Board & Medical Advisors
PUSH Board of Advisors
Repping
The mean streets of Woodbridge, CT
Superpowers
Intellect, Empathy, Righteous Outrage
Harvey J. Kliman, MD, PhD
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Harvey J. Kliman is a leading expert on all things placenta, and a revered vindicator of loss moms across the globe for his renowned ability to accurately identify the causes of previously unexplained stillbirths to give families the answers they deserve.
An MD, PhD graduate in Medicine and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Chicago, Dr. Kliman is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale University School of Medicine, and the Director of Yale’s Reproductive and Placental Research Unit with a special interest in infertility and pregnancy complications. In addition to his research and teaching activities at Yale, he also consults with doctors and patients to evaluate complicated cases of unexplained infertility, pregnancy loss, and poor pregnancy outcomes, is the innovator of the Estimated Placental Volume (EPV) stillbirth prevention technique, and has been a tireless and devoted advocate for bereaved families for decades.
Fun Facts
Believe it or not, some may consider Dr. Kliman the schlub of his family – his father was the engineer who created the circuit boards for the Voyager 1&2 spacecrafts, his mother a world-renowned scholar of Shakespeare, his wife a dedicated public servant with decades of experience in local government, and his three daughters an accomplished cinematographer, a celebrated avant-garde spatial design artist, and the inventor of the Impossible Burger!
Repping
Rochester, NY, home of the Garbage Plate (google it!)
Superpowers
Empathic, Practical, Quietly but Ruthlessly Persistent
Heather Florescue, MD
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Heather Florescue is a trailblazing OBGYN with a heart of gold on a relentless mission to save babies’ lives. As an OBGYN in private practice delivering at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Dr. Florescue was the very first doctor in the United States to independently implement the UK Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle stillbirth prevention protocols starting in 2019. She’s a passionate advocate for perinatal bereavement, a mother of triplets herself, and is much beloved by her patients for her empathy, skill, and willingness to fight for their babies – in short, the epitome of what every parent is seeking in their OB.
An M.D., FACOG who graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from the University of Rochester, she completed her residency at the University of Rochester Medical School, where she won several awards for patient care including the Gold Humanism Honor Society for the compassion she showed towards patients. Dr. Florescue is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and actively advocates for her patients and their babies every day through her popular clinical practice in Rochester, NY.
Fun Facts
Dr. Florescue minored in American Sign Language (ASL) and says her “favorite place on earth” is volunteering at Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp provided free of charge to children with serious medical conditions who otherwise would not be able to experience this magical childhood milestone. (Like we said, heart of gold!)
Repping
“MIA, that’s where I stay” (until he moved to SFO, anyway)
Superpowers
Scrappy, Pragmatic, & Gregarious – everybody who’s anybody knows Chris Bennett
Chris Bennett
BOARD MEMBER
Chris Bennett is a TED-endorsed Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur with a supernatural gift for networking, a passion for solving complex problems, and extensive experience building inclusive community – oh, and his two companies have collectively raised more than $29 million in funding (no big deal).
As the founder and CEO of Wonderschool, a platform to help both educators and caregivers start, operate, and grow their own high-quality in-home preschools and child care programs, Chris has amassed an intimate understanding of the needs of diverse young families, with a particular focus on marginalized and underserved communities. Through Wonderschool he has also built partnerships with several state and local governments to ensure equitable access to early childhood education, and gained valuable experience successfully leading an organization from the startup phase through rapid and massive growth.
As a graduate of the Wharton School and through his experiences raising capital for his companies and helping to launch Black Founders, an organization dedicated to fostering the success of Black entrepreneurs in tech, Chris has forged deep connections with influential individuals across a wide spectrum of industries and media. He stands ready to work his unique brand of magic in service of saving babies from preventable stillbirth.
Fun Facts
As the son of Honduran-American immigrants, Chris is a fluent Spanish speaker. He also graduated top of his class from his University of Miami postbaccalaureate premedical program before realizing he had no interest in becoming a doctor. His TED Talk has over 1 million views.
Repping
Fayetteville, Arkansas (Go Hogs!)
Superpowers
Razor-sharp Wit, Legal Mastery, Blistering Inner Fire
Jill Wieber Lens, JD
BOARD MEMBER
We absolutely pity anyone who has to argue against Jill Wieber Lens, in court or out. A take-no-prisoners attorney and loss mom extraordinaire, we fell in love with Jill after watching her absolutely demolish a conference seminar about litigating stillbirth and leave the audience reeling. A Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, Jill is a leading expert on legal recognition and treatment of stillbirth, and has written extensively about stillbirth within the contexts of tort law, remedies law, criminal law, maternal health care, and reproductive rights and justice, as well as about her personal experience losing her precious son Caleb.
