Sharon Adams is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Florida College of Nursing where she teaches across the curriculum from undergraduates to DNP students. Prior to her teaching appointment she practiced full-scope midwifery with Frontier Nursing Service at Mary Breckinridge Hospital in Kentucky. She was a member of the OB team that re-established these birthing services at the birthplace of midwifery. Prior to her teaching appointment she worked in the Maternal Fetal Medicine Department at UF providing prenatal care and clinical education to students in medicine, residents, PA, FNP, Midwifery, and Nursing.

Peggy Rosati Allen, Assistant Professor with the University of Utah College of Nursing, is regarded by colleagues as an exemplary clinician, practice leader, and mentor. During her 36-year career she has taught graduate nursing and medical students clinically and in the classroom, fostering commitment to high quality, compassionate care. She has provided vitally needed education about childbearing in individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome through award-winning journal and online publications, professional presentations, and various advocacy endeavors. Her efforts have helped to mainstream the illness, increase societal awareness, and improve equity and access to quality healthcare for this underserved population.

Lauren Arrington is interested in exploring how tactics that emerge from social justice movements in African communities can be used to achieve equity in perinatal healthcare. She is an assistant professor in the Doctorate of Nursing Practice Program at Georgetown University, a part-time practicing midwife in Maryland, and an experienced maternal health advisor for global health projects. She serves on the Board of Commissioners for ACME and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. She has led initiatives to address racism in perinatal care in hospital settings.

Catherine “Cathy” has provided clinical excellence in midwifery for 24 consistent years. She has been instrumental in promoting patient advocacy as well as a preceptor for student midwives and a advocate for domestic violence. She was a co-founder and director of the first CNM-owned practice in New Orleans. Cathy started the Alternative Birth Center, an in-hospital birth center that she considers her most important accomplishment. She was instrumental in starting waterbirth in four hospitals and the first to incorporate nitrous oxide as an option for laboring women. She consulted with Louisiana State University Health Science Center in the pre-accreditation process for a midwifery program.

Kathleen Belzer, CNM has been a midwife for over 25 years in the greater Bay Area. She has worked in a variety of settings and has held numerous clinical leadership positions. Currently, she works at Kaiser, Napa Solano with an integrated practice of family practice physicians, obstetricians, and nurse-midwives. She is committed to teaching residents and nurse-midwifery students and was Lead of the Physiologic Birth & Reducing Cesareans workgroup at her current site. She is passionate about advocating for and ensuring respectful patient-centered care for all within the context of the systemic racism and bias that exists. She is the Immediate Past President of the California Nurse Midwives Association (CNMA) Board of Directors, during which she oversaw sweeping changes within the organization. She also oversaw co-sponsorship of SB 464, The Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act; and she oversaw the legislative cycle that led to sweeping midwifery legislation, SB 1237, The Justice and Equity in Maternity Care Act. Lastly, she realized the need for advocacy beyond what CNMA could do, and as such, founded the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation.

Rebecca Benfield has conducted psychophysiological research with spontaneously laboring women at term gestation. Benfield has reviewed manuscripts for journals, including Biological Research for Nursing, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Journal of Midwifery and & Women’s Health, Gynecological Endocrinology, and International Journal of Nursing Studies and reviewed abstracts for the Society of Gynecologic Investigation, Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science and the American College of Nurse Midwives. Currently, Dr. Benfield holds a Worker Without Compensation appointment at the VA Southern Nevada Health Care System. As a principal investigator for the pilot research study “An Immersion Intervention for Symptoms of PTSD and Comorbidities in Combat Veterans.”

Bayla Berkowitz has been a full scope midwife in the Baltimore area for 14 years. She worked for 8 years in a hospital-based midwifery practice. 6 years ago she founded Charm City Midwives, a thriving home birth practice. One of the few homebirth CNMs in the area, she felt it important to accept insurance and Medicaid, to make homebirth widely accessible. She has served as the Vice President of AIMM, The Association of Independent Midwives of Maryland, the Maryland homebirth midwives’ association. She is currently the Secretary of the Maryland Affiliate of ACNM. She regularly precepts multiple CNM, CPM, and NP students to give them experience in out of hospital care.

Abby Britt has been a nurse midwife for eight years with Emory University School of Medicine Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Grady Health System, a large public safety-net hospital. She has served as the midwifery liaison to medical education and developed several innovative interdisciplinary educational curricula. She is currently a PhD student at Emory University School of Nursing and her research focuses on promoting trauma informed care and reducing perinatal disparities related to trauma-mediated epigenetic changes in the oxytocin system. She is currently on the GA ACNM Affiliate Anti-Racism committee under the Committee of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

I am committed to improving morbidity and mortality outcomes for Black women. My leadership is demonstrated as host for “Overdue Reckoning on Racism in Nursing,” presentations focusing on Diversity and Equity, and publications that have national and international reach. My antiracism work is grounded in my research, advocacy work, experience as a nurse educator, and clinical practice providing women's health care at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. I am founder of “Lucinda’s House” is a Black maternal health initiative designed to develop interventions to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities. I am also an artist, poet, and historian.

Over my 22 years of practice I have precepted countless students. It is very rewarding to watch them grow into leaders in their own way while serving the families in their communities. I have also worked hard to make midwives be not just seen but heard and respected within our community and hospital system. One of the things I am proudest of is being involved with volunteering for Midwives for Haiti and helping in person and by raising funds to teach Haitian women and men to become wonderful midwives and safely care for women and families in their own community.

Erin Johnson Cole is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Utah, where she has also served as the co-director of the Nurse Midwifery Program. She practices full-scope midwifery with the Birthcare Healthcare faculty practice and is the recipient of the Sigma Theta Tau, Gamma Rho Excellence in Practice Award. She teaches both didactically and clinically and was selected by her students for the ACNM Excellence in Teaching Award in 2019. She has served on the Utah ACNM Affiliate, the ACNM Government Affairs Committee, and has presented regionally and nationally.

