SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Rhea Williams is a Certified Nurse Midwife enrolled full time in the PhD program at University of Maryland. Prior to midwifery, she earned a degree in Nutrition and Food Science and focused her career on nutrition, specifically education and intervention for women and children. She now combines midwifery and nutrition intervention in her care process with her patients throughout the lifespan. Rhea is also very active in her professional organization where she has served as the Treasurer for the American College of Nurse Midwives local Maryland Chapter. Her clinical interest include prevention and non-pharmacological management of gestational diabetes. Currently her focus is potentially identifying a risk assessment tool aimed at identifying increased risk of gestational diabetes. While her long-term goal is to design a program of research dedicated to examining the influence of nutrition and the gastrointestinal microbiome on maternal and fetal outcomes where gestational diabetes is identified during pregnancy. It is my hope that this line of study will ultimately lead to identification of an intervention to prevent or minimize the occurrence of gestational diabetes.