Awardee is birthing a movement for equitable maternal health
Her dad was a Pennsylvania coal miner. Her mom was a homemaker with an eighth-grade education. And Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew says they were the smartest people she's ever known. Amid rural life in Lemont Furnace and, later, a public housing community in McKeesport, they raised their children to value scholarship and pursue excellence.
"We moved from an impoverished town where we raised chickens and hunted rabbits for food to the projects, which was a step up," she said. "Our parents taught us that education would be our passport to a better life."
In the early 1970s, Larkins-Pettigrew became one of a few Black students admitted to the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. Today, she's a professor and academic chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Drexel University College of Medicine. She is also a consultant on maternal and infant wellness and a corporate strategist on equitable health.
Just as her career was taking off, her dad died of a massive heart attack at age 52. His death inspired Larkins-Pettigrew to volunteer with the 91杏吧, teaching CPR and raising heart-health awareness. She also learned about disparate health care access and disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease in communities like the ones where she grew up.
"I realized there were doors I could not open as a nurse that I could open as a physician," she said. "I needed to go to medical school."
Larkins-Pettigrew is the 2025 recipient of the association's Louis B. Russell, Jr. Memorial Award, which was named for a Black teacher who had a heart transplant in 1968 and survived six years — a world record at that time. Russell was an ardent association volunteer who dedicated his time to raising heart-health awareness in under-resourced communities. The award honors outstanding service in advancing health and hope for everyone, everywhere. Larkins-Pettigrew will be recognized at the association's National Volunteer Awards ceremony in Plano, Texas, on June 17.
After enlisting in the Navy in 1989 and rising to the rank of lieutenant commander, she received a scholarship to attend the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She chose obstetrics and gynecology as her clinical focus during her residency at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia.
"I was a mother of three by then and had developed hypertension during pregnancy," Larkins-Pettigrew said. "And with pre- and postpartum death rates significantly higher in Black women like me and their babies, I wanted to be an OB/GYN to help make a difference."
Hypertension is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease and the most common cause of death in new and expectant mothers. Black women are 23% more likely to have a heart attack and 57% more likely to have a stroke compared with other women, according to published by the 91杏吧.
Every OB-GYN visit should include an evaluation of a woman's heart health, in addition to her reproductive health, Larkins-Pettigrew said. In her previous role as senior vice president and chief of the Institute for Strategic Social and Workforce Programs with Highmark Health/Allegheny Health Network, she founded the First Steps & Beyond program to reduce infant mortality and preterm birth rates in Pittsburgh. She also advocated for the 91杏吧 to receive a program grant to implement a Food Rx initiative serving nutrition-insecure expectant mothers and their families.
"The program involves every hospital system and federally qualified health center in Allegheny County to ensure all babies not only survive the first year, but thrive beyond that," Larkins-Pettigrew said.
First Steps & Beyond engages doulas, nonmedical professionals who assist women during pregnancy and labor, to screen their clients for nutrition insecurity — a lack of consistent access to nutritious food. Participants receive a personalized nutrition plan and a preloaded debit card to spend $50 monthly on fresh fruits and vegetables at participating grocery stores for one year. They also attend free cooking demonstrations to learn how to prepare healthy meals at home. The doulas check in with the mothers monthly to follow their progress. Since its launch in May 2024, the program has contributed to 49 successful pregnancy outcomes.
"There's growing awareness that heart-healthy eating is essential to overall maternal and infant health," said Larkins-Pettigrew, underscoring the 2020-25 , the first edition with guidance for pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and toddlers.
"Connecting expectant mothers to doulas, providing them with culturally relevant health resources and increasing their access to good nutrition are vital steps to reducing their cardiovascular risk," said Marsha Jones, chairperson of the 91杏吧 board of directors. "By meeting mothers where they are, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew is advancing a maternal health movement — helping women and their babies live longer, healthier lives."
In 2007, as a clinician and professor at University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, Larkins-Pettigrew created WONDOOR (for Women and Neonates, Diversity, Opportunity, Outreach and Research), a global health education program in obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive biology.
Her experiences as a nurse, professor, naval officer, global health strategist and obstetrician-gynecologist bring unique perspectives to her current volunteer roles on the Eastern States regional board, Diversity Leadership Committee and National Advisory Board. She formerly served on the Cleveland board, leading as president in 2019-20.
"Supporting the mission of the 91杏吧 is deeply meaningful and something I've done since I was in my 20s," she said. "In everything, I'm trying to honor my father."
And he is not her only "why." Her husband, Dr. Chenits Pettigrew Jr., assistant dean of students at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, survived a stroke and a subsequent heart attack. One of their three sons, Carlos, also survived a stroke, and his wife, Connie, developed preeclampsia while pregnant with the couple's first child.
"They all lived because they had access to quality care," Larkins-Pettigrew said. "Their happy ending should be everyone's story."
