Clinical Midwife Consultant -Leonie Hewitt

Leonie works part time as a Clinical Midwife Consultant - Primary Maternity Care, at Westmead Hospital, Sydney and is currently a student (PhD candidate) at Western Sydney University. From 1986 until the late 1990’s Leonie worked in New Zealand as a neonatal intensive care educator, manager and then an independent midwife. After moving back to Australia, she was instrumental in setting up Australia’s first free standing birth centre at Ryde where she worked for 12 years. During this time, she completed a Master of Midwifery degree (MMid) and became an endorsed midwife. After leaving Ryde, she completed a Master of Research (MRes) degree in 2017 and started a PhD in late 2018. Leonie has co-authored a chapter in a midwifery textbook, has published three research papers and is currently working on the fourth. Leonie’s research focuses on the management and leadership of midwifery group practice in Australia.

International Opportunities - Mary Richards

Mary Richards is an Australian trained Nurse and Midwife with over 40 years’ experience and expertise in midwifery. Mary has a Post Graduate in Child Health and has completed part of her Master in Public Health. Mary's particular interest is global maternal newborn and child health (MNCH) and has spent over 8 years working and training all levels of health worker in developing countries. Mary's passion is for improving MNCH for vulnerable women and their babies in remote areas where death is a common occurrence. Mary uses her many years of experience and technical expertise to train midwives in evidence based practice, life-saving skills and developing critical thinking that leads to positive changes in their clinical skills. Mary also initiated a Global Network facebook group for midwives in developing countries where she shares evidence based practice and encourages discussion and sharing of their experiences.