Winifred Connerton is an Associate Professor, and Chair in the Graduate Nursing Department at Pace University, Lienhard School of Nursing in New York City. As a faculty member and administrator she serves students that reflect the marvelous diversity of the NY metropolitan area, including a majority of first time college students (and now graduate students). In her 22 years of clinical practice she has predominantly worked in public settings with immigrant populations, and is currently with an FQHC in East Harlem, NY. She is a historian of nursing and midwifery, focusing on American imperialism in the early twentieth century. She has received multiple awards and external grants for her research that has been published as journal articles and book chapters. She is chair of the ACNM History and Archives Committee.

Cathy Cook, CNM, DNP, ARNP, FACNM was committed to serving the women in her home community and began her career in 1998 serving those people. She has served as a preceptor for dozens of midwifery students. Cathy has served as faculty in a midwifery and women’s health education program since 2016, first as support faculty in the clinical journey and now helping students transition from didactic to clinical, teaching hand skills and clinical simulations. Cathy is the nurse midwife representative to the board of the Illinois Society of Advanced Practice Nursing.

Jennifer has practiced midwifery for 17 years, initially at LDS Hospital then in Utah county at Orem Community and Valley Women’s Health. She returned to Hawaii and practices at Tripler Army Medical Center where midwives support the OB/GYN residency program. As a mentor, she has taught midwifery students, NPs, PA’s, family medicine and obstetric residents. She has been adjunct faculty for BYU, Univ of Utah, and Georgetown. As a leader at the state level, she served as past Utah Affiliate Treasurer, Vice President, President and now serves as the Hawaii Affiliate Secretary. She was an advocate while on the Board of Midwifery for the State of Utah. Her doctoral thesis “CNM’s first assisting, benefits, barriers and future education” led her to obtain her RNFA certificate. Memorable experiences globally were volunteering with Midwives for Haiti and as a midwife and preceptor at LBJ Tropical Medical center in American Samoa.

Started a new midwifery service line with the Cleveland Clinic in Wooster, Ohio. Initiated change within the labor and delivery unit by providing staff education for intermittent auscultation, low intervention birth techniques, and labor support. Assisted in new product purchasing for labor and delivery unit. Served Ohio ACNM affiliate as a board member and assisted in consolidation of chapters into one affiliate. Worked on advocacy for midwifery practice in Ohio. Provided education for essential oils for midwives in Ohio. Provided staff and community education about midwifery practice and services.

Sabina Dambrauskas was in the first nurse midwifery class at the University of Illinois at Chicago and will soon celebrate a 50-year commitment to midwifery education, practice, advocacy, and leadership. For over 30 years she had a dual appointment as faculty and full scope midwife at UIC. She has participated in international delegations and missions and started a clinic for Lithuanian immigrant women at UIC. Her relationship with UIC continues through her Endowed Nurse Midwifery Scholarship and by her service to the UIC CON Alumni Board. She remains active in the ACNM Illinois Affiliate, having served in many capacities, including three terms as President. She has received awards for her clinical excellence, leadership, advocacy and commitment to education.

Jessica Densmore, CNM, MSN, DM(c) has been practicing in New Hampshire for the past 14 years in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock system and is adjunct faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine. She has started multiple CenteringPregnancy? programs and includes midwifery students, medical students, and residents in her groups. Her state policy work as an elected State Representative and two terms as ACNM-NH Affiliate president have revealed the profound unmet needs in NH. She is an advisor for Ceek Women’s Health in the development of a new speculum to improve the experience of patients and providers. Publications included two editions of A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery: The Efficient Midwife.

Katie DePalma is a CNM/WHNP in Washington DC. They have clinical expertise in: trauma-informed and consent-based care, queer and gender-affirming care, and reducing weight bias in healthcare. They have presented locally and nationally on these topics. Katie is also faculty in the midwifery/WHNP program at Georgetown University where most of their focus has been on incorporating health equity content into the curriculum and supporting graduate students as they transition to clinicians. Katie has a DNP from Frontier Nursing University, an MS from Georgetown University, a BSN from Johns Hopkins University, and a BS from Loyola University.

K. Michelle Doyle has been in full-scope clinical practice since her certi?cation in 1999. For her ?rst ten years as midwife, Michelle was employed in hospital-based practices. Then, in 2009, she opened NY Capital District’s very ?rst licensed midwifery practice to offer planned home birth.  Through her ardent contributions to local, state, and national midwifery groups and legislative efforts, she has been instrumental in numerous effective efforts to advance midwifery as well as client empowerment. Michelle's career in midwifery is an exemplar of the thousands of midwives who work as ambassadors to improve maternity care beyond the clinical services provided.

Dr. Michelle Drew is the founder and director of Ubuntu Black Family Wellness Collective, a transdisciplinary collaborative of Black feminist birth workers whose mission is to reduce perinatal health disparities in the Black communities most effected by the structural racism in Wilmington, Delaware. Within ACNM, Dr. Drew is the inaugural chair and creator the standing rules of procedure for the ACNM Caucus of Black Midwives for Reproductive Justice and Birth Equity. She has served on the ACNM DEIB Committee and Truth and Reconciliation Taskforce. She is a sought out speaker and known nationally for her activism for Black birthing people.

Sara Simonsen is an Associate Professor and the Annette Poulson Cumming Presidential Endowed Chair in Women's & Reproductive Health at the University of Utah College of Nursing. She serves as the Chair of the Utah Women’s Health Coalition and on the ACNM Workforce Committee. Dr. Simonsen sees uninsured patients for preventive care and family planning. She has been involved in research funded by the NIH, CDC, March of Dimes, and other organizations and her work has been widely disseminated through 70 peer-reviewed publications and 64 poster presentations. She has taught and mentored a number of nursing and public health students.

