Education
Primary Care Associate Program, Stanford School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, September 1992-March 1994
Associates Science, Dean’s Honors, El Paso Community College, El Paso, TX, 1988-1991
Southwest School of Botanical Medicine Certificate Program, 1989
Ornithology Specialty, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1979
Biology Major, Member on the National Dean’s List, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1976-1978
Midwifery Education
Advanced Midwifery Skills Training, Informed Birth and Parenting, Ann Arbor, MI, February-July 1981
Apprentice to experienced midwife in home birth practice, 1981-1983
Childbirth Preparation Certification, Dearborn, MI. Informed Birth and Parenting, 1980
The Maternity Center, El Paso, TX, 1983-1984, — attended 80 births a month, providing pre and postnatal care for all the clients
IV Certification, The State of New Mexico, 40 Hour Certification Course — yearly 8 hour re-certification required
Neonatal Resuscitation, Bi-annual, American Heart Association
Professional Licenses
Physician Assistant — State of California, March 1994 – Present
Licensed Midwife — State of New Mexico, 1983 – 2009
Licensed Midwife — City of El Paso, 1983 – 2001, State of Texas 1994 – 2001
Licensed Midwife — State of California March 2005 – Present
Certified Professional Midwife — 1992 – Present
Professional Memberships
Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)
New Mexico Midwives Association (NMMA)
Association of Texas Midwives (ATM)
California Association of Physician Assistants (CAPA)
National Association of Physician Assistants (AAPA)
American College of Nurse Midwives Supporting member (ACNM)
National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM)
California Association of Midwives (CAM)
Offices Held
The City of El Paso Midwifery Commission, Midwife representative, 1986 – 1991. Helped to develop the city ordinance regarding midwifery and designed and administered written and oral examinations for licensure of midwives. Assigned to subcommittees to review complaints about midwives, and helped to revise and update current legislation.
Board Member, Western Regional Representative, Midwives Alliance of North America, 1987 – 1992
Advisory Board Member, National College of Midwifery
Founding Board Member, Midwifery Education and Accreditation Counsel (MEAC), 1991 – 2002
Founding Member Certification Task Force, 1994 – 1996 — had task of proposing a model for a national midwifery certification process for non-nurse midwives
Board Member, MANA, Second Vice President, 1992 – 1999
Official Liaison to the International Confederation of Midwives from MANA, 1991 – Present
Regional Representative of the Americas for the International Confederation of Midwives, 1995 – 2002
ICM representative to the United Nations in New York, 1995 – 1999
President, Midwives Alliance of North America March, 2002 – 2008
Chair of Collaboration Task Force, Homebirth Summit 2013 – Present. A multi-disciplinary group dedicated to making homebirth safe for mother and babies by seamless collaboration between medical and midwifery disciplines.
Midwife member of Midwifery Advisory Committee, subcommittee of California Medical Board 8/16-present
Professional Activities
Grievance Committee, Association Texas Midwives, 1991 – 1992
Member Education Committee, MANA
Member Affirmative Action Committee, MANA
Founding Member, National Coalition of Midwifery Educators
Chair, Carnegie Task Force Selection Committee — co-coordinated the solicitations for applications and choosing of final members to the newly created Carnegie Working Group to establish national non-nurse accreditation programs for midwifery.
Conference Coordinator, MANA, 1991, Annual Convention, Sisters on a Journey, Hermanas en Camino, El Paso TX — was responsible for organizing an extremely successful conference with 400 participants and $50,000 profit.
MANA Conference Coordinator, 1999, 2009 Annual Convention
Mexican Midwives Training Programs — developed and taught a three-month intensive training program through Maternidad La Luz in Spanish to a group of midwives from the interior of Mexico.
North American registry of Midwives (NARM) exam reviewer and question writer, 1987 – 1992
Midwifery and Education and Accreditation (MEAC) Site Visitor, responsible for visiting midwifery schools all over the country and inspecting for national accreditation purposes, 1997 – 2002, 2014 – Present
CERT trained and certified, disaster response worker, 2009 – Present
Midwifery Consultant for Jungle mamas, a program run by Pachamama Alliance devoted to training community health workers with a focus on midwifery skills deep in the Amazon rainforest in Equador. 2013 – present
Health/Medical Related Work/Employment
Director, Maternity Center, El Paso TX, 1984 – 1987. Was responsible for all clinic operations and supervision of all students. This included all clinic appointments and management of all births. The center attended 100 births a month and did extensive prenatal, postpartum and childbirth preparation and follow up.
