Each speaker will discuss their own work in the field of midwifery and share their perspectives on the opportunities, failures and varied implications of the global pandemic. We look forward to having these five speakers in conversation!

Meet our panellists...

Saraswathi Vedam is Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab and Professor of Midwifery in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia. Over the past 35 years, she has served as clinician, educator, researcher, and mother of four daughters. Dr. Vedam has coordinated several transdisciplinary and community-led research projects across North America, including the Access and Integration Maternity care Mapping (AIMM) Study on the impact of integration of midwives on maternal-newborn outcomes, and the Giving Voice to Mothers Study that established significant differences by race, type of provider, and place of birth in experience of mistreatment by maternity providers. She is currently PI for RESPCCT, a national study to examine respectful maternity care across Canada, with a focus on amplifying voices of communities that are seldom heard.

Dr. Vedam and her team developed and validated three new person-centred measures, the Mothers’s Autonomy in Decision Making (MADM) scale, the Mothers on Respect (MOR) index, and the Mistreatment by Providers (MIST) index. In 2017 MADM and MORi received the National Quality Forum Innovation Prize, and they are now are being applied in 18 countries to evaluate quality of maternity care at the institutional, system, and country levels.

Professor Vedam has been active in setting international policy on place of birth, midwifery education and regulation, and interprofessional collaboration. She convened 4 national transdisciplinary Birth Summits in the US, and chaired the 5th International Normal Labour and Birth Research conference in Vancouver. In 2017, she was named Michael Smith Health Research Institute Health Professional Investigator.

Shezeen Suleman Since 2011, Shezeen has practiced as a registered midwife in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She holds a BHSc from Ryerson University’s Midwifery Education Program and a degree in Environmental Sciences and International Development Studies at the University of Toronto. Currently, Shezeen is one of the Team Leads for the MATCH (Midwifery and Toronto Community Health) Program at South Riverdale Community Health Centre, with practice privileges at Michael Garron Hospital and the Toronto Birth Centre. Throughout her career both before and after becoming a midwife, Shezeen has focused on strengthening communities and improving access to high quality services for people who face barriers as a result of systemic discrimination.

Jane Cleary I have been a midwife for the past 27 years having worked in all areas of maternity including service development, birth stories and education. I have recently been appointed as a job share in the first Consultant Midwife position at BSUH. I am committed to provide evidence based care that supports the needs of our local population. Throughout my career my motivation has always been focused on women/people and the relationships that we build with them. I am driven to create an environment where women/people feel safe both mentally and physically alongside efficient systems and effective multi-disciplinary teams. As the consultant midwife for choice I am both delighted and passionate to support development of services at BSUH with the women/person voice at its heart.

Katie Tibble I am a newly appointed, and one of the first consultant midwife’s at BSUH. Our remit is around ‘choice’ and supporting the voice of the woman/person as they make their journey through our local maternity services. After nearly 20 years of practising as a midwife in low and high risk birth settings, I have witnessed the positive impact that individualised complex care planning has on the birthing woman/person. Women/people want to be heard by keeping them at the centre of all multi-disciplinary care planning. I feel honoured that in this role as consultant midwife I can develop local maternity services to provide this type of holistic care that I have always been very passionate about.”

Katheryn Parker-Conway Affiliations: Newcastle University, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Homerton University Hospital. I am a doctor, currently working as a clinical fellow in emergency medicine. I recently completed the academic foundation programme at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals. I am passionate about improving global health through research and education, particularly women's health. My current academic work is focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on women's health.

Midwifery and COVID-19