Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumna Jennifer Stevens DrPHc, CNM, MS uses her nurse-midwifery degree to help women across the world. Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jennifer is a midwife specialist for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Jennifer graduated in 2001 from Frontier’s CNEP (Class 28) and earned her MS in Midwifery at Philadelphia University. She worked for 10 years in a freestanding birth center before a stint with Midwives for Haiti (founded by a fellow FNU alumnus) sparked her interest in international midwifery practice.
In her current role, Jennifer supports the newly-created midwifery cadre in Bangladesh, focusing primarily on midwifery education and strengthening the health care system. In Bangladesh, approximately 60% of women birth at home unattended. Jennifer’s goal is to increase the number of quality midwives in Bangladesh to support faculty-based births, lower maternal mortality, and increase access to compassionate sexual and reproductive health care including gender-based violence and family planning services for all the women of Bangladesh.
Jennifer at the birth center in Bangladesh
“I want women to have a voice and be able to birth safely in their own communities,” she said.
Jennifer also supports midwifery centers globally through GoodBirth, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2016. GoodBirth is a global NGO that networks midwifery birth centers in low-resource areas to help them solve problems, encourage commitment to healthy birth practices and standards for quality and safety, and promote respectful maternity care.
“I often think back on the unique education offered at FNU during my work,” said Jennifer. “FNU demonstrates what can happen when we create a program that listens to women and meets them where they are, in their own communities – we can change the world.”
Her choice to pursue nurse-midwifery at FNU was influenced by the flexibility the online courses offered her as a mother, and by FNU’s excellent reputation in midwifery education.
Jennifer is currently enrolled in Boston University to pursue a Doctorate in Public Health.
She was also recently published in Birth Journal, co-authoring an editorial entitled “Asking different questions: A call to action for research to improve the quality of care for every woman, every child.”
We are proud to have such an active member of the FNU community serving women around the globe. Thank you, Jennifer!
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).