Sadaf Chaudhry, MD, MSPH

Sadaf Chaudhry MD, MSPH, is a female physician born, raised and educated in Pakistan. She started her career in Neonatology at a local Pediatrics hospital in Pakistan. Plight of the poor and vulnerable forced her to think outside the box, now has 18+ years of public health career advocating and serving the underprivileged and marginalized. She has worked on Maternal and Newborn Health, Child Blindness, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Adolescent Health, Poverty related diseases (Tuberculosis, Malaria, and HIV), Infectious diseases as well as Neglected Tropical Diseases. Sadaf over time has emerged as a catalyst for change and an activist fighting for causes like Health and Human Rights, Women Rights, Social Justice, Gender and Racial Discrimination.

She believes in addressing health issues in their entirety by touching their social, political, economic, cultural and religious determinants. A holistic approach to health, expanding partnerships, strengthening health systems, empowering women workforce through strategic planning and superior program management skills. Sadaf is fluent in Urdu, English, and Hindi, has a working knowledge of Punjabi and Sindhi and can read and write Arabic. Over the years, Sadaf has traveled extensively across Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas. She considers herself a global citizen blending into cultures and people around the globe. She has worked with donors worldwide including DFID, USAID, PEPFAR, CDC and organizations like Plan International, The Asia Foundation, Islamic Relief UK, and Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM), American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). Sadaf is currently heading American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) global and domestic development.

Cris Alonso, DrPH, MPH, CPM

Cris Alonso, DrPH, MPH, CPM worked in Central America and Mexico for almost 20 years. She began her career as a global consultant for International NGOs and then founded Luna Maya, a Mexican NGO that operates Midwifery Centers in Mexico. She is the author of the book “Open a Midwifery Center” available in English, Spanish and French a manual for opening and operating midwifery centers in low resource settings. Along with the Goodbirth Network she has worked to implement safety standards in midwifery centers worldwide. She currently supports ACNM on strengthening quality of care in Afghanistan. Cristina is a CPM, holds a Masters in Public Health from Tulane University and a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University.

Jennifer Stevens, DrPH (c),CNM, MS

Jennifer Stevens DrPH (c),CNM, MS: Jennifer Stevens has been a midwife for over 20 years, attending births in home, hospital and birth center settings as the past director of Reading Birth Center in PA. She began global work in 2010 in Haiti, in 2018 she worked with WHO in Geneva, and has done consulting work for WHO in India. For the last 3 years she has lived and worked in Bangladesh with UNFPA working in their Strengthening National Midwifery Program. She is co-founder of Good Birth Network, focusing on a global network of midwifery centers in low resource areas, to encourage their growth and high quality through standards and data collection. She facilitated consensus around the global definition and operational standards for midwifery centers, and completed a pilot study demonstrating their safety in LMIC. She is currently finishing her doctorate in Public Health at Boston University, focusing on midwifery as a human rights based approach to maternal health care.