| For Immediate Release May 23, 2014 | Contact: Damaris Hay Email: [email protected] Office: (240) 485-1856 |
13
MIDWIVES INDUCTED AS FELLOWS OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF
NURSE-MIDWIVES
ACNM
Members Honored with Prestigious Distinction
Silver Spring, MD - The American College of
Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) honored 13 midwives who have
demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and contributions to the midwifery
community throughout their careers. A limited number of midwives are selected
for this highly coveted distinction and are inducted as fellows during the ACNM Annual Meeting &
Exhibition each year.
The
2014 Fellows are:
Tanya Bailey,
CNM, MSN, FACNM (NC)
Tanya Bailey
completed a diploma nursing program in 1990. She received an undergraduate
degree in nursing from Old Dominion University and her graduate degree in
nursing from Case Western Reserve University. She received her midwifery
training from Frontier Nursing University and has been a practicing certified
nurse-midwife (CNM) since 2002. Her initial job as a CNM was with the
Obstetrics and Gynecology Medicine Department at Women's Hospital of Greensboro
as a faculty member. She is currently employed in private practice with
Wendover Ob-Gyn & Infertility in a full-scope setting that includes first
assist, limited ultrasound, infertility, and water birth. She is thefirst
midwife president of the Guilford County Coalition on Infant Mortality. This
organization works to reduce health disparities and infant mortality through
the development of innovative programs. She led the formation of the Community
Action for Healthy Babies Consortium to identify and address specific community
issues contributing to infant mortality and health disparities. She precepts
midwifery students and provides professional guidance to new graduate midwives.
She has been involved with ACNM at the state level as a volunteer on the
Program, Bylaws, and Legislative Committees. In addition, she has served as
vice president and president of the state organization. Her national
involvement includes serving as a member of the American Midwifery
Certification Board (AMCB) Exam Committee for 2 terms; currently, she is
serving as chair of that committee and as a member of the AMCB Board of
Directors. Most recently she was involved with the US Midwifery, Education,
Regulation, and Association (MERA) group to address national midwifery issues
involving education, accreditation, and licensure of all midwives in the United
States.
Patricia
Burkhardt, CM, LM, DrPH, FACNM
(NY)
Dr. Patricia Burkhardt built a
certificate midwifery education on a nursing diploma, then acquired public health
skills and education at the master and doctoral levels from the Johns Hopkins
School of Public Health. From this vantage point, she watched the evolution of
the profession and the health care system. This gave her a clear understanding
that things are in motion in some direction most of the time. Dr. Burkhardt
actively participated in this evolution through local, state, and national
leadership positions within ACNM in which she maintained her focus on the good
of the midwifery profession and the well-being of women for whom the profession
exists. When she returned to the United States from Latin America she directed
a large private hospital practice, worked with New York State colleagues to
pass the 1992 Midwifery Practice Act, and started the midwifery education
program at NYU. She changed the teaching methodology to "Problem-Based Learning"
and has aided other programs to do the same. Dr. Burkhardt served on the New
York State Board of Midwifery, created by the Midwifery Practice Act, for 10
years and continues to work for midwives and women as president of NYSALM, the
New York State ACNM Affiliate. Dr. Burkhardt is a firm believer in global
midwifery and the value midwives add to the lives of all women. In her view,
the International Confederation of Midwives created critical documents in the
recent standards for education, regulation, and association and ACNM's US MERA
effort is essential to the future of US midwifery.
