Suzy Myers, LM, CPM, MPH

Current Roles

Myers is a core faculty member and chair of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Midwives Association of Washington State (MAWS) and of the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM).

Education

• BA in psychology from Clark University, Worcester, MA, in 1971
• Certificate in Midwifery from Seattle Midwifery School in 1979
• MPH from the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Maternal and Child Health Program, in 1988

Past Experience

Suzy Myers began her midwifery training in 1975 in Seattle, in a collective apprenticeship model with two family-practice physicians and four other midwife trainees. In 1978 she cofounded the Seattle Midwifery School (SMS), where she was a faculty and board member for the next 30 years. In 2009 she transitioned, along with SMS, to Bastyr University and assumed the position of chair of the new Department of Midwifery. Ms. Myers and her midwifery partner and SMS co-founder, Marge Mansfield, worked together for over 30 years in the practice they co-own, Seattle Home Maternity Service and Childbirth Center. They have attended over 2,000 births both at home and in their licensed birth center. In addition, they have been clinical preceptors to over 50 student midwives. Her other work includes:

• In the early 1980s, Myers was active in legislative reform of Washington’s Midwifery Act and served on the first Midwifery Advisory Committee, writing rules and developing the licensing examination.
• In 1983 she helped to launch the Midwives' Association of Washington State, and served as its first president from 1983-1985.
• In 1994 she co-authored the first study of outcomes of licensed midwife-attended births in Washington.
• She served 15 years on the Board of Directors of a Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) created by the Washington State legislature to provide medical malpractice insurance to midwives providing out-of-hospital birth services.
• Since 2002 she has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM).

Classes Taught

• Midwifery care courses: Pregnancy and Prenatal Care, Advanced Pregnancy and Prenatal Care, Labor and Birth, Challenges in Practice
• Professional issues courses: Health Care Systems and Health Policy
• Clinical skills: Neonatal Resuscitation Provider Course
• Master’s project seminars

Interests

Myers' interests include professional issues related to midwifery integration, normal birth, maternity care policy, inter-professional training for maternity care providers, and global and national midwifery education and workforce evaluation.

Philosophy

Myers is stimulated by adult learners who are passionate about their career choice as health care providers who will help transform peoples’ lives. She strives to share her experience, to challenge students to excel, and to partner with students to pose and answer questions that will positively impact their profession and the families they serve. She is committed to working to address institutional racism as it affects health professions education and to recruiting and retaining students from diverse backgrounds. She’s also committed to educating all of her students as culturally competent maternity care providers who will provide services to diverse populations with appreciation of the impact of health disparities on perinatal outcomes. She aims to provide the tools to help address these problems.