Dr. Thomasena Ellison, GYN: A Sisterhood Advocate from AKA Sorority to Women’s Healthcare

By Fern Gillespie
Whether it is being active in community service with the Brooklyn Links and AKA sorority or reaching out to her patients as Associate Director of Gynecology at Maimonides Hospital, Dr Thomasena Ellison, MD has a theme of “sisterhood” in her personal life and professional career.

Dr. Ellison grew up in Flatbush-Crown Heights, inspired by her mother, who was an educator, and her father, who worked in construction and plumbing. When she graduated from Stuyvesant High School’s math and science program in the 1970s, she was determined to be a physician. At age 17, she entered Duke University. Unlike most pre-med majors, at Duke, she majored in engineering after being persuaded by her mother to have a skilled science degree.

In her freshman year, her life changed. She pledged AKA. For medical school, she attended HBCU Morehouse School of Medicine. She is married and has two adult children who hold undergraduate degrees from Morehouse and Spelman. Our Time Press spoke with Dr. Ellison on pregnancy and GYN issues facing Black women and the importance of community service.

OTP: Medical studies have reported that Black women are more than likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Why?
Dr. Ellison: Most women, white, black, purple, green, will go in and have their baby and will come home and be perfectly fine. We don’t want to scare women into not conceiving or having their pregnancies, or thinking that they are going to go into the hospital and die.
Of the women who have complications of their pregnancy, if you are a Black or Brown woman, the probability is that you are not going to have a good outcome. That is a 3 to 4 times higher rate of having an adverse outcome because of the complications. So that means blood transfusions, admission to the ICU, losing a uterus, additional surgery and hypertensive crisis. White women who have similar types of situations usually don’t have those complications. We need to do better at this.

OTP: What can be done to deal with the situation and create a better outcome for Black women who are pregnant?
Dr. Ellison: There are a bunch of things that need to be done. It’s a major shift at how we provide healthcare. Having a woman who is pregnant show up in the office for prenatal care, I ask, was it a planned pregnancy? What was your healthcare like prior to becoming pregnant? When was the last time you saw a primary care doctor? Were you on multiple vitamins or any supplements? What was your diet like? How heavy were you prior to starting your pregnancy? Have you been tested or evaluated for diabetes or hypertension? If I hear No ” or No, I did not or this was not a planned pregnancy, we’re already starting at negative points.
Then I’m trying to catch up to see all those things that may be undiagnosed or not addressed with this woman. To try while she’s pregnant to optimize her health. Because ideally, you want to have a planned pregnancy. Not a pregnancy that plans for you. You want to be in the best health that you possibly can be. If you’re diabetic, I want to make sure your sugar is under control. If you have hypertension, you want to have good control of your blood pressure. If your weight is way out of range you, you want to try to lose weight or get your body weight to where it won’t interfere with your pregnancy.

OTP: Why is it important for women to see their GYN doctor, not just for pregnancy or pap smears?
Dr. Ellison: Women need to go to their gynecologist. Things happen besides pregnancies. Pap smears are screenings for cervical cancer. But, there are other changes that happen with a woman’s body a primary care doctor may not be evaluating. They are menopausal changes. I give out referrals to colonoscopies and mammograms. There are bone density tests. These are important to your overall health.

OTP: You are the president of a major Brooklyn AKA sorority chapter. Also you are active in the Links. Why was it important for you to get involved with these historically Black women organizations that focus on positive impact on their community?
Dr. Ellison: Both the AKAs and the Links are community service-oriented. The AKAs will always be my ultimate sisterhood. I am president of Psi Lambda Omega, the newer AKA chartering group in Brooklyn. There are two AKA chapters in Brooklyn. I’ve been a AKA member for 47 years. I attribute my growing up and maturing to Alpha Kappa Alpha. It affords me the ability to do sister service to my community. I’m able to pass on to my younger sorority members my experience and my leadership capabilities. It allows me to guide them and navigate them to also grow up in the organization and provide leadership. The Links are also a sisterhood that focuses on service. It’s an organization of women with professional careers who have excelled. In the Links, I serve as the chair of the health committee. That also helps me provide leadership toward things that we as professional women of color need to focus on to better our community.

OTP: What has been the impact of returning to Brooklyn after earning your medical degree in Atlanta?
Dr. Ellison: Coming back to Brooklyn from med school in Atlanta I was matched to Kings County Hospital and Downstate in Flatbush. It was in walking distance from where I grew up. It was the best thing that happened to me personally. I got to come back to the community that I grew up in and serve the community. It’s a privilege to do that.