Victoria
Henderson Burslem, CNM, MSN, FACNM (MS)
Victoria
Burslem
received her bachelor of science in nursing from Vanderbilt University and
master of science in nursing and midwifery education from the University of
Illinois at Chicago. Vicki is currently an assistant professor of nursing at
Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. Prior to her move to Mississippi, she was
the midwifery director of a large private practice in Atlanta, Georgia, for
many years. Throughout her 37-year career she has been active in midwifery
clinical practice and education, caring for women in public and private
settings, and attending births both in-hospital and out-of-hospital at a
freestanding birth center. She was a "CNEP Pioneer," as one of the original
faculty with Frontier's Community-based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program. She
is currently on faculty at the Midwifery Institute of Philadelphia University,
educating students in both certified midwife and nurse-midwifery pathways
through its distance education program. Additionally, she has been a clinical
preceptor for numerous students from 8 midwifery education programs. Vicki is best known, however, for her
role as co-plaintiff with Susan Sizemore in the anti-trust litigation, Federal
Trade Commission suit, and Congressional Committee hearings that resulted from
their inability to obtain hospital practice privileges. The 11-year litigation
proved ultimately successful, strengthening anti-trust case law for
non-physician providers, improving nurse-midwives' ability to obtain hospital
privileges, and protecting physicians who practice collaboratively with
midwives from liability insurance cancellation. Vicki
was ACNM chapter chair for Tennessee early in her career and is currently
serving as president of the ACNM Mississippi Affiliate.
Michelle Rene
Collins, CNM, PhD, FACNM (TN)
Dr. Michelle Collins completed a diploma nursing program at
St. Anthony School of Nursing, her bachelor of science in nursing from Rockford
College, a master of science in nursing from Marquette University, and her PhD
from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She currently serves as associate
professor and director of the nurse-midwifery program at Vanderbilt University
and as part of the faculty practice. Michelle is the first CNM to practice in
the city of Marion, Illinois where she initiated a water birth service. She is
a provider of colposcopy and LEEP services for uninsured women through both the
Illinois and Tennessee Breast and Cervical Cancer Programs. She was the first
CNM credentialed at Vanderbilt to perform colposcopy services. Michelle was
appointed colposcopy mentor for the American Society for Colposcopy and
Cervical Pathology (ASCCP). Additionally, she has worked with a group of CNMs to
initiate water immersion at Vanderbilt. Michelle spearheaded the initiative to
bring nitrous oxide as labor analgesia to Vanderbilt presenting nationally and publishing
her work on nitrous oxide numerous times since, assisting hospitals and birth
centers across the country in initiating nitrous services. Working with a
student nurse-midwife, Michelle initiated a volunteer doula service utilizing
community doulas and student nurse-midwives. She is currently working on
setting up an umbilical cord blood donation program at Vanderbilt. Michelle has
made vast contributions to both ACNM and the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists (ACOG) and serves as ACNM
liaison to ACOG regarding nitrous oxide. She serves as secretary for the
Directors of Midwifery Education (DOME) group, conducts media interviews for
ACNM's national office, has been a member
of the AMCB Exam Construction Committee for 6 years, and joined the ACNM Annual Meeting Planning Committee for last year's
meeting in Nashville, TN. She currently serves as vice president for the ACNM Tennessee
State Affiliate as well as past public relations representative.
Michelle worked as a contributor to the construction
of BirthTOOLS.org in the area of nitrous oxide analgesia.
Connie Dewees,
CNM, DrPH, MN, FACNM (NC)
Dr. Connie Dewees
teaches nurse-midwifery in the East Carolina University College of Nursing in
North Carolina. In addition to her present faculty position, she has taught
midwifery at Emory University and the Medical University of South Carolina. Her
experiences establishing and maintaining faculty midwifery practices have
contributed to her passion for teaching the business of midwifery to student
midwives. Among her professional accomplishments which make her proudest is
seeing her former students in the successful practice of midwifery and in
leadership positions within the profession. She has served as Region III
Representative to the ACNM Board of Directors, on various ACNM committees, and
in a number of state level ACNM offices. She is currently the vice president of
the North Carolina Affiliate of ACNM where she is continuing her long career in
legislative advocacy for midwifery and women's and children's health issues.
She is a member of the A.C.N.M. Foundation's Midwifery Legacies Project in
which she co-chairs the 20th Century Midwives Student Interview
Project.