Her work has appeared in the Washington University Law Review, Iowa Law Review, Boston University Law Review, and Boston College Law Review, and has been cited by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She has also been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and is a past contributor to the Huffington Post. (Yes, really!) Jill is a graduate with honors of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa College of Law, Order of the Coif (that doesn’t mean she has great hair – although she does! – it means she was top of her class, 3rd to be precise). We know all of us at PUSH go a little fangirl-y over Jill, but we just can’t get enough of everything she is doing to drive change, and especially her willingness to ruffle whatever feathers are necessary to get the job done.
Fun Facts
Apparently as nimble on ice as she is with words, Jill skated competitively when she was young. Also, she has donated over 3,000 ounces (that’s almost 34 gallons!) of breast milk.
Repping
Greenwich, CT’s Newest Kid on the Block
Superpowers
Passion, Grit, Unrelenting Drive for Change
Chase Sheridan
BOARD MEMBER
Chase Sheridan is a numbers whiz, currently managing multiple investment funds at Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb including the Sequoia Fund (SEQUX), which boasts one of the best long-term track records on Wall Street. Chase holds a BA from Cornell University and MBA with honors from Columbia University, and has extensive experience across all spectrums of finance including hedge fund management, volatility arbitrage, financial modeling, trading, options, derivatives, equities… (Don’t worry, it’s all Greek to us, too, but long story short, PUSH donors can rest assured that their generous contributions are in good hands!)
While he’s best known for his status as a financial whiz kid – and somehow getting lucky enough to waltz into a fairytale NYC romance after locking eyes in a bar with a gorgeous Brazilian attorney (our very own PUSH Medical Co-Director, Fernanda!) – our team at PUSH admires Chase for a host of even more impressive qualities, particularly his resiliency and unbreakable optimism: he is a two-time cancer survivor, and deeply engaged father of four beautiful children, including his son George who was lost to a genetic issue after 20 weeks gestation, and his eldest daughter Natalie who was born still at 38 weeks. Through this rollercoaster of life’s ups-and-downs, Chase has never lost sight of the ability of one person to make a massive difference if only they care enough to try, and we are lucky to call someone with his determination and zest for life our own.
Fun Facts
Chase is a consummate outdoorsman and adrenaline junkie, boasting adventures in skiing, whitewater kayaking, and kiteboarding. His wife reminds us, though, that he is a goofball at heart who loves a good book as much as he loves getting outdoors.
PUSH Medical Advisory Board
Joanne Stone, MD, MS
Dr. Joanne Stone is one of the US’s preeminent experts in the field of Maternal Fetal Medicine and a revered prenatal care provider amongst discerning NYC moms, especially those who are expecting again after a traumatic loss.
As Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System, Dr. Stone has a busy consultative and clinical practice and launched the first full-fledged Rainbow Clinic for seamless end-to-end pregnancy after loss care in the United States. She also shares PUSH’s passion for equity and inclusion as her department’s Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion.
As if her expertise in multiple gestation pregnancies, prenatal diagnosis, ultrasound, labor induction, and invasive fetal procedures weren’t enough, Dr. Stone is also President-Elect of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) and previously served on the executive committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), is the co-author of Pregnancy for Dummies and The Pregnancy Bible, and has been recognized as a Top Doctor in numerous publications including New York Magazine and the New York Times for several years running. (Is there anything this woman can’t do??)
Dr. Stone completed her residency and fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and is the American champion of stillbirth prevention that we’ve all been waiting for. She also delivered the rainbow babies of several PUSH team members, so needless to say, we love her to pieces!
Alexander Heazell, MBChB(Hons), PhD, MRCOG
Dr. Alexander Heazell is (in our eyes, at least!) a veritable stillbirth superhero.
The Professor of Obstetrics and Director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre at the University of Manchester, UK, he has published over 230 research papers and written over 20 book chapters. Dr. Heazell splits his time between research/teaching and clinical practice, where he is beloved by his patients and has successfully delivered over a thousand Rainbow Clinic babies into their parents’ arms.
He is the founder of the UK’s internationally renowned Rainbow Clinics, providing specialized care for parents who have experienced a stillbirth in a previous pregnancy, and he has been instrumental in expanding the availability of Rainbow Clinic services to the US.
