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ACNM Congratulates Its New 2018 Fellows


43 Midwife Leaders Recognized for ACNM's Prestigious Fellowship





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2018
CONTACT: Maura Christopher
240-485-1822
[email protected]

Fellowship in the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is an honor bestowed upon those midwives whose demonstrated leadership, clinical excellence, outstanding scholarship, and professional achievement have merited special recognition both within and outside of the midwifery profession. In light of the vast wealth of expertise and collective wisdom represented within the body of Fellows, the Fellowship's mission is to serve the ACNM in a consultative and advisory capacity.



The 2018 Fellowship Induction Ceremony, held during the ACNM 63rd Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Savannah, Georgia, in late May, honored a record 43 new Fellows. They are as follows:



Susan Altman, CNM, DNP is the Director of the New York University Rory Meyers Midwifery Education Program. She serves as a site visitor for the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME), a project manager on the ACNM Publishing Committee, and as an Executive Board member of the National Perinatal Association.

Angela Anderson, CNM, DNP is in her 23rd year of clinical practice and is the Practice Director of Intermountain Nurse-Midwives. She conceptualized a Perinatal Quality Collaborative for the state of Utah during her doctoral work and is current board chair.

Jessica Anderson, CNM, DNP, WHNP is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing and Director of the Center for Midwifery. She serves as the Region 6 Representative on the ACNM Board of Directors and is active on committees with the March of Dimes, ACOG, and the Colorado Health Department.

Jeanne Pichette Bair, CNM, DNP has served on the faculty at the University of Colorado and opened practices at two Denver hospitals. She also served as the Regional Clinical Coordinator for Frontier Nursing University and is currently on the Colorado Affiliate Board.

Kathleen Brown, CNM, MSN describes her professional passions as caring for women and their families, teaching in innovative ways, and caring for the underserved. Midwifery has laid the paths for her to travel globally, teach Haitian traditional birth attendants, and pioneer a midwifery practice in a Michigan hospital.

Jessica Brumley, CNM, PhD is an assistant professor and the Director of the Division of Midwifery in the USF Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served ACNM as the chair of the Basic Education Section of the Division of Education and as secretary of the Midwives of Color Committee.

Rebecca H. Burpo, CNM, DNP directs the midwifery program at Texas Tech. Career highlights include founding the premier Allen Birthing Center and holding joint clinical privileges/faculty appointments at Parkland Hospital, Parkland School of Nurse-Midwifery, and UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Cara A. Busenhart, CNM, PhD has been the Program Director of the University of Kansas Nurse-Midwifery Program since 2009. She currently chairs the Nurse-Midwifery Advisory Council for the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and is a staunch advocate of midwifery practice for state legislative and regulatory initiatives.

Thomas M. Chappell, CNM started his midwifery career as an Air Force officer more than 20 years ago in South Carolina. He has served as the Chairperson for the South Carolina ACNM Chapter and is currently a member of the South Caroline DHEC Midwifery Advisory Council and the ACNM Ultrasound Education Task Force.

Robyn Churchill, CNM, MSN has worked throughout her career to provide culturally responsive services to immigrant women. She also has served as the Senior Technical Advisor for maternal-newborn health at Clinton Health Access Initiative and has supported efforts to ensure quality maternity care and strengthen the midwifery workforce in more than 15 countries.

Linda Cole, CNM, DNP, CNE practiced as a full-scope nurse-midwife at the Lisa Ross Birth and Women's Center, a freestanding birth center in Knoxville, Tennessee for 23 years. She served two terms as president of the American Association of Birth Centers and served on the AABC Foundation Board.

Kim Dau, CNM, MS is director of UCSF Nurse-Midwifery Education Program. She led the ACNM Diversification and Inclusion Taskforce between 2012-2015 and had led statewide affiliate efforts to remove physician supervision of midwives in California. She is also Chair of the Directors of Midwifery Education.

Kathleen M. Dermady, DNP, LM, CNM is a licensed midwife at SUNY Upstate Medical University Regional Perinatal Center and a clinical educator and Director of CenteringPregnancy Special Care. She also serves as New York State Board of Midwifery chairperson and is a founding board member of the New York State Association of Licensed Midwives.

