagrillo Scarpati, PhD and Tatiana Freitas Wandekoken.
February/March 2024: On the Sociological Fringe? by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; Speaking Up against Gender Bias: From Barbie to the Bedside by Celeste Day, MS, CRNA; Disparities in Care Based on Gender: A Palliative Care Perspective by Bethany-Rose Daubman, MD.
January 2024: A Call for an Intersectional Gendered Approach to Cervical Cancer Interventions by Cecilia Van Hollen, PhD; Programmatic and Sociocultural Aspects of Preventing and Managing Cervical Cancer in Bangladesh: A Gender Lens Review by Dr. Fariha Haseen.
November/December 2023: Caregivers in Haiti: A Model for Humanity by Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH; Interview with Jean-Claude Ulysse, MD; Violence Wrought on the Bodies of Women by Rebecca Henderson.
October 2023: Meeting Refugee Mental Health Needs by Dr. Noor Amawi; The Invisible Mental Health Crisis among Refugees in Germany by Dr. Sylke Bakker.
September 2023: The Global Displacement Crisis by Phuong N. Pham, PhD, MPH and Patrick Vinck, PhD, MS; Where Am I From? by Deepali Raina, MD.
August 2023: Deepest and Richest, Exactly Where You Are by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH.
July 2023: Bearing Witness and Taking Action: Training Laypeople as First Responders for Road Traffic Injuries by Jon Moussally, MD, MPH; A New Approach to Prehospital Care for Trauma Patients in Tanzania byJoshua Drake.
June 2023: Empowering Nurses to Transform the Level of Healthcare Available to the Citizens of Bangladesh by Anne-Marie Barron et al.; Interview with Principal Halima Akhter.
April/May 2023: The Global Impact of Infertility by Victoria W. Fitz, MD, MSCR and Jan Shifren, MD; Letting Go: My IVF Journey by Sara Goodman; The Global Burden of Infertility by Mackenzie Naert, MD; The Combined Power of Social and Medical Approaches to Tackling Infertility by Maya Unnithan, PhD.
February/March 2023: Cervical Cancer as a Proxy for Access to Healthcare for Women by Annekathryn Goodman; Improving Cervical Cancer Screening Rates Among Incarcerated Women by Alexa Kanbergs and Mackenzie Sullivan; No Safe Health Care in Prison and Jails by Sarah Nawab.
January 2023: Who Are the Baha’is and Why Are They Targeted?; Tahirih — Heroine of the Baha’i Faith by Tara Markert and Parisa Fallah; Why Are the Baha’is of Iran Persecuted? by Mina Yazdani.
November/December 2022: Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time of Great Kindness, Love and Courage in a Time of Great Fear, Loneliness and Loss by Annekathryn Goodman and Neel Shah; In the Lab: Lessons Learned at Massachusetts General Hospital by Andrea Edlow; Managing COVID-19 in Pregnancy in Western Uganda by Onesmus Byamukama; COVID Sparked Unprecedented Maternal Death Rate in The Bahamas by Shamanique Bodie-Williams and Tosheena Robinson; COVID-19 and Pregnancy: A Peruvian Perspective by Maria Bazan; Reflections From Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Kenya by Thomas F. Burke; Staying Anchored in Uncertain Times by Ashley Barash.
October 2022: Why Menstrual Health and Hygiene Matters; P is for Period and P is for Power: Attending to Menstrual Hygiene in Rural India by Garima Vats; Addressing Menstrual Inequities Among Asylum-Seekers at the U.S.-Mexico Border: An Upcoming Project by Solidarity Engineering by Katrina Leslie.
September 2022: Tiny, Beautiful Things; The Gift of Giving by Tamar Abrams; Holding onto Hope: Interview with Juliet Awuor Otieno.
August 2022: The Power of Love and Presence: Women Sitting with Women in Illness; The Dance between the Head and the Heart of Medicine by Emily Erhardt and Nisha Wali; Wup (What’s up)?: A Letter to My Family by Betsy Garson Neisner.
June/July 2022: The Pelvic Exam in Context by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH. Cultural Barriers to Cervical Cancer Diagnosis: A Saudi Physician’s Perspective by Latifah Alamer, MD.
May 2022: Denied Victimhood: The Murder of Pregnant Women and Implicit Structural Violence Against Women. Introduction by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; Homicide is a Leading Cause of Maternal Death in the United States by Maeve Wallace; Attorney-Advocate on the Ground: Domestic Violence and Pregnant/Postpartum Black Women by Alana C. Brown; Assessing Risk of Homicide During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period by Ronald Schouten
April 2022: Waste Picking, Gender and Health by Marty Chen, PhD; No Borders for Those Who Fight by Hugh Shirley.
