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Celebrating Innovation and Excellence in Midwifery: Empowering IBPOC Midwifery Researchers in Advancing Equity Showcase 

The Canadian Alliance of Racialized Midwives (CARM) is excited to announce that this year CARM’s Empowering IBPOC Midwifery Researchers in Advancing Equity Showcase will be teaming up with CAM’s launch of CAM Learns. This event will be a celebration of both academic excellence and innovation in midwifery research, with a focus on racial equity, health policy, and research that impacts equity-deserving communities. 

This event was recorded on November 21, 2024

Speakers

Elon Geffrard: Elon Geffrard is a certified birth doula, lactation counselor, and childbirth educator with a deep commitment to advocating for Black maternal and newborn health. As a co-founder of Birth Detroit, she is leading the development of Detroit’s first freestanding birth center, offering holistic and respectful care for families. Guided by her mantra, “we must lovingly hold parents so they can lovingly hold their babies,” Elon is a tireless advocate for birth equity and community care.  

Manavi Handa: Manavi Handa is a highly respected midwife and advocate with nearly 25 years of experience in Ontario. She is renowned for her groundbreaking work supporting undocumented and uninsured immigrants, leading to expanded midwifery funding for this population in 2015—a national precedent. An Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Manavi practices at REACH Midwives and West End Midwives. Her work includes establishing Canada’s first Non-Insured Walk-In Clinic, which has evolved into a fully funded Expanded Midwifery Care Model.

Kearston Bergeron and Sarah Aboukarr: Ontario midwives Kearston Bergeron and Sarah Aboukarr are reshaping the field of midwifery through their research on the decline in out-of-hospital births and its impact on informed choice and community-based care. Using storytelling and Indigenous research methodologies, they explore how systemic oppression affects racialized midwives and marginalized communities. Their work provides critical insights and recommendations to ensure midwifery remains equitable, culturally safe, and client-centered. 

Touka Shamkhi: Touka Shamkhi is a passionate midwife and researcher focused on decolonizing healthcare and supporting racialized midwifery students and practitioners. Her influential study, Racialized Student Midwives’ Exploration of Resilience in the Ontario Midwifery Education Program, was published in the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice in 2021. Touka’s research highlights the resilience of racialized midwifery students navigating systemic barriers and offers strategies for building sustainable careers in the field. 

Minnie Quach: Minnie Quach, a midwifery student at Toronto Metropolitan University, is dedicated to advancing health equity in perinatal care. As the Director of Online Learning at AMANI Birth, an Islamic-based childbirth education organization, she brings expertise as a certified doula, childbirth educator, and family health coach. Minnie, who holds a Master of Education in International Education Policy from Harvard University, focuses her research on culturally safe, equitable perinatal care for South Asian families in Ontario.