Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds, MD, MPH, MS is Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at Indiana University Health, as well as Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. She practices obstetrics & gynecology in the Indiana University Health and Eskenazi system.

Dr. Tucker Edmonds is a board-certified OB/GYN who received her bachelor and medical degrees from Brown University and completed her OB/GYN residency at Duke University. She received her Master’s in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health, and Master’s in Health Policy Research from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as the Indiana State Legislative Chair for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Dr. Tucker Edmonds specializes in social and cultural disparities in medicine, clinical ethics, and reproductive justice. Her research examines the manner in which social and cultural factors influence patient-provider communication and decision-making when faced with ethically complex and uncertain outcomes in the setting of extreme prematurity. The overarching goal of her program of research is to facilitate patient-centered care and shared decision-making between providers, patients, and families making end-of-life decisions at the very beginning of life for periviable (extremely premature) infants, and at the end of life in minority populations.

Selected Guest Lectures: 

• "Dying Prematurely: Death and Dying in the African American Community", Penn Bioethics Seminar Series

• "Maternal Mortality and Medical Mysogynoir", National Academy of Medicine

• "OB Ethics: On trade-offs, Personhood, and Reproductive Justice", Indiana University School of Medicine

• "Ethics and Reproductive Medicine", Charles W. Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics

Research Interests:

• Decision Making in Extreme Prematurity
• Reproductive Justice
• Social and Cultural Disparities in Medicine
• Race and End of Life Care

Selected Publications:

• Anani U, Tucker Edmonds B, Andrews BL, Famuyide M, Feltman D. Default Withdrawal: Exacerbating Mistrust for Our Most Vulnerable Families. Am J Bioeth. 2022.
• Tucker Edmonds B. Mandated Reporting of Perinatal Substance Use: The Root of Inequity. JAMA Pediatr. 2022.
• Bullinger, Lindsey; Simon, Kosali; Tucker Edmonds, Brownsyne. Variation in Coverage Effects of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion on Reproductive-Aged Women. Maternal Child Health Journal. 2022.

Additional Publications: PubMed

Funding:

Selected Grants:

A Pilot Decision Support Tool for Neonatal Resuscitation Decision-making: Periviable GOALS (PI)

$3,687,872 from the AHRQ 9/2021-8/2026

Description: The Periviable GOALS (Getting Optimal Alignment around Life Support) decision support tool (DST) is meant to facilitate informed shared decision-making regarding neonatal resuscitation for families facing the threat of a periviable delivery (deliveries occurring between 22 0/7 - 25 6/7 weeks gestational age). It is designed for parents to review independent of their clinician, and is intended to supplement, not replace, clinician counseling. The focus of the DST is the provision of patient-centered outcomes information and assistance with values clarification regarding neonatal outcomes. This is a multisite, randomized controlled trial to test the effect of the Periviable GOALS DST on shared decision-making and decision satisfaction. This project is funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Periviable Decision-Making Dynamics: Who Should Decide and What Happens When Parental Parties Disagree? (PI)

$255,869 from the Greenwall Foundation 1/2021-12/2022

Description: Families facing the birth of an extremely premature infant must make difficult life or death choices. These decisions affect both parents, but the health care system tends to view the pregnant person as the decision-maker, neglecting partner input. There is also minimal ethical or legal guidance to help providers meet the decisional needs of families with non-traditional structures. This research will inform models of shared decision-making to engage the needs of both parents, including diverse family structures, and will provide guidance to providers on how to handle parental disagreement. This project was funded by the Greenwall Foundation. 

Exploring Attitudes, Perceptions, and Coping Responses Related to Death and Disability from the Perspective of Families Facing the Threat of Periviable Birth. (PI) 

$377,139 from the Greenwall Foundation 7/2016-6/2020 

Description: The goal of this study is to assess attitudes, perceptions and coping mechanisms related to death and disability from the perspective of pregnant women, fathers or others when making difficult decisions concerning a periviable delivery. Participants in this study experience pregnancy complications such as rupture of membranes, preterm labor, preeclampsia or growth restriction that pose a potential threat or need for a periviable delivery. This project was funded by the Greenwall Foundation. 

Selected Activities:

• Indiana State Legislative Chair, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2011 – present.
• Committee on Assessing Health Outcomes by Birth Setting, National Academy of Medicine; 2019 – present.
• Member, Medicaid Medical Advisory Cabinet, Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning; 2012 –2019.
• Committee on Ethics, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2013 – 2015.