Since 2012, Christina has worked for the University of Utah’s Birthcare Healthcare’s Faculty Practice. During this time, she has been the Utah ACNM Affiliate Vice President & President, served on the Utah ACNM Affiliate Nominating Committee and the National ACNM Membership and Marketing Committee. Christina also serves on the Utah DOPL Midwifery Board. She practices full-scope midwifery, teaches intrapartum didactically and precepts students. She has received multiple awards, including the ACNM Teaching Award, the University of Utah’s Excellence in Service Award, and the University of Utah’s Preceptor of the Year Award. She has also worked internationally in Uganda and Guatemala.

Dr. Erin Farah has been practicing full scope midwifery at UIC since 2005. She has held many leadership positions over the last 16+ years of practice and currently holds two leadership positions within ACNM. As a strong advocate for students and clinical education, she has precepted numerous APRN students and residents. In 2021, she was the proud recipient of the UIC College of Nursing “Preceptor of the Year” award. Dr. Farah’s research interest is in lactation science and in 2021 she was the primary author on a JMWH review article titled “Impaired Lactation: Review of Delayed Lactogenesis and Insufficient Lactation.”

Kendra is an assistant professor at Frontier Nursing University in the Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health. She’s been actively involved in the ACNM since becoming a member in 2011. She’s currently a member of the NGAC and formerly served on the PAC board of directors. In 2019, she earned her DNP from Yale School of Nursing and published her research on midwifery birth attribution on birth certificates in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health in 2020. Kendra practiced clinical midwifery from 2012-2019 in Lexington, KY. She also serves on the Kentucky Board of Nursing APRN advisory council.

Meghan is an instructor at Frontier Nursing University teaching midwifery management for the past 12 years. Her dissertation work at Rush University focuses on the determinants of physical activity and physical activity behavior among pregnant self-identified Black women. Meghan has published research about correlates of physical activity among pregnant people and self-identified mid-life Black women. She has contributed to several textbooks on the topic of pregnancy physical activity and movement during labor. Meghan also served the board of a tri-county Healthy Start Coalition and the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative to reduce birth disparities experienced by Black pregnant people.

With a clinical career spanning from the National Health Service Corp in an inner city health center and finally as director of a full scope midwifery practice, Kathleen Gater has consistently provided outstanding patient care, education, mentoring, and leadership. She’s a lifetime member of ACNM and has served on the AMCB. Appointed by the Governor, Kathleen now serves the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners as a Professional Member, Officer, and Chair of the Midwifery Liaison Committee. Here, she serves to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare as well as drafting and reviewing rules that govern midwifery practice.

Leslie Gibson MSN, FNP-BC, CNM has used her more than 2 decades of experience in nursing as a full-scope CNM and FNP to advocate and improve care given to women in the rural environment. She is an advocate for improving the health of community through empowering women of all ages to participate in their health through informed decision making and demanding women-centered, research-based care. In this setting she has been a regional educator for NRP, clinical faculty for MA, LPN, RN, BSN, NP, PA and MD/DO students, and precepted new graduate nurses. Her passion for midwifery and women’s health is evident in her care of patients. She has initiated and directed programs for her community, to include screening and support for women of all ages from culturally and socially diverse areas through pregnancy and beyond. “Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.” – Michelle Obama

Duke-Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leadership Fellow where project focused on barriers to birth center births for Portuguese and Spanish-speaking pregnant people Preceptor for midwifery students at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Cambridge Health Alliance. Supports midwifery students from Georgetown, Yale and Frontier.  Adjunct Faculty at the Midwifery Institute Director, American Association of Birth Centers' Board of Directors. Received several awards including the Varney Participant Award and ACNMF Watson Scholarship as a midwifery student.

I have been the Affiliate President for Iowa for two terms. The affiliate had previous low participation. There is great participation within the affiliate currently with hope of continuous expansion. I am the Division Director at the University of Iowa, which was created in January 2021. The Division was created under my leadership. During 2021 as the Division Director, we have seen tremendous growth within our division, including the addition of 4 midwives for a total of 11. Our Division is also working to achieve pre-accreditation for our Nurse-Midwifery Education Program. The Program Director reports to me for this endeavor.

Helena A. Grant is the Director of Midwifery at New York University Langone Hospitals/NYC Health and Hospitals (H&H) Woodhull Affiliate Division’s Obstetric and Gynecological service and the Co-Chair of the H&H Midwifery Council. Helena is immediate past Co-Chair of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. She is also the Acting President of the NYS Midwifery Association and was a member of the NYS Covid-19 Maternity Taskforce and Birth Equity Improvement Project. Most recently, Helena served as Vice-Chair of the Brooklyn Borough President’s Health Committee Transition Team and was the Midwifery herstorian in the film, Aftershock. As a member of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, she served on the Board Composition Task Force and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Black Caucus, a member of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee, and on the Racism in Midwifery Education and Truth and Reconciliation Task Forces.

Zoe Gutterman (she/her) is a Certified Nurse Midwife with a Master's in Public Health Nursing. She is the Midwifery Practice Director at Unity Healthcare, a FQHC in D.C, where she manages a team of 7 midwives across 8 clinics, as well as spearheading an initiative to expand services at Howard University Hospital. She serves as the Chairs of the DC Affiliate of ACNM and of ACNM’s Government Affairs Committee. She serves on DC’s Perinatal Quality Collaborative. She serves on the ACNM Program Committee. She is currently serving as a Clinical Faculty Advisor at Georgetown University.

Jamie Harrington has been a midwife for 10 years. She maintains a clinical practice in a rural, underserved area of Kansas where she co-founded a freestanding birth center with hospital privileges. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director for Graduate Nursing at Wichita State University. She is the former president of the Kansas ACNM affiliate and has been involved in activism for full practice at the state level. She continues to testify before the legislature on midwifery issues, teaches health policy to graduate nursing students and serves on numerous regulatory boards to improve midwifery in Kansas.

Nena Harris has taught advanced practice nursing students for over 15 years at Frontier Nursing University, where she currently teaches gynecological health and childbearing for Family Nurse Practitioner students. Her clinical practice has focused primarily on providing trauma-informed primary, gynecologic, antepartum, and pediatric care for homeless women and children in an urban free clinic. She has contributed to nursing and midwifery textbooks and has been active in ACNM throughout her career, including serving as a peer reviewer and consulting editor for the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. She has also served as chair of the Nominating Committee.

