Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell is a Board-Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist and an Associate Professor at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the System Medical Director of Health Outcomes for the Ochsner Health System and the Medical Director of the Minimally Invasive Center for the Treatment of Uterine Fibroids. Dr. Gillispie-Bell earned her medical degree from Meharry Medical College, completed her residency at Ochsner Health, and holds a Master of Applied Science in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also holds certification in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. Known nationally for her expertise in managing heavy menstrual bleeding due to fibroids, she is highly skilled in advanced laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries in addition to her obstetric care.
As Medical Director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative and the Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review for the Louisiana Department of Health, Dr. Gillispie-Bell is a leading force in addressing maternal health disparities. Her work focuses on improving birth outcomes and eliminating racial disparities in maternal health across Louisiana. She has been quoted in national outlets such as USA Today and The New York Times and has appeared as a featured speaker at the Essence Festival, on Good Morning America, CNBC, Scripps News, and the 1619 Project Docuseries.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CXO Outlook Magazine, Dr. Gillispie-Bell shared insights into the future of healthcare, the secret sauce behind her success, her favorite quote, future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Dr. Gillispie-Bell. What drives your passion for improving maternal health outcomes and addressing disparities in care?
As an Obstetrician and Gynecologist, my goal is to make sure every patient feels like my sister or my mother or my grandmother. With this dedication to my patients, I feel it is my duty to ensure they have optimal health outcomes, including maternal health outcomes. As a public health expert, it is my duty to make sure ALL patients have optimal health outcomes. As a Black woman, understanding the disparities in maternal outcomes for Black women, I feel a personal need to ensure other Black women are able to experience safe and joyful births.
What do you love the most about your current role?
I love the variety of my roles! Just this week, I spent one day in the operating room removing fibroids so those women will have the experience of being mothers and the next day, I spent the day working on public health programs and policy to improve maternal and infant outcomes. The variety in my roles keeps me from burning out but also gives me unique perspectives to provide expertise in my various roles.
How do you see the future of healthcare evolving, and what opportunities and challenges do you think lie ahead?
I think the biggest evolution I see in health is the integration of telehealth, including the incorporation of AI. This has huge potential and is a great opportunity to not only have better quality of care but also overcome some of the social barriers that impact one’s ability to access care. I do think we have to be careful with implementation. Affordability, access, and digital health literacy must be addressed when implementing telehealth. Failure to do so will increase our health disparities.
How do you see the intersection of healthcare and social justice, and what role do you believe healthcare providers play in addressing social determinants of health?
80% of clinical outcomes are due to social factors. We must address social injustice to achieve optimal health outcomes. As healthcare providers, we may feel like “what can I do about someone’s social situation”. However, we can be the gateway and a bridge to resources. We must first establish trust with our patients. Once trust is established, we have to ask the hard questions to make sure our patient’s social needs are met. There are a lot of resources – national, state, and community-based – but those resources do not always have a way of identifying who needs the resource. That’s where healthcare providers come in. We can identify the need.
Congratulations on being recognized as one of Top 50 Women Leaders of Louisiana for 2025! Our readers would love to know the secret sauce behind your success.
Thank you so much! I think my success is due to faith, family and friends. I attended a wonderful course sponsored by Ochsner that helped me identify my foundation and understand that if my foundation is not strong, everything else will crumble. My foundation is faith, family, and friends.
What is your favorite quote?
My favorite quote is a Biblical quote – Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It grounds me in the belief that as long as I am walking in my purpose, God will make everything – my successes and my failures – work together to achieve my goals.
Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are?
I am very grateful to Dr. Ronnye Purvis. Dr. Purvis is an OBGYN in my hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. When I was home for Christmas break when I was a junior in college, he asked me what type of doctor I wanted to be. When I told him a pediatrician, he told me that was only because I had never seen any other doctor. He allowed me to shadow him for the 2 weeks I was home for Christmas break. He treated me like a third-year medical student allowing me to triage his patients in clinic and be his shadow. I learned not only that I loved medicine and surgery, and women’s health, but I learned how to establish trust with my patients; how to center them and make sure they felt heard.
How do you keep your mind healthy and stay resilient? And how do you motivate your team?
I keep my mind healthy and stay resilient by making sure I am investing in my foundation – Faith, Family, and Friends. I motivate my team by reminding them of our north star, connecting with them on a personal level, and ensure that they are taking time away from work.
What do you hope to achieve in the next 5-10 years, and how do you plan to get there?
In the next 5-10 years, I want to see Louisiana have a statewide maternal telehealth network ensuring everyone has access to care regardless of their location; I want to see the Black-white disparity gap in maternal outcomes disappear; and I want to see a culture shift in healthcare where we are all working to determine where we have disparities in outcomes and designing activities to address those disparities as the normal way we practice. I plan on getting each of these goals accomplished by leveraging the relationships I have created over the last 20 years. We have a lot of talent in Louisiana but we are often working in silos. I want to connect others and be a bridge. We must work together to achieve these goals.
What advice would you give to someone looking to make a positive impact in their community?
I would say there is no task that is too small that can lead to change. Every tree starts with a single seed. Just as an example, Dr. Purvis took time to invest in me, one college student. From his investment, I have delivered 1000’s of babies, performed 1000’s of surgeries, and now leading programmatic and policy changes that can impact tens of thousands of women. It all starts with planting one seed.