David B. Cheek Memorial Lecture on Psychosomatic Obstetrics

Lewis E. Mehl-Madrona, M.D., Ph.D.

The David B. Cheek Memorial Lecture on Psychosomatic Obstetrics was established by APPPAH to honor obstetrician David Cheek who died in June 1996 at the age of 84. David was a much loved and loyal member of APPPAH, conducted research that illuminated the realities of birth memory, served on the board for five years, and was a popular speaker at congresses. He spent forty years teaching clincal hypnosis to physicians, psychologists, and dentists and published about fifty papers and books that remain essential references in pre- and perinatal psychology and health. The inaugural lecture in this series was given at the 1997 congress in San Francisco by pediatrician Marshall Klaus, M.D.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D, Ph.D. is Medical Director, Center for Complementary Medicine at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Shadyside Hospital. APPPAH published three of Lewis' early papers: See them in volume 3(1), 6(4), and 7(3). Lewis also served on the APPPAH board from 1992 to 1995 and favored changing the name of the Association to help health workers feel more at home at Congresses (Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health).

True to his origins as a Kentucky Cherokee-Lakota, and with the inspiration of a great grandmother who was a native healer, Lewis eventually formulated his life mission to combine the practice of modern medicine and the traditions of Native American healing and other alternative therapies. He describes his journey in Coyote Medicine (Scribner, 1997).

Lewis won his M.D. from Stanford University at age twenty-one and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology five years later (1980). A long succession of residencies has led to specialties in Family Practice, Behavioral Medicine, Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, and Geriatrics. He has held academic and research positions at Stanford, UC Berkeley, U. of Arizona, U. of Vermont, U. of Hawaii, and U. of Pittsburgh where he is Associate Professor of Family Practice and Epidemiology. He is also proficient in hypnosis and acupuncture.

Enormously productive, he is the author of four books, 63 papers and chapters, and currently has 22 research papers in the review process looking toward publication. His farsighted research in the 1970s revealed that women who gave birth at home with midwives in Santa Cruz, CA delivered more safely than a control group of women who gave birth in hospitals. (Publication of this research and discussing it on the Today Show, led to his leaving a residency at the U. of Wisconsin.)

Since that time, Mehl-Madrona has been a persistent advocate for home birth and midwifery and he has participated in about 800 births. His research includes many studies of mothers and babies including factors in premature labor, and the psychiatric consequences of disrupting normal birth. Using sophisticated computer simulation modeling, he has been able to specify the psychosocial factors predicting birth complications, fetal demise, birth weight and length of gestation. His research can be used to both predict and prevent Cesarean births.

For extensive information about Dr. Mehl-Madronna's training and publications, see his website.

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The Thomas R. Verny Award for Outstanding Contributions to
Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health

1999 Recipient: David B. Chamberlain, Ph.D.

The Thomas R. Verny Award for Outstanding Contributions to Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health was created to honor both the recipient and the person for whom the award is named. Thomas Verny was the visionary founder and first president of APPPAH; he was also the founder and first editor of the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. He is a gifted psychiatrist, psychologist, communicator to the multitudes, and accoucheur to pre- and perinatal psychology. Dr. Verny's publications include the international best seller, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child (1981) which is translated into 25 languages.

The Award was established in 1991 upon Dr. Verny's retirement after eight years of service to the Association. A recipient, chosen every two years by the Board of Directors of APPPAH, receives a monetary prize of $1,000. Previous recipients of the award were Ashley Montagu distinguished medical anthropologist, author, social critic and advocate for women and babies (1993), Beatriz Manrique, research psychologist and organizer of the world's largest experiment in prenatal enrichment, in Caracas, Venezuela (1995), and Michel Odent, path-breaking obstetrician, dedicated home birth midwife, and founder of the Center for Primal Health Research, London (1997).

Psychologist David B. Chamberlain strongly supported the First International Congress on Pre- and Perinatal Psychology held in Toronto in 1983 and was appointed vice-president of the Association and named chairperson of the 2nd International Congress held in San Diego, CA (1985). Since his presentation, "Consciousness at Birth: A Review of the Empirical Evidence," to the first congress, David has continued to review the experimental literature, building a strong empirical base for pre- and perinatal psychology and health. He is internationally recognized for over forty publications about prenates and neonates, and has carried his message to Austria, Poland, Germany, Spain, France, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Brazil, Italy, England, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. Much of his knowledge of newborns is found in Babies Remember Birth (1988), now in a 3rd and expanded edition with the title, The Mind of Your Newborn Baby (1998). This work is available in eight languages.

Earning a doctor's degree from Boston University in 1958, David has worked principally as a psychotherapist and educator. In 1970 he was licensed to practice psychology in California. Five years later, his way of approaching therapy was profoundly influenced by training in clinical hypnosis which opened the door to unexpected memories of birth and life in the womb. His original research, "Reliability of Birth Memories: Evidence from Ten Mother and Child Pairs in Hypnosis" (1980/1986) demonstrated that the children were having real memories of their own births, not fantasies about birth.

From 1991 to 1999 David was a tireless and productive President of APPPAH, widely appreciated for his friendliness and resourcefulness. He carried extra responsibilities as Acting Editor of The APPPAH Newsletter (1995-1999), produced and edited annually One Hundred Books in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, (1993-1999), and served as Book Review Coordinator from 1997-1999. In November 1996, David founded and continues to edit , APPPAH's gateway on the world wide web. The website currently attracts about 4,000 persons per day from over 50 countries, making it a large voice for prenatal and perinatal psychology and health.