About the Speakers

Dr. Galanis is an epidemiologist with the Injury Prevention and Control Program, Department of Health.
He provides epidemiologic and data support to support to injury prevention Program staff, as well as partners from other government and community organizations and coalitions.
He collects raw data and maintain relevant databases on injury outcomes, including death certificates, autopsy records, hospital medical records, EMS reports, state and federal traffic crash reports, and various surveys of injury risk factors. His work also includes designing and conducting studies on injury risk factors and outcomes and evaluations of injury prevention programs. He produces periodic and ad hoc reports and presentations on a variety of injury
topics, and respond to public requests for injury prevention data from media professional, state and county legislators, and interested community members.

​Laulani Teale is a cultural practitioner, mother, birth worker, Indigenous health advocate, artist, activist, and musician from Windward Oʻahu. She has cultural training in laau lapaau (plant-centered medicine) and hoʻoponopono (family peace process) and has dedicated over 30 years to revitalizing hānau (birth) traditions. With a Master’s degree in Public Health, she currently coordinates the Hoʻopae Pono Peace Project and the Ea Hānau Cultural Council.

TIffany lives in Aiea, Hawaii and has serverd as the EMS Director of Operations since 2023.
In that role, she is responsible for internal and external business operations and relationships for ambulance services including, contracts, data management, emergency medical transportation and system design, billing, and staff training. She brings a deep understanding of billing systems and policy and is a content expert on integratingground ambulance and air ambulance billing system linkage project.

Melissa has a BA in Biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Florida. Her master’s thesis documented the historical development of direct-entry midwifery in Florida and was published in Robbie Davis-Floyd’s book, Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change (2006). After graduate school, Melissa attended the Seattle Midwifery School and was licensed as a midwife in Washington state in 2004. From 2006 to 2021 Melissa worked as a community midwife in a home birth-based private practice. In 2016, she became the Program Coordinator for the Smooth Transitions Quality Improvement program and works to build bridges between community midwives and the hospitals with which they interact. From 2024 to the present, Melissa shifted into a Co-Chair role at Smooth Transitions where she brings both experience and a strong commitment to developing positive relationships between community midwives and their local hospitals at both state and national levels.

Samantha is a board certified genetic counselor with over a decade of experience working in prenatal and reproductive genetics with a passion for empowering patients and providers in their healthcare decisions through education.

In her presentation, Samantha will review the latest ACOG guidelines regarding cell-free DNA testing and carrier screening, emphasizing their implications for prenatal care. She will also introduce newly available fetal Rh testing and currently available 22q screening, highlighting their roles in improving maternal-fetal health outcomes. Attendees will gain insights into how these advancements can enhance decision-making and patient counseling in midwifery practice.

Newly, elected president of the American Association of Birth Centers,

Trinisha Williams is a dedicated midwife and maternal health advocate with over two decades of experience. She began her healthcare career in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Trinisha earned a master’s in public health with a focus on Women’s Health from Hunter College, after which she held various leadership roles in health education, including at Bellevue Hospital and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She became a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator in 2002 and completed her degree in Midwifery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 2003. Trinisha has attended over a thousand births in hospitals, homes, and birth centers. In 2014, she founded Midwife in the City, a home birth midwifery practice, and served as Director of Midwifery at Brooklyn Midwifery Group, where she opened a second location, Jazz Birthing Center of Manhattan, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, she joined the Board of Directors of the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC), and in November 2024, she will assume the role of President-Elect. Trinisha also established Haven Midwifery Collective, a nonprofit aiming to create NYC's first midwifery-led birth center, where she serves as President and Founder. Throughout her career, she has remained deeply committed to addressing maternal health disparities, particularly for underserved communities, and ensuring birthing centers are viable options for all low-risk birthing people. Trinisha is a Brooklyn native, currently residing there, and enjoys life as a wife and aunt of 12.

