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Eunice (Kitty) Ernst, RN, CNM, MPH, DSc (hon) - Mary Breckinridge Chair of Midwifery

Kitty Ernst is the only endowed Chair of Midwifery in the United States. She is a certified nurse-midwife graduate of Kentucky’s Frontier School of Midwifery with a master’s degree in public health. A renowned visionary in the field of midwifery, Kitty has pioneered pregnancy and birth care advances for more than 40 years. Highlights of her career include:

• Early president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives
  
• Director of the nurse-midwifery service and education program at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
  
• Midwifery consultant, lecturer, and educator,
  
• Director of the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC)
  
• Helped to institute the Commission for Accreditation of Freestanding Birth Centers.
  
• Recipient of the Martha Mae Elliot Award
  
• Recipient of the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award from the American College of Nurse-Midwives
  
• Recipient of the Maternity Center Association Medal for Distinguished Service