RAVEN STEPHENSON

University of Arizona, BS

Ravenmstephenson@arizona.edu

Raven M. Stephenson is a first-generation college graduate who recently graduated from the University of Arizona in Fall 22’ with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Biomedical and a minor in Arabic and Military Science. She has been currently serving in the Arizona Army National Guard for the past seven years. Raven was born and raised in Southern California where she has always been passionate about giving back to the community in any feasible way. She has a strong devolution to helping children.

Over the past two years, she has volunteered at Tucson Medical Center with events such as the Back to School Drive, Spooktacular, Blood Drive, Food Drive, Booster Seat Safety Days, and much more. During her senior year of college, she was able to gain employment at Tucson Medical Center as a Patient Care Technician where she experienced firsthand interactions with various patients that came from different backgrounds.

Raven is passionate about research for Sickle Anemia Disease. Her plan after college is to become a military Board Certified Physician in Pediatrics Surgery in hopes to provide medical assistance to underserved communities where she will later establish an all-in-one care clinic with a specialty in pediatrics.

⊲ PROJECT

The Benefits of Duola Support For Pregnant Women in Prison

The research highlights the importance of having a Doula but more importantly a Doula in prison. Our research time conducted over 100 hours of visual representation of Doula hands-on within the Estella Women’s Prison here in Arizona. Given that women who are pregnant in prison experience increased perinatal risks (Hotelling, 2008), providing gender-specific, trauma-informed care is an important step for improving maternal, fetal, and neonatal health and supporting the mother-child dyad.