Dr Holly Powell Kennedy, Helen Varney Professor of Midwifery, Yale School of Nursing, USA

Dr. Kennedy has been a midwife for 25 years. She is a graduate of the Frontier School of Midwifery & Family Nursing. She obtained her masters degree from the Medical College of Georgia as a family nurse practitioner and her doctoral degree from the University of Rhode Island. She has practiced in numerous settings including rural health, community and tertiary hospitals, and in academic practices. In 2009 she became the first Helen Varney Professor of Midwifery at Yale University and became President of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2010. She is on the faculty of King’s College London where she was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar during 2008.Her research includes numerous qualitative studies exploring the work of midwives and its relationship to health outcomes. She has also completed a clinical trial of CenteringPregnancy®, a group model of prenatal care, in two military settings.