Established a free women's health clinic in the Central Savannah River Area to provide healthcare to uninsured and underinsured women  CNM Service Director, Board Member of nonprofit clinic, VP local United Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (UAPRN) Augusta chapter Didactic instructor and clinical preceptor to midwifery and medical students throughout career; received 2021 National Teaching Award from Assoc. of Professors of Gynecology and OB (first time ever received by a CNM).

Eliza Holland, CNM. MSN is a 1999 graduate of UPenn Midwifery, and has been beating the drum for midwifery in Connecticut ever since. She has served on the board of the CT ACNM affiliate, led the efforts to update the midwifery state statute in 2006, and organized many a Midwifery Week celebration. While providing full-scope midwifery at a progressive, midwife-owned practice, she also maintains a sub-specialty in bladder and pelvic floor care. She serves on an innovative, cross-disciplinary Severe Maternal Mortality Committee, and recently organized a 30+-midwife strong Midwifery Council at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Her favorite thing is to midwife other midwives into accomplishing what they say they want to do!

Jessica Holm is the Nurse Midwife Service and Division Director at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. Jess works to improve maternity care outcomes in her community by serving as the fierce and compassionate leader of the oldest Nurse Midwife service in Minnesota, sitting on her organization's Medical Executive Committee, serving on Minnesota’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, and by promoting doula care at the institution where she works by managing an on-call doula program that she was instrumental in creating. Jess was a past Secretary and Co-President and is a current Nominating Committee member of the ACNM’s Minnesota Affiliate.

Nola Holness is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Florida International University. She is a midwife from Jamaica, serving for over 20 years in a South Florida tertiary hospital. She collaborates with international organizations as a midwife, lecturer, and researcher to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Her research interests include adolescent reproductive health. She was awarded the Undine Sam’s Research Grant toward her research on the effect of resilience and social influences on preventing a repeat adolescent pregnancy. She serves on the ACNM Division of Global Engagement, Education Committee.

Dr. Johnson has over 25 years of midwifery experience serving women and their families from all socioeconomic backgrounds. She is currently faculty at the University of South Carolina. She believes in the midwifery model of care and advocates for birthplace choice. Her employment background includes both community birth sites and hospital births. She is a site visitor for CABC and ACME. Her goal is to promote joy and longevity in the midwifery workforce. She received her BSN from University of Florida in 1994, MSN from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 & DNP from Case Western Reserve University in 2018.

Karen Kelly works to end health disparities through policy that centers midwives as the leading experts in sexual and reproductive healthcare. Using an evidence-based framework she has developed educational materials for stakeholders about the benefits of multiple pathways to the profession. Current President of the ACNM-Virginia affiliate. Chair-Social Media, developed a campaign for midwifery visibility and legislative efforts, member of the legislative committee assisting in full-practice authority legislation and instrumental in the creation of CM licensure both in VA and DC. Taskforce member of multiple maternal-health and workforce groups and dedicated on-going DEIB initiatives.

Monica Ketchie has served women and their families in nursing for 36 years with 28 in full scope nurse-midwifery. In addition to practice, she has dedicated the last 10 years to nursing education and has risen to the rank of an Associate Professor at Georgia College and State University (GCSU). She has started a nurse-midwifery program at GCSU in 2019 with a mission to increase access to care in rural communities and decrease maternal mortality rates in the state. Monica has presented on midwifery topics locally, state-wide, and nationally. She enjoys participating in GCSU’s study abroad programs related to maternal-child health. • Practiced full scope midwifery for 28 years serving women and their families in Georgia • Started and directed Georgia College and State University’s Nurse Midwifery Program to help influence access to care and high maternal mortality rates in the state • Enjoys traveling abroad to Tanzania with GCSU’s study abroad program to expose students to maternal child health globally

As Vice President of the Utah ACNM affiliate from 2017 until 2022, I personally reached out to each member and to all CNMs in Utah inviting them to join. Serving under two presidents, I helped arrange speakers, venues and hosted events. During the pandemic, we moved our meetings to Zoom. We were finally able to have our CNMs from rural and remote areas attend and actively participate in our meetings. We encouraged students and new graduates in their first years as members of the affiliate inviting them to attend as students and recognizing our new grads.

An advocate for vulnerable women & families, Kathleen initiated a birth-center based midwifery practice, confronting mainstream narratives of uninsured women traditionally viewed as too “high risk” for physiologic birth. Kathleen’s interest in gestational diabetes facilitated implementation of midwife-led care for women with GDM. After serving as Midwifery Education Program Director at University of Rochester, Kathleen was awarded an IRTA fellowship award at the NIH. This fellowship provided the opportunity to design and ultimately conduct research exploring genetic links between T2DM & GDM. Kathleen served on the ACNM National Program Committee and as chair of the ACNM Upstate NY Midwifery Chapter.

Dr. Mary Dawn Koenig is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, College of Nursing. Dr. Koenig investigates how inflammation, the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin, and genetic factors in the placenta determine the flow of iron in both the maternal and fetal systems. Her goal is to develop innovative, safe, and effective therapies that will optimize maternal and fetal iron bioavailability. She is currently funded as principal investigator through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to determine preliminary efficacy of oral lactoferrin on preventing iron deficiency anemia in pregnant people with obesity.

Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH, FAAN, FACNM is Dean and Linda Koch Lorimer Professor, Yale University School of Nursing, and Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. Dean Kurth is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and of the American Academy of Nursing. She is past chair of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, the 175+-university member association supporting “academic institutions to improve the wellbeing of people and the planet.” At Yale Dr. Kurth co-founded the Yale Institute for Global Health, a cross-university effort; and she co-chairs sustainability at Yale. Dr. Kurth has published 227 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and scholarly monographs and presented at hundreds of scientific conferences and invited talks. Dr. Kurth currently co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine Board on Global Health, which includes a focus on the climate crisis and health. Dr. Kurth believes that attention to equity is crucial for the response to the climate crisis and that a planetary health approach can bring hope for humans and all of the earth’s species.

