Wendy Adjeley Adjei’s journey from La St. Paul’s Anglican JSS and Ningo Secondary School in Ghana to shaping maternal health communication in the United States is a story of resilience and purpose. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Coast, she was awarded a full scholarship to pursue a master’s in communication at Purdue University, followed by another fully funded Ph.D. in Health Communication at the University of Missouri—one of the top public research universities (R1) in the U.S. Her research focuses on patient-provider communication, maternal and child health and birth equity, critical areas vital to improving health outcomes nationwide and globally.
At Mizzou, Wendy’s work is not confined to the classroom. She serves on the Kansas Birth Equity Network and volunteers with the American Red Cross as a blood donor ambassador. She was recently elected Director of Legislative Affairs for the Graduate Professional Council, where she advocates for student-centered policies at the institutional and state level. Her impact is visible across advocacy, research and community leadership.
Her current study, titled “The Emotional Legacy of Memorable Messages: Exploring the Impact of Communication on Maternal Birthing Experiences in the U.S.”, centers on how mothers across racial, cultural, and experiential backgrounds remember and interpret the communication they received during childbirth. Through in-depth interviews with mothers who have given birth in the U.S, she investigates how the words—or silences—of healthcare providers and support system during childbirth leave lasting emotional impacts on mothers. In the study she found that many mothers remembered not only affirming words like “You were made for this,” but also moments of silence, dismissal, or misattuned communication that shaped feelings of abandonment, distrust, or resilience.
This work has far-reaching implications for U.S. healthcare. It highlights that communication during childbirth is not just about bedside manner instead it directly shapes maternal mental health, patient safety, and long-term trust in care systems. Wendy proposes the Emotionally Attuned Communication Protocol (EACP), a trauma-informed framework she designed to equip healthcare providers with relational and equity-driven tools for care. At a time when the U.S. is grappling with rising maternal mental health concerns, Wendy’s research calls for a system-wide shift: to treat every word, every silence, and every moment of care as emotionally consequential.
She is not only contributing to U.S. health research; she is transforming how we define care, dignity, and voice in the birthing experience in the U.S and globally.
