Meet the team
Dame Tina Lavender - Joint Editor-in-Chief
Tina is a Professor of Midwifery and Women's Health at the University of Manchester and a Consultant Midwife at Liverpool Women's Foundation Trust. She is an experienced researcher with a number of research interests that focus on women's expectations, experiences and outcomes. Much of her work is International, through partnerships with groups such as the African Midwives Research Network.
Tina is a member of the National Clinical FGM group, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and the Cochrane Collaboration. In addition, she has recently edited a book entitled 'Demystifying qualitative research in pregnancy and childbirth'.
Yana Richens OBE - Joint Editor-in-Chief
Yana began her career as a state enrolled nurse in 1979 and is now a consultant midwife at University College London Hospital. She has a wide range of clinical experience as a nurse and a midwife, both in hospital and community settings. Yana was a member of both the Department of Health ("DofH") steering group for Making a Difference for midwives in 1999 and the external working group for the Maternity Module of the National Service Framework in 2004. She is a member of the Chief Nursing Officers national advisory group, providing specialist advice on black and ethnic minority issues in the NHS, and was the first midwife to be awarded the prestigious Mary Seacole Fellowship, an award made by the DofH, which enabled Yana to undertake a piece of qualitative research exploring the experiences of women of Pakistani origin within UK Maternity services (the full report is available at www.yanarichens.co.uk). Since the publication of this report Yana has continued to work within the community setting in her role as a consultant midwife to raise awareness within public and professional groups, something she also achieves from writing and publishing extensively as well as speaking at local, national, and international conferences.
Yana is a member of the NICE guideline development group for the guideline on puerperal/perinatal mental health, and an expert advisor to the National Patient Safety Agency Prioritisation Board. She is an honorary senior lecturer at City University, and in 2005 co-founded the Female Genital Mutilation clinical guideline group, which is committed to the support of women who have undergone FGM and the eradication of this practice in the UK for which she campaigns tirelessly.
Sophie Gardner - Editor
Sophie has a degree in molecular genetics in biotechnology from the University of Sussex and, prior to joining MA Healthcare Ltd in January 2011, Sophie worked for the British Journal of Cancer and also edited Current opinions journals and iDrugs. Since joining MA Healthcare Ltd, Sophie edited Gastrointestinal Nursing and the British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. Sophie currently is the editor of the British Journal of Midwifery and the African Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health
Editorial board
Karen Barker - Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Manchester
Kuldip Bharj - Senior Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Leeds
Annie Dixon - Senior Lecturer, University of Central Lancashire
Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent - Honorary Clinical Director NHS London, Director of Midwifery/Head of Nursing, Imperial College Healthcare Trust
Julie Jomeen - Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean: Research and Scholarship, Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Hull
Kathleen Jones - Lecturer/Practitioner, Maelor Hospital, Wrexham, Clwyd, Wales
Chris Kettle - Professor of Women's Health, University Hospital of North Staffordshire and Staffordshire University
Paul Lewis - Professor of Midwifery, Bournemouth University
Marie McDonald - Joint Clinical Director for Women's Services, Joint CAG Lead for KHP Women's Health, Guy's & St. Thomas' Foundation Trust
Patrick O'Brien - Consultant Obstetrician, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health, University College London Hospitals, London
Cheri Price - Student Midwife at the University of Glamorgan
Andrew Symon - Senior Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Dundee
Chris Warren - Independent Midwife, York
Sian Warriner - Consultant Midwife, John Radcliffe Hospital, PGEC, City Hospital, Nottingham
Zita West - Clinical Director, Zita West Clinic Ltd