Our project, which we have named Heal, Educate, Advocate, Learn, Integrate, Nurture, Grow (HEALING) Midwifery Together is designed to explore the current state of the practice and profession of midwifery and how midwives are educated in the US. We have three years of funding to dedicate to this project and are starting with listening sessions with aspiring midwives, student midwives, and midwives trained through all pathways. Within these three years (and beyond) we will use our collective experience and expertise to build relationships and offer repair within and between midwifery professions while exploring the needs, desires, and ideas for midwifery education within community-based midwifery and nurse-midwifery. During the listening sessions, we will facilitate discussions around experiences of midwives, listen to the needs of participants, and help the groups come to agreement on what needs to be done. We will share the priorities established by each group and talk about next steps, depending on the group’s needs. Our hope is to ultimately co-create an implementation plan for an educational program in which all midwifery professions can be seen and supported, sharing knowledge and healing wounds between the professions in order to better support patients and families. 

The Team:

Ellen Solis, DNP, CNM, FACNM- Ellen is a teaching professor at the University of Washington and is the director of UW’s nurse-midwifery DNP program and the Graduate Certificate in Sexual and Reproductive Health. She also maintains a practice as a nurse-midwife and is nationally known as a speaker and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion within midwifery education. Ellen is the Principal Investigator of the HEALING Midwifery Together Project. 

Clare Sherley, DNP, CNM- Clare is an associate teaching professor at UW with a focus on transforming approaches to midwifery education. She helped catalyze UW’s truth and reconciliation process within the midwifery program and supports teaching at the School of Nursing as the Faculty Teaching Director. Clare maintains an active midwifery practice and is a co-investigator of the HEALING Midwifery Together Project. 

Molly Altman, PhD, CNM, FACNM- Molly is an associate professor at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. She served as the program director of UW nurse-midwifery program from 2020-2023 and led UW’s truth and reconciliation process. She is currently leading the Midwifery Re-Envisioning project, which will directly inform this work. Dr. Altman is renowned HEALING Midwifery Together for her expertise in both community-led research and equitable education approaches. Molly is a co-investigator of the HEALING Midwifery Together Project. 

Farrah Ka’healani Rivera, MSM, LM- Farrah is a licensed midwife in Washington state, professor at Bastyr University’s Maternal Child Health Master’s Program, Academic Director of Cedar School of Midwifery, Clan Mother with Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services and is on the Board of Center for Indigenous Midwifery and the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NARM) as lead for the equity committee. She has extensive experience as a community midwife, educator and perinatal advocate. She has been instrumental in assisting multiple organizations’ capacity building, procurement and administration of grants to help birth workers reach colored and LGBTQ+ communities. Farrah a co-investigator of the HEALING Midwifery Together Project. 

Tiffany Renee Hatcher, CD, CLC- Tiffany is a certified birth doula, certified lactation counselor and student midwife at Cedar Medicine School of Midwifery. She has experience as a mentor and program manager for Swedish Hospital System’s floor doula program as well as an acupuncturist, lactation expert and full-scope doula. Tiffany’s professional focus is on supporting individuals through a Reproductive Justice lens, harm reduction and compassionate care. Tiffany is the Program Manager of the HEALING Midwifery Together Project.

Julie graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with my BSN in 1989. She has worked clinically in Pediatric ICU, Peds Med-Surg, Level 2 and 3 NICU, Mother Baby and as the newborn transition nurse in Labor and Delivery. She graduated with her MSN as a Parent-Child CNS from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2007. After almost 10 years as a Women's and Children's Service Line CNS in Indiana, she moved into an Executive Director role and graduated with a DNP from University of Southern Indiana. In Hawaii she has worked as a DNP Program Director at the University of Hawaii and Director of Perinatal, Maternal Health and Pediatrics at The Queen's Medical Center. She currently serves as the Hawaii Perinatal Quality Collaborative Program Manager and teaches part-time at CSUDH and Point Loma Nazarene. She is funded by the AIM (Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health) Capacity Grant.

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Sarah earned her undergraduate degree and Master of Science in Midwifery from Bastyr University in 2013. She subsequently became licensed as a midwife in Washington state as well as earning the credential of Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). Sarah worked as a licensed community midwife until 2020, attending home births as well as freestanding birth center births.During her years in practice, she served as a preceptor for Bastyr University’s Department of Midwifery students and as an evaluator for students’ practical exams. In 2023, Sarah became the Program Manager for the Smooth Transitions Quality Improvement program at the Foundation for Health Care Quality. With lived experience through her practice as a community midwife and her commitment to improving client experiences and outcomes, Sarah strives to
bring community midwives