Keynote Speaker: Theresa Brown, PhD, BSN, RN
Theresa Brown, PhD, BSN, RN, is a nurse and writer who lives in Pittsburgh. Her third book–Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient–will be available April 2022. It explores her diagnosis of and treatment for breast cancer in the context of her own nursing work. Her book, The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives,was a New York Times Bestseller.
Theresa has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times and her writing has appeared on CNN.com, and in The American Journal of Nursing, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Theresa has been a guest on MSNBC Live and NPR’s Fresh Air. Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between is her first book. It chronicles her initial year of nursing and has been adopted as a textbook in Schools of Nursing across the country.
Theresa’s BSN is from the University of Pittsburgh, and during what she calls her past life she received a PhD in English from the University of Chicago. She lectures nationally and internationally on issues related to nursing, health care, and end of life. Becoming a mom led Theresa to leave academia and pursue nursing. It is a career change she has never regretted.
Patrina Sexton Topper, PhD, MS, RN
Patrina is a PhD prepared nurse researcher, RN, massage therapist and holistic health enthusiast, and entrepreneur. For the first part of her professional life, Patrina practiced massage therapy and related complementary therapies, running her own businesses for over a decade. Driven by interests related to healthcare access and social justice, Patrina pursued a M.S. in Bioethics at Columbia University. Later, as a Hillman Scholar in Nursing Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, she earned BSN and PhD degrees and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Program on Sexuality Technology and Action Research or PSTAR (now Eidos).
Patrina’s research has focused on health disparities and equity, the health and well-being of sexual and gender minority people, and experiences of SGM couples’ use of assisted reproductive technologies. Patrina employs qualitative research methods, including visual timeline co-construction and dyadic research, to understand individual and shared experiences of clinically intensive cycles of care. She is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative
Adria Goodness, MN, CNM, PMHNP-BC
Adria Goodness, MN, CNM, PMHNP-BC is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Certified Nurse-Midwife in Portland, Oregon. She received both her masters in Midwifery and her post-master’s certificate in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing at Oregon Health & Science University. From 2003 to 2013, Adria provided reproductive, perinatal and primary care to pregnant people, women, adolescents, and families as a nurse-midwife. In 2011, she transitioned into her psychiatric practice, which draws from midwifery philosophy in striving to create a health care experience that “respects human dignity, individuality and diversity among groups.” Adria focuses her psychiatric practice on the care of people and mothers as a Reproductive Psychiatry specialist. She is an educator and consultant to academic institutions, organizations and individual clinicians pursuing integration of reproductive mental health care into general psychiatry, primary care, midwifery and obstetric settings. Her greatest passion is bridging the knowledge gap between the clinical fields that address women’s physical health and those that focus on mental wellbeing.
Jessica Densmore, DM, CNM, FACNM
Jessica Densmore, DM, CNM, FACNM, is a full-scope midwife practicing at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and adjunct faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine. She is passionate about group prenatal care and has started multiple CenteringPregnancyâ programs. Her state policy work as an elected State Representative and two terms as ACNM-NH Affiliate president have revealed the profound unmet needs of the people in her area. The importance of multidisciplinary co-creation is a thread through her work, and it led her to become a key advisor for Ceek Women’s Health in the development of a suite of products, including a new speculum, to improve the experience of patients and providers during gynecological exams. Publications have included two editions of a widely used book, “A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery: The Efficient Midwife.” She has been honored with awards for excellence in teaching by both medical students and residents for her influential role in their education. All of her experiences have made her a strong advocate for women and families in her community and around the world. She has recently completed the Doctorate of Midwifery program at Thomas Jefferson University, where she worked to better understand how people express the sensations of physiologic birth.
Renee Green, IBCLC
Elle Schnetzler, CM, DM, MS, LM, FACNM
Elle currently serves as a Colonel in the United States Army and is an American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB) Certified Midwife who is committed to reducing racial and ethnic healthcare disparities among women. She received her commission as an officer in the United States Army through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Program as a Medical Service Officer in 2004 from Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC, where she also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology graduating with honors (Cum Laude). She continued her education earning a Master of Science Degree in Midwifery from Philadelphia University in 2014 and made history alongside 8 fellow midwives as one of the first graduates to earn a Doctor of Midwifery in the United States. Her doctoral work is focused on developing pipeline programs and initiatives from undergraduate programs at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to graduate midwifery programs, thereby growing the profession and increasing the number of midwives of color. Increasing the number of midwives of color is vital to dismantling healthcare disparities among women as research has shown that quality of, and access to, healthcare for people of color has been improved by increasing racial diversity in the healthcare workforce. Further, fully integrating midwives into health care systems could prevent more than 80 percent of maternal and newborn deaths worldwide by preventing overuse of medical technologies that can lead to severe complications.
Elle’s background as an educator and a trained equal opportunity/diversity professional provide her with a unique lens through which pipeline initiatives are viewed resulting in innovative solutions.
Mamie Guidera, MSN, CNM, FACNM
Mamie Guidera graduated from the Frontier Nursing Service school of Midwifery. Her practice has included home birth, high Tech hospital birth, and birth center care. She has also worked extensively in Central America educating community midwives. She was the chairperson of the ACNM Professional liability Section for 12 years and has researched and written on midwifery practice and liability, extensively. She also acts as an expert witness on lawsuits involving midwives.
Clancy Farrand, co-author, is a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania pursuing a career as a Certified Nurse Midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner. She earned her BSN from Simmons college in 2019 currently she works at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Driven by her commitment to reproductive justice and patient autonomy, she aspires to become a full scope midwife upon graduation.
Jennifer Vanderlaan, PhD, RN
Dr. Vanderlaan earned her PhD and her Master’s in Nursing Emory University School of Nursing. She also has a Master’s of Public Health in Global Health from Emory University School of Public Health. Dr. Vanderlaan researches maternal health from a health systems perspective, integrating clinical outcomes, health economics, and health policy to identify ways to improve access to quality maternal care.