A Collaborative is as strong as the people who contribute to it. The Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative continues to grow. We recently welcomed four new Project Leads who bring their personal strengths to the team.
Professor Rhona McInnes – Director of Practice Translation
Professor Rhona McInnes is a Professor of Maternal and Child Health in Queensland. Rhona recently relocated from Scotland where she led a realist evaluation of the implementation of a continuity of care model at one health board in Scotland. Her research has contributed to the international body of knowledge relating to infant feeding and maternal and child health; focusing primarily on how decisions and health outcomes are affected by individual and organisational behaviours situated within their socioeconomic and political context (including healthcare service structures). Through her research she aims to advance strengths-based, salutogenic approaches that ultimately reduce health inequalities.
Rhona is currently evaluating the response of maternity and child health services to providing care during COVID19 with the aim of ensuring access to high quality care and informing preparedness for future large-scale event. She is also developing a programme of research that aligns with the First 2000-days and with high-value care.
As Director of Practice Translation, Rhona aims to ensure that evidence-based practice and women-centred care are at the core of maternity and child health services. To do this she is taking a strategic approach to strengthening evidence-based practice and identifying clinically relevant research opportunities. Sustaining high-quality care requires research capacity and capability within the health service, which means that it is important to identify and mentor early career researchers and clinical practitioners. Rhona welcomes opportunities to work with others to grow skilled research capacity and progress research and innovation within the maternal and child health space.
Associate Professor Lois McKellar – Director of Education
Education of the future maternity workforce plays a key role in the transformation of maternity care. Lois McKellar is an Associate Professor of Midwifery based in South Australia and has recently taken up the position of Director of Education for the Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative. She is an advocate for working collaboratively to ensure the provision of outstanding midwifery education and equipping midwives for practice in the 21st century and beyond. Lois is a Fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation and a founding member and the current chair of the Trans-Tasman Midwifery Education Consortium (TTMEC).
Lois has been recognised for her excellence in teaching with an Office for Learning and Teaching award acknowledging her work in developing a sustainable model of support for midwifery students learning through continuity of care experiences. In 2019, Lois engaged with the International Confederation of Midwives and international colleagues to develop a national midwifery curriculum for WHO India. Lois’ current research responds to the priorities for midwifery education as identified through the TTMEC Delphi study. With specific focus on increasing visibility of midwifery, mentoring of midwifery students and evaluating the clinical practice component of their education.
The Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative provides a mechanism to embed midwifery education as a critical component influencing quality maternity care. Promoting the distinctiveness of midwifery education is vital to support the increase and sustainability of midwifery models of care. Lois brings a strong focus on research that underpins education pedagogy and practice, as well as a focus on strengthening midwifery academics.
Dr Zoe Bradfield – Co-Director Health Promotion
Dr Zoe Bradfield is a midwifery academic and Research Fellow in Western Australia. Zoe is a vibrant midwifery leader, delivering excellence in education, research, and professional leadership. Her research strengths are based her understanding of the transformative power of quality maternity care which has fuelled her passion for inspiring excellence in health practitioners and leading innovative translational research that contributes to better outcomes for women, their families, and society.
Her recent research has focussed on what it means for midwives to be “with woman” in their practice, leading to a collaboration which has undertaken the development of a tool to measure woman-centred care. Zoe is currently leading a team of multidisciplinary researchers to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the key stakeholders of maternity care in Australia. She shares the role of Co-Director of the Health Promotion program for the Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative with Professor Debra Creedy.
The Health Promotion Program has 3 key priorities: to develop and test interventions that facilitate the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies; enable women to achieve the best possible health outcomes by improving health literacy; and develop and test strategies that enable health professionals, services and sectors to collaborate effectively to produce optimal outcomes for women and babies.
Dr Christine Catling – Director of Workforce
Associate Professor Christine Catling is a midwifery academic and an NHMRC Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. She is also the Co-lead of the Maternal, Newborn and Women’s Clinical Academic Group, for the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE). She has been a midwife for over 25 years, both in the UK and Australia.
A/Prof Catling has extensive experience in antenatal education, policy development and research, and has published on workforce issues, homebirth, vaginal birth after caesarean section, maternal mortality, vaginal breech birth, maternal and child health in Papua New Guinea, simulation-based learning and vitamin D levels in mothers and neonates. In 2015 she was the inaugural research fellow for the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre at UTS. Her PhD explored the influences on women who chose a publicly-funded home birth in Australia, and current work focusses on the workplace culture in midwifery.
A/Prof Catling believes research, innovation and good quality midwifery are pivotal to the well-being of mothers and young families. Her NHMRC Fellowship (2021-2025) focuses on the midwifery workplace culture, examining the use of regular Group Clinical Supervision for midwives.
As Director of Workforce, Christine aims to create a passionate group with a shared philosophy that work together to support midwives to do the physically, intellectually and emotionally challenging job they signed up for. This group aims to consist of midwifery researchers with an interest in helping to retain the workforce and making midwives’ workplaces a more collegial, caring and supportive environment.
Are you interesting in learning more or contributing to the Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative?
Please make contact with us so we can explore how we can work with you to help transform maternity care. We send out a regular newsletter. Complete our contact form and let us know if you would like to be added to the distribution list for this. You can also follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
