AUGUSTA, Ga. () – Dr. Marlo Vernon is a soft spoken woman with a firm commitment to helping others.

“My work primarily focuses on insuring that families have access to healthy education and the resources and meeting the social needs they might have so that they can ensure healthy lifestyles for themselves and their children,” she explains.

Her work involves a long list of research and practice focuses including healthy behavior change, community cancer prevention, and maternal mortality and morbidity prevention.

“I think what motives me is wanting to be sure that women feel empowered to be in charge of their own health and to be confident in asking questions. So many times we just rely on who we think might be an expert and I want people in the community, and I want women and I want families to be confident and taking charge of their health whatever that might look like whether it’s being sure that they get to the Doctor on time to making sure they can get access to special services for their children. Just making sure Moms, in general, are able to live long healthy lives.”

That is also a large part of her motivation to develop of an app that provides remote pregnancy monitoring for patients in rural areas to track their blood pressure.

It was created as part of her entry into a contest but grew out of necessity after the death of her pregnant cousin.

The program includes providing healthy food options like locally grown vegetables and dry goods to participants as well as classes on healthy eating and food preparation.

“We also have a component to it where we have Moms self monitor their mental health. Everyone talks about blood pressure or obesity so many people forget to talk about the mental health component that goes along with motherhood. So, that’s something that we monitor as well. If the Mom needs help either for her blood pressure or for her mental health we make sure that she’s navigated to help.”

When it comes to navigating, Dr. Vernon leads the way.

Not only is she focused on educating and enhancing lives, Dr. Vernon is a wife and mother of seven.

Just as she stands firm on her work toward helping others, she is just as firm in her faith and offers this advice for women trying to find their way.

“Number one, if God opens a door for you walk through it. You never know what’s going to be on the other side. So, sometimes when you come to a crossroad, just pick a direction. If it’s not the right one, you can turn around and go a different way. But, if you have something on your heart that you really want to do, keep looking for those opportunities. Do the little things that you are capable of fitting into your life at that time. Then, you’ll be able to gain more capacity to take on bigger roles.”