Jalana Lazar is a researcher, author, educator, and practicing midwife. She has practiced full scope midwifery, offering waterbirth, VBAC and Centering® for over a decade in Dayton, Ohio, and has fifteen years of service to local, state and national ACNM. She is on faculty at Georgetown University and has precepted students her entire midwifery career. She is pursuing a PhD in midwifery in the U.K., researching, with a multinational team, midwives’ experiences of group care in diverse contexts. She is passionate about group care models, migrant and refugee health, and strengthening global midwifery advocacy and research networks.

In 1994 I joined an innovative practice as a new CNM, Trinity Maternity Care Center (TMCC). TMCC committed to offer midwifery care to all using multiple community resources. Dr Jeffrey Maurus was director. Multiple awards have come my way for following the simple principles espoused at TMCC from ACNM – respectful care with excellence in practice and patient centered care. After over 3500 births and 30 yrs of woman care -my best accomplishments are high patient satisfaction, excellent outcomes, and many students who have succeeded in practice. I can list many awards but I will let my legacy speak..

Susan Lewis is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where she contributes to interdisciplinary clinical supervision and education. She spearheaded and lead Vanderbilt’s participation in the ACNM National Collaborative for Reducing Primary Cesarean sections which resulted in lowering cesarean rates at her institution. She has contributed to publications on the topics of group prenatal care, elective induction of labor and foley bulb use. She has been actively involved in the Tennessee ACNM affiliate throughout her career. Globally, she studied eastern Indian medicine in depth including an internship in India and holds a national board certification in Ayurveda.

Rochel first discovered midwifery care during her fifth pregnancy. With her own midwife’s encouragement, she became one herself. She has a long association with women’s health through decades of childbirth education and has been a practicing midwife for 22 years. She has worked as a midwife in a variety of settings, owns her private practice, and currently directs the Midwifery Service at Coney Island Hospital, and enjoys sharing the midwifery model of care with residents and medical students, whom she supervises and mentors. Her 6 children and numerous grandchildren are proud to see her being honored as an ACNM Fellow.

Dr. Jeneen A. Lomax has focused her career on providing equitable, comprehensive midwifery care to underserved communities. Ms. Lomax served as Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Georgia ACNM Affiliate. Over the past 12 years, Jeneen has precepted dozens of healthcare students and residents. In 2010, Jeneen became a nursing instructor teaching pre-licensure maternal-child nursing. Presently, she is an Assistant Professor at Frontier Nursing University. Dr. Lomax is the Clinical Transition Coordinator overseeing the Clinical Bound program for Midwifery and Women's Health. Jeneen also serves as a faculty mentor for students of color.

Catherine (Cathy) Luna is a Captain in the United States Navy. She serves as the Chief of the Office of Women’s Health at the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; she advocates for women’s health policy and women’s healthcare to increase the medical readiness, resiliency and retention of the female force. As CNM Specialty Leader to the Navy Surgeon General, Cathy advises on midwifery and women’s health practices within the Navy and Military Health System. Her passion and efforts have led to important care initiatives at Navy Hospitals including CenteringPregnancy, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and Nitrous Oxide implementation.

Candace practices full scope midwifery with Providence Midwifery Group in Washington state. She was recognized by the Washington State Achievement Council as a provider for the WA Health Corps. She is the past president of the WA affiliate and has served as state legislative chair and Region VII Representative on the NGAC. Her colleagues recognized her with a “People’s Choice Award” for her leadership and creation of a Medication Assisted Treatment program for pregnant people with Opioid Use Disorder. Candace maintains a continuous role as preceptor and mentor to nursing students, midwifery students and family practice residents.

Christina is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences with a PhD from Johns Hopkins. Her research focuses on reproductive health, and provider education. Christina has practiced in birth centers, refugee camps, rural hospitals, and tertiary care hospitals. Christina has led research, clinical, and consulting collaborations in Guatemala, Jordan, Syria, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda. She co-led the development of an innovative Health Equity curriculum for midwifery students. Christina practices at Community of Hope, an FQHC in Washington DC where she is co-chair of the DC Maternal Mortality Review Commission.

Karen McEvoy Shields, CNM, MSN, FACNM has shown a lifelong commitment to advancing midwifery in the state of NJ and improving the health and wellbeing of all birthing families. Karen’s midwifery career has taken her from a solo, midwife owned, full scope practice to now the Administrative and Clinical Director of the recently opened Midwifery Birth & Wellness Center at Virtua Health. Karen was recruited and charged with developing, designing and opening a free-standing birth center as well as starting a full scope midwifery-led practice. Virtua Midwifery has now grown to 3 locations offering both hospital and birth center births.

Beth McManis is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University where she teaches in the doctorate, masters, and undergraduate programs. Her research program includes the effect of exercise on pregnancy, midwives’ experiences during COVID, and psychometric issues. Prior to joining NAU, she practiced in a variety of settings including suburban, rural and college-health. Dr. McManis is currently the President of the Arizona Affiliate of ACNM and has served as a legislative representative in the California, Washington, and Arizona Affiliates. Dr. McManis has also played an active role in developing sex education and healthy relationship materials for Special Olympics in Arizona.

Michele Megregian has been a midwife for over 20 years and is currently providing full-scope midwifery care at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, where she is also an Assistant Professor. She has also worked for reproductive health organizations and is an advocate for compassionate, evidence-based reproductive and abortion care. After earning a Certificate in Biomedical Ethics at Portland State University and completing a fellowship at OHSU’s Center for Ethics in Healthcare, Michele completed her PhD in Ethics and ethics education for midwifery students with Maastricht University, Netherlands. She has published on the topics of ethics, ethics education, and shared decision-making.