Cathy Emeis, PhD, CNM is an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University, where she directs the OHSU Nurse-Midwifery Education Program and the Faculty Practice. She has served as Chair of the ACNM Quality Section and Steering Committee member of ACNM's Reducing Primary Cesarean project.



Debra Erickson-Owens, CNM, CNE, PhD has served as the chief midwifery consultant to the US Air Force (USAF) Surgeon General and as an educational program director at the USAF Midwifery Program and the University of Rhode Island. She has received numerous ACNMF Excellence in Teaching awards.

Rebecca Fay, DNP, APRN, CNM, WHNP-BC practiced full-scope midwifery for 18 years in the Boston area and established two midwifery practices within obstetric-gynecologic practices. Rebecca served on the ACNM Government Affairs Committee and currently is the Secretary for the Membership & Marketing Committee.

Heather Findletar Hines, DNP, CNM is Director of the SUNY Stony Brook Midwifery Program. In 2017, she was selected as an Apple Distinguished Educator after helping the midwifery program launch its iPad Educational Initiative. In May 2017, Heather became the Co-chair of the ACNM Students and New Midwives Section.

Katharine A. Green, CNM, MS, PhD is a member of the nursing faculty at the University of Massachusetts and a practicing CNM. She currently chairs the ACNM National Government Affairs Committee, serves as a Massachusetts co-ALC, and was the original chair for ACNM's Midwives Teaching Nurses Caucus.

Pandora T. Hardtman, CNM, DNP  is a midwifery capacity consultant in the Syrian Conflict. She has 23 years of practical midwifery experience from work in the Caribbean, South East Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Working through agencies, she is a champion of midwifery education through a global human rights lens.

Carol E. Hayes, CNM, MN, MPH serves as ACNM's liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice and arranged for ACNM to be the first non-medical organization to endorse the CDC Adult Immunization Schedule. She was Legislative Liaison for Georgia for nine years, working tirelessly for prescriptive authority.

Elizabeth Hill-Karbowski, CNM, PhD is the Director of Midwifery Practice, Education, and Global Outreach with ACNM, and a 2016-2017 Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Fellow. Her career includes full-scope CNM practice, and involvement in multidisciplinary education, consultation, and management.



Jane Houston, CNM, DNP is currently the Clinical Director for the Midwifery and Women's Health Programs at Frontier Nursing University and a birth center midwife in Jacksonville, Florida. She has assisted birthing families on four continents. She trained in Scotland and has worked in Zimbabwe, Haiti, and New Zealand.

Joyce Hyatt, PhD, DNP, CNM is an associate professor and Director of the Nurse-Midwifery Program at Rutgers University. She has received several awards, including Outstanding Nurse Educator, and is the main representative to the United Nations for the International Confederation of Midwives.

Sascha James-Conterelli, DNP, CNM, LM maintains her clinical practice at Planned Parenthood while managing the graduate programs of the School of Nursing at Long Island University as Senior Director of Graduate Programs. She also serves as President of the New York State ACNM Affiliate.

Laura Jenson, MPH, MS, CNM, CPH serves as Manager of the OHSU midwifery practice. She also has served as chair of the ACNM Government Affairs Committee and of the Legislative & Advocacy Committee of the Oregon Affiliate. As faculty, she has taken the lead on interprofessional education initiatives.

Christina Kocis, CNM, DNP, FACNM has increased access to midwifery care by growing an independent midwifery-led practice model from four to 15 midwives and by teaching midwifery students from many programs. She has served in leadership positions in the Long Island Midwives organization and as President of the Midwifery Business Network.

Judy Lazarus, DNP, CNM, ARNP has been in full scope midwifery practice with the Neighborcare Health Midwives in Seattle for 30 years. She is a senior lecturer and community liaison at the University of Washington in the Nurse-Midwifery Education Program and has received the ACNM Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award twice.

Maryann H. Long, PhD, MPH, CNM notes that that earning her midwifery certificate from SUNY Downstate in 1981 was a dream fulfilled and the foundation of an eclectic career. As a volunteer with Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME), she has served in various capacities for 26 years.



