About Vu-An Foster, MPH

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A PASSIONATE LEADER 

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Vu-An Foster is a public health expert and practitioner driven by a passion to eliminate racial disparities in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. By using lived experiences to drive innovative, forward-thinking solutions, she has established a proven record of building high-level partnerships and securing contracts with government officials, state campaigns, health departments, and global funders. 

 

Recognizing that systemic change often takes years to implement, Vu-An is determined to accelerate the timeline for addressing racial inequities. She does this by positioning the integration of personal lived experiences and public health practices as a critical public health strategy. Her work ensures that institutional policies are informed by the human realities they aim to address, moving beyond abstract statistics to drive real-world impact.

 

This strategic approach has led Vu-An to serve on influential committees and advisory boards surrounding perinatal health and infant mortality. She currently serves as a Community Advisory Committee Member for the New Jersey Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority, a Jegna Council Member with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a member of the Junior League of Montclair-Newark. She also formerly served as Vice-Chairperson of the New Jersey Maternal Care Quality Collaborative with the New Jersey Department of Health​.  ​

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MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL 

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Vu-An Foster is a bereavement specialist and national voice in perinatal loss and maternal mental health. She is certified in Maternal Mental Health: Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) and Perinatal Loss and Grief. As a certified healing circle facilitator, she creates spaces for women, families, and communities, particularly Black women, to process grief, trauma, and healing through culturally responsive support practices.

 

She is also a published author and strategic advocate for systems-level change in maternal and perinatal health. Vu-An served as lead author of "Reimagining Perinatal Mental Health: An Expansive Vision For Structural Change," published in Health Affairs. This publication challenged traditional approaches to perinatal mental health by highlighting how loss, trauma, structural racism, gendered oppression, unsafe work environments, and inadequate social safety nets impact birthing people, families, and communities.

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10+ YEARS OF IMPACT

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Outside of her work with Life After 2 Losses, Vu-An Foster is  a nationally recognized advocate for maternal and infant health equity, who brings more than a decade of experience across healthcare, policy influence, systems leadership, higher education, and community-centered advocacy. Her work and lived expertise have established her as a national voice in bereavement, systemic change, and transformative perinatal equity, with a focus on advancing sustainable and equitable health outcomes. 

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