SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I am a nurse-midwife and PhD student at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing. My research interests include perinatal quality improvement, interprofessional collaboration, midwifery and nursing education in developing countries, and perinatal home visiting programs. I currently work as a certified nurse-midwife at a tribal healthcare facility on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona (Tuba City Regional Healthcare Corporation). My interests in quality improvement and interprofessional collaboration stem largely from my involvement in leadership roles on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative® task forces at two hospitals. The Baby-Friendly Initiative certifies hospitals that have demonstrated excellence in maternity care and newborn feeding practices. In February of 2016, we successfully passed our Baby-Friendly Hospital® certification in Tuba City. Prior to gaining certification as a midwife, I worked as a labor and delivery nurse and lactation consultant at Group Health Central Hospital in Seattle, WA, and was active on Group Health’s Baby-Friendly task force as well. That facility gained Baby-Friendly certification in 2013, shortly after I left. In 2011, our team was awarded Group Health’s 2011 Celebrating Excellence Award for our successfull breastfeeding-related quality improvement initatives.