SGH Director of Women's Health Recognized by Crain's Detroit Business

Each year Crain's Detroit Business recognizes innovators, community champions and business leaders younger than 40 who are making significant impacts.

The 2024 class of 40 Under 40 honorees includes our very own Deidra Williams, the Director of Women's Health at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital.

Deidra Williams, 39
Director of Women’s Health
DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital

Deidra Williams has held more than 500 babies. She calls each moment “deeply personal.” The nurse midwife and director of women’s health at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital on Detroit’s Northwest side is on a mission to reduce the dismal maternal mortality rate in the city. The maternal mortality rate for Black women in Detroit is three times the national average. 

“Sinai Grace handles a lot of inner-city women, and we have a lot of high-risk cases,” Williams said. “Often, they come in with social issues and a lot of medical problems and often drug abuse. We handle more high-risk mothers than any other hospital in the area. We need to provide better care for these patients.” 

I’ve never lost a mom or lost a baby. That’s my biggest accomplishment."

Williams led the hospital’s effort to secure a three-year Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health grant from the state of Michigan and another from the United Way. With the funds, the hospital has initiated new initiatives to save women’s lives, including implementing maternal safety bundles, prenatal education programs and improved access. 

Williams also plans to hire a coordinator to lead those high-risk mother initiatives. She’s also leading a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to decrease the infant mortality rate in the city. Sinai-Grace is serving as a testbed for innovative approaches that can be expanded nationwide. 

Williams is also working to expand the staff at Sinai-Grace, including adding more midwives and creating a mobile service to serve pregnant women throughout the city. 

Williams is also a nontenured professor at University of Michigan’s School of Nursing in Ann Arbor, where she earned her master’s in nursing. She hopes to continue to climb the executive ladder in health care in the future as well. 

“Whatever God’s plan is for me, I am on board,” she said. “I would like to stick to the realm of maternal care, though. Once I see better results for infant and maternal mortality rates, I’ll think about where else I can best serve.” 

First paid job: Fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Memphis, Tenn., at 15 years old. 

Biggest career win: “I think it’s the healthy babies I have helped bring into this world. I’ve never lost a mom or lost a baby. That’s my biggest accomplishment.”