Program Director

I have worn many hats in my career - social worker, health advocate, health and sex educator, Midwife, practice administrator, midwifery and nursing faculty, and now midwifery program director. I have also been very active in the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) serving as Chair of the Continuing Education Committee, Region II representative to the Board of Directors, a member of the committees that wrote the current ACNM Philosophy and Code of Ethics, and currently as President of the Political Action Committee (or PAC). I am also active in the local ACNM Chapter and served two terms as Chapter Chair and am currently a member of the Legislative committee.

Midwifery is my second career. I have a BA in Anthropology from Oberlin College and a Masters in Social Work from Boston University. I worked as a crisis counselor and health and sex educator for 15 years before I had realized that midwifery was really what I was meant to do. I received my BSN, MSN and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

My research is on the history of nurse-midwifery in the United States and I have published in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, Nursing History Review, Nursing Clinics of North America, and American Journal of Nursing on aspects of my research.

I practiced clinically at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. The practice, one I started with a colleague and directed for 10 years, was dedicated to bringing midwifery care to poor women in a city where most practices cared for the middle class. Our outcomes were so good that our model is now offered in most community health centers in the city.

Directing the Midwifery Institute of Philadelphia University is an opportunity to use all of my skills and knowledge to grow the profession of midwifery by educating generations of new midwives. My goals as Program Director are two. First, I look forward to being on the faculty team that midwives generations of students along their chosen path to a wonderful and rewarding career in midwifery. Second, I look forward to working with faculty, students, and alumni to develop new education programs which will attract a diverse group of students, grow our enrollment, and keep us in the forefront of midwifery education in this country.