March 2022: We Have All Been Strangers in Strange Lands: The Power of Our Stories to Break Through Walls by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH; The Power of the Storyteller by Maggie Gillen, MA.
February 2022: Reproductive Health in The Bahamas by Natalie Medley, MD; Screening Inequalities During COVID: Rationing of women’s reproductive health care could spark a spike in cervical cancer rates by Shamanique Bodie-Williams, MD and Tosheena Robinson.
January 2022: Immigration Status as a Health Care Barrier; Interview with Dorys Lemus; Gracias por llamarme: A Community Health Worker’s Story of Strengthening Connection and Building Trust by Marcia W. Burgos, BSM.
December 2021: Banning Girls’ Education: A Crime Against Humanity by Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH and Mary Greenwald, JD
November 2021: A Visual Journey: Moments during work and travel that capture the beauty of people and our planet.
September/October 2021: A Perilous Passage: Violence and Exploitation on the Migrant Trail; Rebuilding Dignity: One Story, One Shower, One Hair Tie at a Time by Heide Castañeda PhD, MPH; La Violencia Contra las Mujeres by Mark McDonald
August 2021: Nowhere to Turn: Violence and Insecurity Force Women and Girls to Flee by Jacqueline Bhaba, JD, MsC; Searching for Sanctuary: Gender-Based Violence in Central America’s Northern Triangle by Denise N. Obinna, PhD
July 2021: Suffer Little Children Come Unto Me by Fiona Danaher, MD, MPH; Interview with Dorys Lemus by Ak Goodman, MD, MPH; Caring for Migrant Children at the Mexico-US Border: Stories of Struggle and Strength by Saul Jacob, MD and Reetu Malhotra, MD
May/June 2021: Liberian Women: Guardians of Peace, Activists for Change by Lynn Black, MD, MPH; Trauma, Recovery and Resilience in Liberia by Richard Mollica, MD, MAR; A Brief History of Liberia by Emily Kim
April 2021: Speaking English So Good To Be Heard Well by Amanda Teo, Esp.; The Atlanta Shooting and the Hypersexualization of Asian and Asian-American Women by Emily Kim
March 2021: Healing in the Face of Trauma and Conflict: The Journey Starts at Home by Fahima Begum
February 2021: Responding to Disasters: A Call to Action; Susan Miller Briggs, MD, MPH, FACS
January 2021: The Lost Dreams of Maternal Mortality: Intersection of Politics, Policy, Culture, and Trust; Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH
December 2020: Folding Death Into Life; Donna Blagdan, BCC
November 2020: When the Ground Shakes: Disaster Response Near and Far; Lindsey Martin, CNP
October 2020: Women’s Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Costa Rica; Adriana Vallejos, MD
September 2020: “Go Home and Love Your Family”: Complexities of Individuality and Plurality in Public Health; Violette Perrotte, MPH
August 2020: Secondary Victims of the Pandemic: The Experience with COVID at Bangladesh’s Dhaka Medical College Hospital; Lutfa Begum Lipi, MD
July 2020: The Challenges of COVID-19 Lockdown in Mbarara, Uganda; Joy Muhumuza, MBChB, MMed
June 2020: Addressing Maternal Mental Illness in Rural Nepal; Shreedhar Paudel, MD, MPH
May 2020: How Do We Heal Ourselves When Surrounded By So Much Pain?; Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH
April 2020: Love in the Time of COVID; Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH, Arun Chaudhary, MPH and Violette Perrotte, MPH
March 2020: Reflections on the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Disaster Response; Arun Chaudhary, MPH
February 2020: Reflections on Managing a Delivery in Bangladesh; Hannah Bergbower MSN, MPH, CM
January 2020: Midwifery Education in Lira, Uganda; Jennifer Lynn Neczypor, CNM
December 2019: Attention to Gender-Based Violence in Disaster Response; Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH
November 2019: Implementing the BetterBirth Program in Uttar Pradesh, India; Rose Molina, MD, MPH
October 2019: Calling for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Obstetric Care in Chiapas, Mexico; Sammie Truong, HMSIV
September 2019: Using a ‘Care Bundle’ Approach to Reduce Maternal Mortality; Thomas F. Burke, MD
August 2019: Treating Anesthetized Patients with Respect and Dignity; Celeste Day, MS, CRNA
July 2019: Sexual Assault in Ethiopia; Beryl Manning-Geist, MD
June 2019: Pre-deployment Training: What It Can Look Like. Why It’s Important.; Bobbie Curtis, CNM, MSN
May 2019: The Challenge of Obstetrical Care in Rural Uganda; Thomas Randall, MD
April 2019: Home Births in a Refugee Camp: The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and the Challenge of Obstetric Care Delivery; Annekathryn Goodman, MD, MPH