Awards

Student Scholar:
Kayla Pinkney

Kayla is a midwifery student from Brooklyn, New York. Her journey began at the age of 20 during her senior year at Delaware State University, where she spent her free time shadowing midwives in both outpatient settings and at a birth center. A few months after graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she began studying midwifery at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the past two years at Penn, Kayla has worked as a pediatric nurse, developed a strong interest in breastfeeding and lactation, found an interest in ballet, and published her first manuscript titled “On the Move, Unprotected: Enforcing the PUMP Act for Home Health Nurses” for Home Health Care Management & Practice. With graduation approaching, she hopes to begin her career at a birth center serving a large African American population. Her professional focus is on reducing infant and maternal mortality rates among Black women. She aspires to pursue research and earn her doctorate, with the ultimate goal of opening a practice in a low-income neighborhood that integrates comprehensive lactation education into prenatal care to improve patient outcomes and breastfeeding rates.