Michelle
Grandy, CNM, MN, FACNM
(WA)
Michelle Grandy
received her BSN at Seattle Pacific University and her master's in nursing from
University of Washington. Her career began at Providence Midwifery Care in
Everett, WA where she practiced for 7 years. In 2003, she became associate
teaching faculty at University of Washington in the obstetrics (OB) department
and practiced as a part of the UW Midwives - becoming service director in 2006.
In 2011, Michelle started the Midwives Clinic at Northwest Hospital, a full
scope practice including women's health, where she is currently the service
director. Her passion has been to educate the OB consultants of the future to
be supportive of CNM care and physiologic birth. She started a course for first
and second year medical students to provide early exposure to the midwifery
model of care. She also started a mentorship for residents during their intern
year. Throughout her career, she has also precepted midwifery students. Michelle
has been active in the Midwifery Business Network and received the Francis Thacher
Leadership Award in 2009. In 2009, as the chapter chair, she led WA to become
the 4th affiliate in ACNM. She has led an A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc.
Clinical Star Award Program in WA State that has recognized many exceptional
midwives. She led the formation of the Medical Education Caucus of ACNM,
becoming its first chair. As ACNM Region VI Representative on the Board of
Directors, she served on the Awards Committee, was liaison to the Midwifery
Business Network, led affiliate leadership workshops, and traveled the West Coast
joining with affiliate leaders to improve their organizations.
Milree Keeling,
CNM, MS, BCSI, FACNM(MA)
Milree earned a BSN at
CaseWesternReserveUniversityin 1975 and a MS at the
University of Minnesota School of Nursing nurse-midwifery education program in
1986. In northwest Wisconsin at that time, no local physicians would supervise
a midwife, so Milree moved to central MA to work in the
state's secondbirth center. In 1987, she was recruited to start the
first midwifery practice in Eau Claire, WI, a practice which continues to this
day. Returning in 1990 to MA, she pioneered a fully collaborative midwifery
practice which continued until 2012. For 7 years,Milree was a
Northeastern Regional Clinical Coordinator for the Frontier School of Midwifery
and FamilyNursing. From 2006 to 2011, Milree developed the role of
perinatal nurse developmentalist in 1 of 9 nurse-family home visiting programs
in MA. From 2000 to 2012,Milree served in the MA ACNM chapter leadership
as vice-chair, chair, and legislative chair. She worked for 10 years as ACNM representative
to the Coalition for Midwifery, which tried to establish a single midwifery board
in the state, and led the final ACNM effort that resulted in statutory
independence fromphysician supervision. Since 2011, Milree has been in
private practice as a Board Certified Structural Integrator, restoring
comfortable ease in movement to people of all ages.
Julia Lange
Kessler, CM, RN, DNP, FACNM
(NY)
Dr. Julia
Kessler served as the founder, owner, and service director of the first
midwifery-owned practice in the Hudson Valley area while initiating hospital
privileges at 3 facilities. As program coordinator of the NYU Nurse Midwifery
Program since 2008, Kessler obtained reinstatement and accreditation while
expanding the program - graduating 3 times more midwives and enhancing the
curriculum with the addition of a specific primary care clinical component. Kessler
organized an educational trip to the Nygatare School of Midwifery and Nursing
in Rwanda with 4 new grads. The educational sessions were designed to help
reduce the rate of episiotomy, fundal pressure, and primary pulmonary hypertension while increasing the rate of
neonatal resuscitation at the local hospital. An active member of the North
East Regional Consortium for the Comprehensive Exam in Midwifery (NERCCEM) and
member of the First Pass Committee, Kessler served as a former regional board
member of New York State Association of Licensed Midwives (NYSALM) and is currently
a sitting board member of the New York state Board of Midwifery (BOM). Within ACNM
Kessler has served as chair of the Nominating Committee, chair of the Preceptor
section of the Division of Education, served as a leader in the ACNM Virtual
Quality Institute. Within the American Midwifery Certification Board, Kessler served
on the CMP Committee and currently serves on the Executive Board as well as the
Disciplinary Committee. Kessler has also been the chair of the Directors of
Midwifery Education (DOME). Currently, Kessler is co-chair of the largest
chapter in the ACNM - the NYC Midwives. She has published in numerous
publications and given countless presentations regarding midwifery &
midwifery practice.