He also led the evaluation of NHS England's Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle for stillbirth prevention, and was the Chair of the International Stillbirth Alliance from 2013-2017, and a member of the Expert Panel on Maternity Care for the UK Government in 2021. Dr. Heazell is deeply committed to reducing the number of stillborn babies and improving care for bereaved parents.
Terri Major-Kincade, MD, MPH, FAAP
Dr. Terri Major-Kincade is a racial equity champion, a badass warrior mama, and a double board certified neonatologist and pediatrician to boot.
With over 20 years’ experience as a clinician, perinatal health disparities advocate, and neonatal palliative care and perinatal hospice provider, she brings a deep understanding of the issues facing parents of high-risk infants, especially those in marginalized communities.
She has led several outreach initiatives to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes through partnerships with the March of Dimes Texas, and moonlights as an Amazon Best Selling Author for her book Early Arrival: 9 Things Parents Need to know about life in the NICU. Dr. Terri is fighting racism in healthcare every day to help usher in the day when no baby is lost to preventable causes.
James Nicholson, MD, MSCE
Dr. Jim Nicholson is credited with being the first medical provider to rouse PUSH’s founders to battle with his impassioned discourse in defense of expectant families’ rights to autonomy.
As a Family Physician with several decades of experience in family-centered maternity care, Dr. Nicholson has developed a long-standing passion for identifying better methods of term pregnancy management at and beyond 37 weeks gestation. He is uncompromisingly determined to improve mother and baby outcomes, and he has become known as an outspoken advocate against the strict implementation of the “39 Week Rule.”
Dr. Nicholson trained at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University Medical Center, and has both published a series of major journal articles and given dozens of lectures across the globe. While pursuing a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology, he published a series of articles on the AMOR-IPAT system of identifying pregnant women who would benefit from induction before 40 weeks of gestation. Several of these publications were “editor’s choice papers” in the prestigious American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He has successfully obtained superior pregnancy outcomes for women from marginalized communities through the regular use of patient-oriented risk-based preventive labor induction (often initiated prior to 39 weeks 0 days of gestation) and shares PUSH’s passion for equitable and inclusive prenatal care and unequivocal support of human rights.
Patty Ng, MD
Dr. Patty Ng is an all-star OBGYN, a crusading champion for pregnant women, and the very first provider PUSH sought out to expand the availability of dedicated pregnancy after loss care in the US through NYC's first "Rainbow Afternoons."
As the founder and medical director at 1060 OBGYN – one of the highest-reviewed private OBGYN practices in NYC – Dr. Ng is revered by her patients for her compassion, thoughtfulness, and clinical aptitude. After suffering the tragic stillbirth of her daughter, she became a passionate advocate for helping loss moms and their families navigate subsequent pregnancies.
Dr. Ng graduated with honors from Syracuse University and SUNY Downstate Medical College, then finished her specialty training at Lenox Hill Hospital. In addition to being a rockstar doctor, she is also a successful entrepreneur and co-founded the luxury women’s health product brand, Ladybits.
Jason Collins, MD, MSCR
Dr. Jason Collins is the world’s leading expert on umbilical cord accidents and a tireless advocate for pregnant families.
After a 30 year obstetrical career including training with Tulane Medical Center and founding the Pregnancy Institute to study the umbilical cord’s role in why stillbirth happens, Dr. Collins has studied more than one thousand umbilical cords and piloted the clinical use of real-time fetal heartbeat monitoring technology at home to identify and protect at-risk babies.
Now retired from clinical practice, Dr. Collins has won much respect within the babyloss community as a fierce advocate for pregnant families, frequently volunteering his time and expertise to coach parents through complicated pregnancies and teach them the proven strategies he has identified over decades of experience to help mothers advocate for themselves and their babies.
Dr. Collins is steadfast in his convictions that cord issues may account for a large percentage of unexplained stillbirths and is not afraid to rock the boat in the name of saving babies’ lives – a trait which all of us PUSH deeply admire and respect!
Kristen Sharp, MD
Dr. Kristen Sharp is a pioneering OBGYN, a fierce warrior mama, and a passionate innovator in perinatal bereavement and pregnancy after loss.
In honor of her son, Caleb, who died during pregnancy, she founded the Hope After Loss Clinic, the very first practice in the US dedicated solely to pregnancy after loss. As a practicing OBGYN and Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Sharp has equipped scores of next-generation medical professionals to harness their empathy to provide best-in-class care to families expecting again after a perinatal loss.
She earned her degrees from Washington University and the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, and completed her residency at the University of Michigan. She has been awarded so many honors for outstanding patient care and excellence in teaching that we can’t even fit them all here!