Midwife, General Intake and Triage, Annunciation House Health Clinic, 1987 – 1989. A voluntary/free health care clinic located in the barrio of El Paso serving mainly undocumented persons. I did all OB/GYN care and intake and triage of all patients.
Instructor/ Well Woman Course, 1987. Developed and taught a well woman class course at Annunciation House. Classes included menstrual cycles and knowledge of body, well woman prevention care, and parenting. All taught in Spanish.
Staff Midwife, Maternidad La Luz, El Paso, TX, 1987 – 1992. Duties included supervision of student midwives and all clinic activities. We trained over 100 midwives and attended over 2000 births while I was there. The clinic serves mainly a Hispanic population on the border of TX and Mexico.
Founder and Co-owner of small home birth practice, Rio Grande Valley Midwives, 1988 – 1992
Marin Community Clinic, CA, 1992 – 1995. The adult clinic sees about 30-40 patients daily, a large percentage are Medi-Cal or are from under served areas, especially the Hispanic and Asian communities.
Redwood Family Practice, Petaluma, CA, 1994 – 1998. A busy family practice seeing both adult and pediatric populations. The clinic saw about 45-50 patients daily.
Founder and Co-owner of small home birth practice, Marin Community Midwives, 1994 – 2000
Pt. Reyes Medical Clinic, 1992 – Present. Work with both adult and pediatric population. Clinic serves the surrounding rural farming community as well as the small town that has a large ‘new age’ community.
Bolinas Family Practice, 1992 – Present — a small medical clinic in an isolated area on the coast, work with both adults and children.
Stinson Beach Medical Clinic, 1992 – Present — a small medical clinic in a rural area that serves a large elder population.
Faculty, Maternidad La Luz, Midwifery Training Program, El Paso Texas, 1993 – 2014. Taught “physical assessment”, “well woman care” “suturing” and “Current Midwifery Issues”
Circle of Life Midwifery Center, 2001 – 2006
Founding Member/Midwife/CEO Administrator, non-profit community birth center
Birth Keepers, founding member collective of birth workers in private practice, homebirth practice 2005 – Present
Workshop Presentations
Course for EMTs on “Emergency Childbirth” — Ann Arbor, MI, 1982
“Management of Hemorrhage”, “Twins” — New Mexico Midwives Annual Conference, 1985
“Border Health Panel” — MANA Western Regional Conference, 1988
“Educational Routes to Midwifery”, “Suturing” — MANA Annual Convention, 1990
“Suturing” — New Mexico Midwives Annual Conference, 1990
“Third Stage: Issues and Fears” — Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Conference, 1991
“General Health Assessment During Pregnancy” — Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Conference, 1993
“Community Midwifery Panel” sponsored by the Coastal Health Alliance, 1994
“Homebirth Night” sponsored by Friends of Homebirth, Mill Valley, 1995
“General Health Assessment During Pregnancy” California Association of Midwives Annual Conference, 1995
“NARM, MEAC, and MANA A Winning Combination” — International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress, Norway, 1996
“Suturing”, “Advanced Suturing” “What does it mean to be an independent midwife?” — Fourth Annual Mexican Midwifery Convention, Puebla, Mexico, June 1997
“Physical Assessment” — California Association of Midwives Annual Conference, September, 1997
“Well Woman Care” — MANA Annual Convention, October, 1997
Fifth Annual Mexican Midwifery convention June 1998 Oaxaca, Mexico
“Suturing”, “Advanced Suturing”,” The start of an Apprentice” “The Present and Future of Traditional, Indigenous Midwifery and Professional Midwifery in Mexico”
California Association of Midwives annual conference, Sept. 1998
“Suturing”
Midwifery Educators Conference, Eugene Oregon March 1999
“Understanding Hepatitis C”
Sixth Annual Convention Mexican Midwifery, Rediscovering Paths in Midwifery, Cuernavaca, Mexico. June 1999 “Suturing”, “Advanced Suturing”.