Leilani J. Mason MSN, CNM is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine where she provides clinical care for a diverse patient population with emphasis on the special needs of immigrant women. She is Director of the low risk OB curriculum and received the W. Newton Long award in 2015.

Mary Kay Miller, MSN, CNM, DNP(c) includes full-scope clinical practice, midwifery and women's health education, scholarly work, and public service in her career. She pioneered meetings with the ACOG Advisory Council, is prominent in legislative/lobbying efforts, and has served as Florida Affiliate President for the past nine years.

Charlotte Morris, CNM, DNP has spent more than 30 years in clinical practice committed to midwifery care for low-income and minority women. She established and served as Director of Temple Hospital's midwifery service in Philadelphia, is a faculty member at Frontier Nursing University, and is Secretary of the Midwives of Color Committee.

Jeanne Murphy, PhD, CNM is an assistant professor at George Washington University School of Nursing. She was also a program officer at Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and completed the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at National Cancer Institute. She practices as a nurse-midwife at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

Amy Sara Nacht, DNP, CNM, MSN, MPH is Director of the University of Colorado College of Nursing Faculty Practice. Previously, she worked in rural Colorado for six years. She is actively involved with the University of Colorado Center for Global Health Guatemalan Birth Center and Maternal Health Programs as the lead midwife.

Gina Novick, PhD, CNM is an associate professor at Yale and teaches in the midwifery and women's health Specialties. She was a founding board member of the Centering Healthcare Institute and Founding Chair of the Birth Center Task Force of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, which legalized freestanding birth centers in Illinois.

Cynthia Nypaver, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC has clinically practiced in maternal-child health for the past 37 years and has served as President of the Ohio Affiliate. For the past 14 years, she has taught at the University of Cincinnati and is the Program Director for the Nurse Midwifery Program.



Patricia Olenick, PhD, CNM has practiced for more than 20 years in settings from free-standing birth centers to academic hospitals. She is a faculty member of the TTUHSC midwifery program and maintains part-time clinical practice. She is also helped to develop an endowed Texas Midwifery Creation Scholarship fund.

Michelle Palmer, CNM, MSN has been practicing full-scope midwifery since 1998. For 10 years she has served on the Rhode Island Advisory Council for Midwifery at the State Department of Health. Currently, as President of the Rhode Island Affiliate, Michelle has sought to grow the strong presence of midwifery throughout her state.

Elisa L. Patterson, PhD, CNM has worked as a nurse-midwife for 25 years in many Colorado settings, rural and urban, as a clinician. She has served on the ACNM Nominating Committee, the Political Action Committee, and the Governmental Affairs Committee. She also has served as president for the Northern Colorado chapter and Colorado state affiliate.

Katherine S. Puls, CNM, MS, APRN began her CNM career in 1974, caring for an urban, under-resourced population, and becoming practice director. She was adjunct faculty at the University of Illinois, received the Joyce Roberts Excellence in Nurse Midwifery Award and served as President of the Illinois Affiliate. In Arizona, Kathy is Secretary of the Arizona Affiliate.

Eileen J. B. Thrower, CNM, PhD, APRN practiced clinical midwifery for 25 years before transitioning into an academic role at Frontier Nursing University in 2016. She is President of the Georgia Affiliate, the Vice-chair of the Georgia Coalition of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, and a 2018 Annual Meeting Local Program Committee Co-chair.

Kimberly Kovach Trout, CNM, PhD, APRN was the Director of the midwifery practice at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital in Central Pennsylvania during the '90s. While there, she initiated several quality and safety initiatives that helped to achieve some of the maternal-infant health improvements seen in the county.

Cheri Van Hoover, CNM, MS has practiced ranged from full-scope care at San Francisco Area tertiary centers to outpatient services in rural Washington State. She received the ACNM Excellence in Teaching award twice and the Philadelphia University Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award in 2017. She is a JMWH contributing editor.

Clarice Nichole Childs Wardlaw, CNM, MSN is a CNM for the US Air Force at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. She is currently active with the Virginia Affiliate as the Legislative Co-chair. She serves on the ACNM Program Committee and is a clinical faculty advisor for Georgetown University.







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About the American College of Nurse-Midwives 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.


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