For over 23 years, Laura Migliaccio has been a nurse-midwife at the University of New Mexico where she has been a clinical leader and educator and continues to work as a staff midwife. Ms. Migliaccio has been active in the local and national ACNM, she has been a member of various NM Department of Health Committees, supported the BFHI, served as a peer reviewer with the JMWH, and participated in many clinical research initiatives and trainings. She is deeply grateful to be part of New Mexico’s vibrant and supportive midwifery community.

Whitney Miller has been practicing full-scope midwifery since 2014. She spent six years working in both urban and remote parts of Alaska providing full-scope clinical care, engaging in state-wide quality improvement projects, and teaching emergency obstetric courses. During her time in Alaska, she served as the ACNM Alaska Affiliate President. Currently, Whitney works at a large FQHC in Chicago, IL as she pursues her PhD in Public Health with a concentration on Maternal and Child Health. She presently serves on the ACNM Clinical Standards and Documents Committee and the IL Maternal Health Task Force.

Eugenia Montesinos, originally a veterinarian in Peru, is a full-scope midwife and preceptor for many midwifery and medical students and OB/GYN residents in NYC public hospitals where she has been providing care to marginalized/BIPOC women for 21+ years. Eugenia politically promotes midwifery at local and state levels, and volunteers internationally with World Vasectomy Day. Previously the treasurer of NYC Midwives, Eugenia was then co-chair through the COVID-19 pandemic. Eugenia is a member of New York’s Medicare for All bilingual campaign, and she is the first midwife board member of the New York chapter of Physicians for a National Health Plan, which advocates for national single payer health insurance.

Helen Moose has practiced at the Southern Illinois University Department of Family and Community Medicine in Springfield, Illinois for over 20 years where she has taught over 170 family medicine residents. She was the first nurse midwife to get privileges at both local hospitals and served on their perinatal committees. She has focused on interprofessional education with residents, medical, and nursing students introducing them to midwifery care. She has served as Course Director and Faculty Advisor for multiple ALSO Courses. On the state level, she has served on the ISAPN Board, the ACNM nominating committee, and organized their lobby day.

Alisha Morgan has dedicated the last 20 years to the care of women and newborns. For eleven years she has been a full-scope midwife in Lexington, Kentucky where she strives to increase public awareness of midwifery and women’s health through professional conference presentations, mentoring, and media appearances. She developed an innovative midwifery outreach program for pregnant teens and young mothers residing in a group home. Ms. Morgan is a Kentucky midwife representative for the Institute for Medicaid Innovation’s Midwifery Led Collaborative, a contributing author to the ACNM’s Exam Prep Workbook, and a member of the ACNM Clinical Standards and Documents Committee.

Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Muñoz (she/her) is a CNM with Carle Midwifery Services in Urbana, IL. Liz also works with the University of Chicago's College of Nursing, teaching mental health nursing and cultural fluency, communication, and ethics in nursing. She holds a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Accomplishments include: creating and implanting a volunteer doula program at Vanderbilt Medical Center, participating in perinatal equity research and promoting anti-racism in pregnancy care at Carle, publishing on size-bias in healthcare and best practices when caring for pregnant people of size, and raising two daughters to smash the patriarchy!

Lauren Narbey, CNM is an emerging leader in the midwifery community. She is currently the Vice President for the Pennsylvania Affiliate and is a founding member of the annual Midwifery Forward Conference. The Midwifery Forward conference is now in its fourth year, hosting more than 40 educational sessions and raising more than $80,000 for advancing midwifery in the state of PA. Lauren is currently pursuing her PhD in Nursing at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a dedicated JMWH peer reviewer as well as a mentor and preceptor for nursing and midwifery students.

Dr. Lisa Noguchi is a nurse-midwife, infectious disease epidemiologist, and patient safety professional with >25 years experience. She obtained her MSN from University of Pennsylvania and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. She is Maternal Newborn Health Director for Jhpiego, the global health arm of Johns Hopkins. She is Research Director for the Gates Foundation’s ARC Network and Facilitator for the 2023 International Maternal Newborn Health Conference Program Committee. Dr. Noguchi serves on the World Health Organization’s Antenatal Care Guidelines and Perinatal Guidelines Executive Steering Groups, and has published commentary and research in The Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine.

Signey Olson, CNM/WHNP, resides in Washington DC as full-time faculty in Georgetown University’s NM/WHNP Program. They hold degrees in nursing and political science and recently completed their DNP, focusing on the care of individuals with eating disorders. They own their own reproductive endocrinology practice centered on fertility, PCOS, endometriosis, and gender-affirming hormones. Their clinical specialties include how weight bias impacts clinical care and outcomes, as well as caring for patients with a history of trauma and patients with disordered eating. Professionally, Signey is dedicated to increasing concepts of health equity and gender-affirming care in medical and midwifery education.

Pamela Pearson is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago where she teaches in the DNP Midwifery/WHNP program. She has been a midwife for 27 years and previously practiced full-scope midwifery in the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences Systems midwifery practice. She along with her research team recently received funding on several grants to examine the impact of a culturally adapted, patient centered maternity care model on structural racism experienced by black pregnant and postpartum women. She is as a member of the AMCB exam committee and currently serves on the Racism in Midwifery Education task force. Pamela is the Executive Director of the Bronzeville Leadership Academy, a nonprofit organization in Chicago, whose mission is to serve the youth living in the community.

Dr. Audrey Perry has directed a midwifery education program, created a midwifery service, held faculty appointments in schools of medicine and nursing, and provided care in diverse clinical settings. Her midwifery career began in 2001 as a National Health Service Corp scholar. She served as Vice President of the ACNM Pennsylvania Affiliate and is active in ACNM committees and task forces. Her role as a site reviewer for the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, faculty teaching awards, and completion of a PGC in adult education and an AGPCNP are evidence of her dedication to teaching, midwifery, and lifelong learning.

