Course Description
The Power of Midwifery: Developing a Regional Policy Roadmap webinar presents how a convening of 73 midwives, physicians, policymakers, and advocates across the DC-Maryland-Virginia region developed an actionable, evidence-based policy roadmap for championing CNM, CM and CPM led care. Drawing on stakeholder input and grounded in the principles of birth justice and lived experience, the roadmap delivers state-specific priorities from reimbursement equity and hospital privileges to workforce pipeline and governance reform with phased implementation pathways and measurable milestones through 2029. Whether you are a clinician, advocate, educator, or policymaker, this session will equip you with an exemplar of a coordinated regional strategy to strengthen, sustain, and diversify the midwifery workforce and expand equitable access to high-quality maternity care in your region.
To explore the roadmap and find actionable next steps, click here.
Learning Objectives
To explore the roadmap and find actionable next steps, click here.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the current policy landscape for midwifery workforce regulation, reimbursement, and governance across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, including jurisdiction-specific barriers to expanding access to midwifery care.
- Identify at least three actionable, evidence-based policy priorities from the tri-regional roadmap — spanning payment parity, hospital privileges, independent governance, and workforce pipeline — and explain the rationale and implementation pathway for each.
- Apply a coordinated advocacy framework to advance midwifery workforce policy in their own jurisdiction, using the roadmap's phased milestones and stakeholder engagement strategies to support short-, mid-, and long-term change through 2029.
Ashley Gresh, PhD, MSN, MA, CNM
Shaina French, MSN, CNM, FACNM, IF
Jamie Swietlikowski, MS, CNM, PMHNP, FACNM
Katie Brescia, BS
Noelene K. Jeffers, PhD, CNM, IBCLC
Speaker(s) Bio(s)
Ashley Gresh is both a certified nurse-midwife and a public health nurse, whose research focuses on addressing inequities in maternal and child health outcomes. Her current work examines the effects of perinatal group-based care on maternal and child health in the postpartum period, and examines ways for adapting, implementing, and sustaining group care in Baltimore and globally. Dr. Gresh is committed to co-creating solutions to issues in health care with the communities she serves by using a human-centered design approach; one that shifts power dynamics and centers the rights and well-being of childbearing people, their families, and communities. She has a range of global and international health experience including being in the inaugural cohort of the Global Women’s Health Fellowship, a joint venture between the Johns Hopkins Schools of Nursing and Medicine and Jhpiego. A foundational career goal for Dr. Gresh is to reimagine and redefine postpartum care to transform systems and delivery of care.
Shaina French, MSN, CNM, FACNM, IF (she/her) is a Certified Nurse-Midwife with nearly two decades of clinical experience across tertiary hospitals, freestanding birth centers, and private practice startups. Currently practicing as a CNM Hospitalist at Luminis Health in Maryland, she has additional certifications and expertise in obstetric triage, surgical first assist, and sex medicine/counseling. In 2020, she was named an International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health Fellow (IF), and in 2025, an ACNM Fellow. She has lectured nationally, been featured on podcasts, and received local recognition for her exemplary clinical leadership and precepting of CNM, PA, and physician learners. Shaina is currently a dual DNP/MBA student at Johns Hopkins University (expected Fall 2027), where her scholarship and research focus on leadership development for Midwife Practice Directors, bridging clinical expertise with business strategy to strengthen the midwifery workforce.
Jamie Swietlikowski, MS, CNM, PMHNP, FACNM, is a midwife, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, educator, and Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. She has more than 15 years of experience in midwifery practice across community-based and academic tertiary-care settings, with subspecialty expertise in perinatal mental health and substance use disorders. Jamie is the founder of Perinatal Mental Health Partners, where she provides preventive perinatal mental healthcare in partnership with obstetric practices. She previously served as a Mental Health Midwife at the Johns Hopkins Reproductive Mental Health Center and as faculty in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Science at University of Maryland. She is a former President of the Maryland ACNM Affiliate and continues to serve on its legislative committee. Her work spans clinical care, education, advocacy, and policy aimed at strengthening midwifery and improving outcomes for birthing people and their families.
Katharine Brescia holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and is a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN-E: Entry into Nursing) candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, with an expected graduation in Summer 2027. An aspiring midwife, Katharine is passionate about person-centered care in women’s health and is eager to contribute to the future of the midwifery profession in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region.
Noelene K. Jeffers, PhD, CNM, IBCLC, is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Director of the Birth Equity Lab. The Birth Equity lab uses creative, multimodal, and data-informed approaches to understand how structural systems shape the lived experiences of Black women and birthing people and to co-create care models that advance equity and justice. Dr. Jeffers has more than a decade of experience as a Certified Nurse Midwife caring for pregnant people and attending births in freestanding birth centers, hospitals, and federally qualified health centers in Washington, DC. Her work bridges research, clinical practice, and policy to improve maternal health outcomes.Dr. Jeffers actively contributes to maternal health policy in Maryland through her service on the Maryland Maternal Mortality Review Team and the Maryland ad-how Birthing Center Standards Committee.
CEs Offered: 0.5 CE
Course expiration: October 8, 2028