Gwen Amber
Latendresse, CNM, PhD, FACNM
(UT)
Dr.
Latendresse completed her BSN in 1986 at Metropolitan State University in
Denver. In 1988 she received an MS in midwifery and in 2008 she received her
PhD, both at the University of Utah. In 2009 she was a fellow at the Summer
Genetics Institute at the NIH/NINR and Georgetown University. Dr. Latendresse
is the current chair for the Legislative Taskforce for the Utah ACNM Affiliate,
which in 2012 was successful in eliminating the physician signature requirement
for CNMs in Utah. She is a past co-chair of the Utah Affiliate and a current
member of the ACNM Division of Research. Dr. Latendresse has made significant
scholarly contributions to the study of chronic maternal stress, preterm birth,
and prenatal genetics. Her research has been funded by the A.C.N.M. Foundation,
Inc., March of Dimes, the NINR, and currently by an NIH funded Center for
Clinical and Translational Science to study the impact of maternal SSRI use on
placental gene expression and serotonin levels in newborns. Dr. Latendresse
authored the first genetics chapter in the recent 5th ed. Varney's Midwifery. She received the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health (JMWH)
Mary Ann Shah New Author Award in 2006 and the Best Article of the Year Award
in 2010. She frequently presents at ACNM's Annual Meeting & Exhibition,
mentors and teaches midwifery students, and is invited to give lectures in her
area of scholarly expertise. She serves as a peer reviewer for JMWH and many other national and
international journals and organizations.
Elaine M.
Moore, CNM, MSN, FACNM (TN)
Elaine
Moore learned of midwifery at Capital University through her obstetrics professor-
a nurse-midwife. This inspired her to enroll in graduate school for midwifery
at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1980. After graduation, Elaine
joined the Grady Memorial Hospital midwives with the goal of starting Atlanta's
first private practice, which she accomplished in 1983 along with her best
friend and 3 amazingly collaborative physicians. While in Atlanta, Elaine was
very active in her ACNM chapter serving as chair, secretary, and bylaws chair.
For this and more she was awarded the ACNM Region III Award for Excellence. In
2000, Elaine and her husband moved closer to family in Nashville. Shortly
thereafter, she joined the Vanderbilt Midwifery Practice where she stayed
through 2013, earning her recognition as a Clinical Star. Elaine now works in a
clinic for underserved women and is assisting in the transition to establish
the second midwifery practice in a large community hospital in Nashville. In
1990, Elaine founded one of the A.C.N.M Foundation, Inc.'s long-standing
endowments: the W. Newton Long Fund for practicing CNMs/CMs. She served on the Foundation's
board from 2005 to 2012, including a year as vice president. During a short
hiatus, she helped found the OnGoing Group, now known as the Midwifery Legacies
Project. In 2013 Elaine returned to the Foundation's board as president.