Shannon Pfingstag has practiced midwifery for 25 years. She is the Director of the Nurse-Midwifery DNP program at LSUHSC New Orleans, currently seeking preaccreditation, where she looks forward to sharing her passion for midwifery with the next generation. Dr. Pfingstag has served as President of the Louisiana Affiliate of the ACNM since 2018 and participated in the ACNM Scope of Practice Taskforce. While serving as the Louisiana Clinical Services Director for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Dr. Pfingstag developed services such as syphilis treatment, transgender hormone care, and cervical dysplasia care.

Dr. Polito’s midwifery career has been beneficial to a variety of communities and populations since 1997 and she has influenced many students along the way as both preceptor and educator. She has held positions in full-scope practice in rural, urban, and university settings and was impactful in the development of a group prenatal care program for mother’s with substance use disorder. She is an ongoing activist for midwifery and birth centers and holds advocacy and leadership positions on the Kentucky Affiliate of ACNM, Kentucky Board of Nursing, Kentucky Medicaid Nursing TAC and the Institute for Medicaid Innovation’s Midwifery Learning Collaborative.

Paul Quinn has over thirty years of acute care nursing practice with the past twenty as a nurse midwife and administrator of a large women’s health care service line. Under his leadership, he was able to establish his health system’s first full scope midwifery service line. He is the author of 4 books including Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Your Questions Answered, Birth Control: Your Questions Answered, Teen Pregnancy and Prenatal Possibilities- Recipes for a Healthy Pregnancy and Beyond. His clinical scholarship foci includes obstetrical critical care and nursing workforce issues.

Katherine (she/her) is a midwifery consultant for the Neighborhood Birth Center working to open Boston’s first birth center. Prior to that, Katherine was the Associate Chief of Midwifery at Massachusetts General Hospital successfully leading programs to address the social determinants of health and expanding family planning services to community health centers. Katherine was among the first midwives to be named faculty at Harvard Medical School. Katherine is a past-president of the ACNM’s Massachusetts Affiliate and currently serves as the Legislative Co-Chair. She also served on the Medical Advisory Board for the Massachusetts WIC program and NARAL.

Bethany Sanders has been practicing full-scope midwifery for 15 years, the past 10 of which as a member of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Faculty Practice where she has been recognized numerous times for patient satisfaction. She is the student placement coordinator for the faculty practice, facilitating accommodating student learning needs and balancing practice staffing needs, in addition to serving as a midwifery student preceptor. Bethany was first author on a Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health review of pregnancy-associated stroke and has presented numerous times at the Annual Meeting. She was awarded the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health award for Peer Reviewer of the Year in 2020. Bethany is currently pursuing her PhD in nursing science.

Katherine Schott, CNM, DNP, MS (she/her) is the Senior Director of Clinical Services at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. Katherine has been a midwife for 15 years and has more than 20 years of experience in the sexual and reproductive health field. She has dedicated her career to making trauma-informed care accessible to all communities, including starting the first gender affirming hormone therapy program for several rural counties in Western Pennsylvania. Katherine is working to advance access to independent midwifery care and reproductive justice with legislative advocacy, including building an online CEU module to train midwives to lobby their legislators.

Julia Seng is an academic midwife and professor of Nursing, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. She has lead pioneering research on how childhood maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress affects childbearing—psychologically, biologically, and in the relationship with the midwife. She has served on study sections and other grant and editorial review bodies in the US and internationally, and she has been an associate dean overseeing innovation initiatives. She is co-developer of the Survivor Moms’ Companion, the first intervention tailored for maternity care settings to address posttraumatic stress during pregnancy and early parenting.

Tammy Senn began her nursing education in 1994, knowing that Midwifery was her calling. With practice settings spanning rural to urban, private practice to Military and Academic Hospitals, she has served on many committees advocating for the visibility and scope-of-practice for midwifery, and precepted numerous students of midwifery and other disciplines. She completed a graduate certificate in Sexuality Counseling and Education, and has focused on treating, teaching, and training this topic ever since. She has presented to consumers and professional conferences across the nation, does peer review for textbooks and, the JMWH, and recently founded her own sexual wellness clinic.

My name is MaryLou Smith and I am one of the Assistant Division Directors of Advance Practice in the Department of OB/Gyn at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Since I started at VUMC in October 2013, I have precepted 30 midwifery students and helped train 24 OB/Gyn Residents. Part of my leadership role has been to help oversee approximately 40 APRNs including organize their orientation and train them with EPIC. With the assistance of Ali Cocco, we’ve piloted a mentorship program for our new hires and started a lunch and learn with experts at VUMC to deliver evidence based medical care by our APRNs to women across middle TN.

Carol has been a CNM for 39 years. In 1984, she started two nurse-midwifery services in Maryland and was the first non-physician provider at the local community hospital. She opened a free-standing birth center and helped start a nurse-midwifery education program, also in Maryland. She later started two nursing programs where she served as the nursing department chair. Since relocating to South Carolina, Carol teaches nursing research part-time, volunteers on the American Association of Birth Centers Research Committee and the American Midwifery Certification Board Research Committee.

Dr. Solis has been a midwife for 16 years and is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She has been instrumental in expanding the roles of midwives in central Illinois. She also volunteers in Haiti, working in local hospitals and teaching Haitian skilled birth attendants. These varied experiences have shaped her views on access to healthcare, equity, inclusion, and the capacity for midwives to impact the health of all populations. Her recent scholarship focuses on perinatal equity, caring for clients with obesity, and she is leading a research project studying the usefulness of mobile technology in clinical practice.

Sydney Spangler is an Associate Professor at Emory University, where she teaches across programs in the School of Nursing as well as at the School of Public Health and Emory College. Dr. Spangler’s research seeks to understand women’s access to reproductive health services in East African contexts, specifically the influence of social and material inequities on demand for and use of care. She also contributes to implementation projects that aim to sustainably strengthen health systems. Dr. Spangler has published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and served on international working groups. She is currently a member of ACNM’s Global Health Research Committee.