International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress, Manila, Philippines May 1999
“Chronic Hepatitis C” “Understanding Hepatitis A,B,C,D,E” “Understanding the woman’s Cycle, women’s health Promotion,” chair person,
“Health Care Models and Approaches to Birth Care in California”, Guest participant, UCSF Center for the Health Professions, summit on maternity care, July 1999
Midwifery Today international conference, “country reports”, “The impact of the Western Model of Birth on the World: Medical Imperialism”, Cultural Roundtables, Caribbean Midwifery, Where do we go from here?” December 1999
MANA annual convention 1999 “Report from the Philippines, Midwifery and Safe Motherhood, beyond the year 2000”
Seventh annual convention MANA Mexico, “Newborn assessment” “Where do we go from here, the future of Mexican Midwifery” San Luis Potosi, Mexico, June 2000
“Physical Assessment: Our Bodies Beautiful”, “Enacting Our Vision”, panel member California Association of Midwives annual conference, Walker Creek, September 2000
“Homebirth in the USA”, “Hepatitis C”, Mesa International “al obstetrica respetando la participacion de la uder en su maternidad y crianza” panel member Annual conference Colegio de Obstetricas del la Provincia de Buenos Aires, October 2000, La Plata, Argentina
“Breaking the China Vase: Domestic violence and our responses to it” MANA annual convention Albuquerque, New Mexico September 2001
“How to start a Birth Center”, “Midwives in Partnerships”, “Current Issues in California Midwifery”, California Association of Midwives annual conference October 2001 Carmel CA.
“Homebirth in the USA”, “Prenatal Deviations”, “Conflict between natural childbirth and our growing and expanding technocratic society”, “Global growth and development of midwifery in the Americas, panel member” Sharing the Similarities, Diversities and Challenges, November 2001, Port of Spain, Trinidad/Tobago
“Homebirth in the USA” International Confederation of Midwives tri-ennial congress April 2002, Vienna, Austria
Facilitator of Collaborative Pre-congress workshop on Violence against women and adolescent girls. Co-sponsored by ICM, WHO, UNFPA, Vienna Austria April 2002
“Metodos de suturar la vagina” MANA Mexico, San Miquel de Allende June 2002
“Newborn Exam”, “Over the counter Medicines, what the midwife needs to know”, MANA October24-27 2002, Boston MA
“Examen del recien nacido” Austin Texas, MANA annual convention Oct.2003
“Unity of Midwives” Portland, Oregon Midwifery Today conference March 2005
“The Future of Midwifery, ACNM and MANA working together”, Portland Oregon, Midwifery Today March 2005
“Keeping Birth Normal” Portland, Oregon, Midwifery Today March 2005
“Traditional Midwifery in the Americas”, Portland Oregon, Midwifery Today March 2005
“How did this get so complicated?” Cervical cancer screening update MANA conference Baltimore, 2006
“Protecting Midwives and Midwifery: Expert Witnesses” MANA conference Florida October 2007
“Nurturing the Future, Mentoring Tomorrow’s Leaders: Multiple Routes to Midwifery Leadership” MANA conference Florida October 2007
“The updated Role that HPV plays in Cervical Cancer Screening and Perspectives Regarding the New Vaccine” November 2007 Canadian Assoc of Midwives Annual convention
“Our Bodies Beautiful, the Art of Physical Exam and Assessment” full day workshop California Association of Midwives 2008
“State of the Union-National Updates on Maternity Care and Women’s Health” panel session American Association of Birth Centers annual conference September 2008
Also taught classes on various topics, especially suturing and herbs, for pregnancy and birth for 5 years at the maternity clinic.
Faculty/instructor for Maternidad La Luz teaching ongoing classes yearly in Physical Assessment and Exam, Well woman care, suturing, and current midwifery issues.
Published Works
ATM Midwifery Position Paper
MANA, MEAC, and NARM A Winning Combination, 1996
Chronic Hepatitis C, May 1999
Home birth in the USA, 2002
“Valuing Traditional Midwifery in Mexico”, Journal of the International confederation of Midwives, April 2004, Volume 17
Traditional Midwifery in the Americas: Making a Difference, April 2005 Presented ICM Regional Conference, April 2004
Into These Hands, chapter in book edited by Geradine Simkins, 2009