Dr. Deepa Upadhyaya is an Associate Professor of Midwifery at Mount Royal University and a practicing Registered Midwife. She holds a PhD in Community Health Sciences (Medical Education) from the University of Calgary, an MS in Nurse-Midwifery from Oregon Health Sciences University, a BSN from Metropolitan State University, and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from St. Olaf College.
She has worked in perinatal and child health and in the education of healthcare providers across diverse global settings. Her teaching focuses on perinatal and neonatal care, complications and consultations, and cultures and communities. Her research centers on midwifery preceptorship, experiential curriculum, cultural humility in midwifery education, and perinatal and newborn care in low- and middle-income countries.
Dr. Upadhyaya serves as Chair of the Americas Regional Professional Committee for the International Confederation of Midwives, Director-at-Large with the Canadian Association for Midwifery Education, and Co-Editor of the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. She also teaches professional programs including ACoRN, ALARM, Fetal Health Surveillance, Midwifery Emergency Skills, and Neonatal Resuscitation.
Karen M. Lawford RM AM PhD RSC
Dr. Karen Lawford is an Anishinaabeg midwife (enrolled member of the Lac Seul First Nation), a registered midwife (Ontario), and is the first Indigenous midwife in Canada to obtain a doctoral degree and hold a university appointment. She is a founding member of the National Council of Indigenous Midwives and of the Global Council of Indigenous Midwives. Her health systems research champions comprehensive, gender-inclusive sexual and reproductive health and care, which is underpinned by Indigenous theories, methodologies, and methods. Dr. Lawford is committed to advancing the Calls to Action (TRC), Calls to Justice (MMIWG), and the Recommendations in RCAP by influencing policy, program, and systems change at all levels of government. Dr. Lawford is an Associate Professor in the Midwifery Education Program in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McMaster University.
Editor Emeritus
Patricia McNiven PhD, RM
Associate Professor of Midwifery, McMaster University
Editorial Advisory Board
Elaine Carty, MSN, CNM, Professor Emerita, University of British Columbia
Josee LaFrance SF, PhD, Professure Department Sage Femme, Universite du Quebec of Trois-Rivieres
Josée Lafrance has been faculty at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) within the midwifery department, for over 20 years. She is particularly involved with practicum, within the midwifery education program and in research. Her interests span also to interprofessional education.She holds a doctorate in education sciences from the UQTR (2020) and a master’s degree in primary health care from the University of Ottawa (2003). She is a bachelor of science in nursing from Université Laval (1985). She became a midwife (1989) and worked as such in London, England. She is one of the pioneers of midwifery education and the profession in Quebec.
Karline Wilson-Mitchell, DrNP, FACNM, RM
Karline Wilson-Mitchell is the current director of the TMU, Midwifery department. She is passionate about reproductive justice that informs midwifery education, practice and global partnerships. She has been a registered nurse since 1984, and a midwife since 1992. She has worked as a midwife in urban and rural settings in the U.S. and Canada and as a consultant for leadership and curriculum development in education in Jamaica, Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, and South Sudan. Her new course, Black Birthing & Health Equity, launches in January 2024. It examines African diasporic traditions around family, perinatal care, and challenges learners to develop creative ways of conceiving and recreating healthy birth environments for their family members.Her scholarship problematizes the health disparities experienced by Black Canadians.
Naomi Wolfe, RM Aboriginal Midwife, Shakagamik-Kwe Health Centre
Naomi has been a practicing midwife since 2010, working within the traditional unseeded territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnaabeg peoples, in the community commonly known today as Sudbury. Currently she works at Shkagamik-kwe, an Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Sudbury and is a Masters of Midwifery candidate.
Prior to starting the Indigenous midwifery program at Shkagamik-kwe in April 2017, a unique practice model that works closely with an Indigenous OB/GYN, Dr. Jennifer Jocko, and a wonderful clinical team at the health centre including nurse practitioners, social workers, traditional healers and counsellors and more, she worked with both the Midwives of Sudbury and Sudbury Community Midwives groups.
Naomi began her journey at Tsi Non:we Ionnakeratstha Ona:grahsta’ maternal and child family centre. This is where she became a midwife and what shaped her view of childbirth as the care of women and families in ceremony. Following her time at Six Nations, Naomi trained at the Newman Breastfeeding clinic, and ultimately later obtained her IBCLC certification as a lactation consultant. Supporting Indigenous families to be successful at breastfeeding remains a huge passion of hers, stemming from her own experiences as a young mom struggling to find support to nurse/feed her own babies. In June of 2010, Naomi was the first Indigenous trained to Midwife to complete the International Midwifery Preregistration Program (IMPP) and in September 2010 she registered with the College of Midwives of Ontario. She worked as a Registered Midwife at Midwives of Sudbury for just over 5 years then later joined Sudbury Community Midwifes, in July 2017. Her family is strongly rooted in Sudbury, with lots of extended family across Sudbury, Espanola and throughout Manitoulin Island. Her work at Shkagamik-kwe is progressive and always evolving, seeing huge success in increasing access to comprehensive and collaborative maternal-child health services for Indigenous families in the region. Naomi maintains a passionate belief in approaches to care where everyone has an equal opportunity to receive high quality, culturally safe care, and to show the true value in including traditional practices and ceremony for our community.
Johanna Geraci, RM, BHsM, MSc, Midwifery Implementation Coordinator, Newfoundland and Labrador
Johanna Geraci is a graduate of the McMaster Midwifery Education Program. She completed a master’s degree in Health Research Methodology and has conducted research on the delivery of prenatal care in Nunavut and a review of competency based assessments for midwives. Johanna has provided midwifery care and clinical mentorship in Canada and overseas. She is on a leave from the College of Midwives of Ontario where she was the Director of Policy and Professional Practice. She is currently working with Newfoundland Health Services to implement midwifery services in Happy Valley Goose Bay.