Laura Sundstrom, CNM received her BA from Bates College and her MSN from Yale University in 2005, where she was a NHSC Scholar. She practiced in community health centers until 2011 when she joined Women’s Health Associates. She became a partner in 2015 and sole owner in 2017. Laura practices full scope midwifery, including colposcopy. She serves on the OB Patient Safety and OB Council Committees at Yale New Haven Hospital. Laura has clinical faculty appointments at the Yale School of Nursing and Frontier Nursing University and participates in Yale resident’s training. She was the 2020 recipient of the Debbie Cibelli Award for midwifery contribution to resident education. Laura shared her business-owner expertise as a workshop co-presenter at ACNM’s Midwifery Works in 2021.

My focus in midwifery has always been caring for people who need care. As a change agent, I can “step on toes” or “work behind the scenes”: whatever it takes. The reward comes when care improves for clients, and laws and policy improve for all. I am passionate about birth centers; I’ve worked in three. In 2014, I started a hospital and home birth practice based in a tiny rural hospital. In a very hostile environment, I still work to make a path for midwifery and the people we serve. Midwives harmed by systems or colleagues have my heart.

Kai Tao has experience in health policy, programs, and clinical operations. Her experience includes opening a birth center to starting affordable vasectomy services. For the last 13 years, she has been midwifing with a FQHC, doing weekend PM shifts. Her previous day jobs include overseeing ambulatory operations to serving as a Senior Policy Advisor for IL Medicaid. Prior to co-founding ICAN!, Kai was the Chief Program Officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Kai received her Master of Science and Doctor of Nursing from the University of Colorado and her Master of Public Health from Harvard.

Laura Valle is the owner of a women’s health practice in Dayton, Ohio, specializing in menopause care. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice at The Ohio State University teaching midwifery and women’s health nurse practitioner students. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in midwifery in the Netherlands researching shared decision making (SDM) in midwifery care and presented her waterbirth SDM tool at the International Labour and Birth Research and ACNM conferences. She serves on 2 AMCB committees and has served the ACNM at state and national levels for 10 years, currently as the SGAC and Communications and Marketing Chair, creating a new website for the Ohio ACNM Affiliate that incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

Dr. Vanderlaan is faculty at the UNLV School of Nursing where she studies the maternal health system. Her research examines the effect of state health policy on pregnancy outcomes. She serves on the ACNM Workforce Committee where she contributed to the ACNM COVID-19 Study and is part of the ACNM Workforce Study. She has advocated for midwifery in Georgia and Nevada, and currently represents Nevada on the State Government Affairs Committee. She serves on the Nevada Maternal Mortality Review Committee and the Nevada Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) Team.

Julie Ann began her career as an RN in 1992 and earned her degree as a nurse-midwife in 1995. Since then, she has worked as a co-director for a busy practice, an educator, and established nurse-midwife service in a health care system that previously had not employed APRNs. Currently Julie Ann is an Associate Professor at Bethel University in the M.S. Nurse-Midwifery program – a program she helped to create. In addition to her experience as a nurse-midwife, Julie Ann's professional background includes a PhD in Nursing Education, continuing clinical practice, and volunteer work at a crisis pregnancy center.

Rebecca Wagschal practices full-scope midwifery at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Davenport, Iowa. A portion of her clinical focus is devoted to the LGBTQ community, and she has co-founded the first gender-affirming hormone therapy program in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois. Dr. Wagschal is faculty at Frontier Nursing University, working with students in the clinical practicum. She is the Member at Large in the Iowa Affiliate of ACNM, and is the liason to the Iowa Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. Dr. Wagschal is a member of the Governance Committee of Sigma Theta Tau International’s Chi Pi chapter.

Stephanie Welsh holds a BS from Syracuse University, an MSN from Yale University, and a DNP from UConn. She has been a certified nurse-midwife in full-scope practice since 2003 and is an Assistant Professor at Fairfield University. She has served on the board of directors for the Connecticut affiliate of ACNM since 2014 and sits on several public health and women’s health advocacy committees. She worked as a photojournalist until 1999, and her journalism honors include the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. Her current research interests are in newborn placental transfusion, waterbirth, and midwifery workforce issues.

Over the last six years, we have worked tirelessly as a group of seven midwives to create a full-scope hospital-based midwifery service in Memphis, TN. I work in an urban academic FHQC Level 4 Trauma and NICU facility with satellite clinics spread throughout the city to provide care to everyone in the tri-state area. In addition, I precept nurse practitioner and midwifery students in a constant rotation while being on hand to guide our medical residents' educational experiences. As of 2021, I assisted in developing the Midwifery DNP program with the University of Tennessee College of Nursing.

Rhea has contributed to clinically midwifery practice in many ways. She has served as the midwifery chair of the a Hospital’s reduction of the primary cesarean taskforce, developed innovated functional medicine programs for antepartum families, participated in and QI projects in her local area and nationally. She is equally committed to education as a faculty member at Georgetown University, a chapter author, precepted within the BIPOC community, and is a Spinning Babies®Approved Trainer educating others on supporting physiologic birth. Finally, she is committed to providing service at the local and national level within the profession through service as a national ACNM committee member and former local office holder.

Jane began her career as an RN in 1992 and earned her degree as a nurse-midwife in 2003. After graduation she began the nurse-midwifery practice at CCM Health in Montevideo, MN where she continues to work as a full-scope CNM. In 2012, Jane started a RN to BSN completion program in Southwest Minnesota State University and in 2014 was the founding director of the Bethel Nurse-Midwifery program successfully leading her fantastic nurse-midwifery team through the ACME pre-accreditation, initial accreditation, and now re-accreditation processes. Jane has completed her PhD and is published on topics of nitrous oxide and family planning.

Jocelyn Yale is a CNM and WHNP, practicing full-scope midwifery in a faculty practice at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She is dedicated to providing evidenced-based, comprehensive health care to address both the physical and psychosocial needs of her patients. She is also faculty in the DNP program at the University of Utah, and has precepted dozens of students at all levels of learning. In her role as faculty, she was recognized for implementing an anti-racist curriculum for her students. She has additionally chaired six scholarly projects for students in the final year of their DNP program.