Whitney Ann
Pinger, CNM, MSN, FACNM (Washington,
DC)
Whitney Pinger is
a third generation UC Berkeley graduate and completed her midwifery training at
Yale University. Whitney is the founder and director of midwifery services at
The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates. Prior to coming to
GW, Whitney established Wisdom Midwifery at The Washington Hospital Center. She
has also served as the director of midwifery at Georgetown University and
Washington Free Clinic's prenatal and pediatric programs. Whitney is recognized
for initiation and leadership of the ACNM's DC chapter in the development of the
Midwifery Pearls PowerPoint, a unique presentation of scientifically proven
practices that midwives use to increase the incidence of normal birth. ACNM
assumed ownership of "The Pearls" presentation in 2009, and has made it
available online to a national audience. Whitney received the ACNM Regional
Award for Excellence in 2009 and the ACNM Media Award the following year. Our
Bodies, Ourselves honored Whitney in 2010 as a "Women's Health Hero." Whitney
and her 7 partners at GW practice by "The Pearls" and use innovative labor
management strategies to yield an 86% normal birth rate and a cesarean section
rate under 5%. Whitney is committed to, and passionate about, the education of
the next generation of physicians, midwives, and nurses. Whitney recently
presented a poster at ACOG's annual meeting highlighting how collaborative
models of care between midwives and physicians can significantly reduce the
cesarean section rate.
Connie Swentek,
CNM, MSN, FACNM (CA)
Connie Swentek
graduated as a certified nurse-midwife and woman's health nurse practitioner
from UCSF/UCSD in 1989. She has worked in the academic setting teaching medical
students and residents, in a high-volume managed care setting, and in a private
practice out-of-hospital setting. She has taught at 3 nurse-midwifery programs
in the Southern California area and consistently provided preceptorship to
midwifery students throughout her career. As a manager of a larger midwifery
service, she helped ensure the on-going access for midwifery students in the
practice and the ability for new graduates to move directly into the workforce.
She has worked diligently to advance the profession of midwifery through
legislative and leadership efforts as president of the California Nurse-Midwives
Association and through participation in the Southern California CNM Leadership
Committee. She co-chaired the local Program Committee for the ACNM 57th
Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Long Beach in 2012 and is currently the chair
of the ACNM Bylaws Committee. She has participated in other committees ranging
from Patient Safety, Peer Review, and Family Violence Prevention. She received
the "Educator of the Year" Award from the California Nurse-Midwives Association
in 1997 and the ACNM "Regional Award for Excellence," Region VI, in 2008.
Ruth E.
Zielinski, CNM, PhD, FACNM (MI)
Dr, Ruth Zielinski has been a certified nurse-midwife for 19
years, completing both her master's and PhD at the University of Michigan. Her
practice sites included co-owning a full-scope midwifery practice. She has
taught and mentored many students and now teaches midwifery full-time at the University
of Michigan, as well as being in clinical practice both with the University of
Michigan nurse-midwives and Borgess Women's Health. Her research
accomplishments include her dissertation, Private
Places: Private Shame which won the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award.
She has presented and published on topics such as body image, sexual health,
pelvic floor outcomes following birth, CenteringPregnancy, and out-of-hospital
birth. She has served ACNM in various roles, the most recent being president of
the ACNM Michigan Affiliate, chair of the Clinical Practice Section of the Division
of Standards and Practice (DOSP), and as a member of the ACOG Preventive Health
Taskforce. Ruth has a passion for international women's health and her recent
work includes teaching ACNM's Home Based Life Saving Skills in South Sudan, an
endeavor she hopes to continue.
###
To learn more about ACNM's 2014 fellows, please contact
Damaris Hay, ACNM Media Relations Specialist at (240) 485-1856 or via e-mail at
[email protected].
The American College of
Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is the professional association that represents certified
nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) in the United States. With
roots dating to 1929, ACNM sets the standard for excellence in midwifery
education and practice in the United States and strengthens the capacity of
midwives in developing countries. Our members are primary care providers for
women throughout the lifespan, with a special emphasis on pregnancy,
childbirth, and gynecologic and reproductive health. ACNM reviews research,
administers and promotes continuing education programs, and works with
organizations, state and federal agencies, and members of Congress to advance
the well-being of women and infants through the practice of midwifery.
More information about ACNM can be found at www.midwife.org
8403 Colesville Road, Ste. 1550,
Silver Spring, MD 20910-6374 * Phone: (240) 485-1800 * Fax:
(240) 485-1818 * www.midwife.org
