Ronnie Sue Lichtman, (born February 10, 1950) is a

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; ...

, educator, writer and advocate for women's health. She has published widely for both lay and professional audiences. The Chair of th
Midwifery Education Program at The State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center
in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, she earned a Ph.D. in sociomedical sciences from

Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatta ...

, and her MS in Maternity Nursing with a specialization in midwifery from

Columbia University School of Nursing The School of Nursing is the graduate school of nursing at Columbia University in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1892, it stands as one of the oldest nursing schools in the United States. The School o ...

. She previously directed the midwifery programs a
Columbia University
and

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York syste ...

. Ronnie Lichtman is a well-known speaker for a variety of audiences.

Early life

Ronnie Lichtman was born in Brownsville,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

. Her late father, Emanuel Lichtman, was an optometrist and her late mother, Gertrude Lichtman, was a bookkeeper. Her parents moved Lichtman and her two brothers, Allan and Steven, to the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

when she was 14 years old where Lichtman attended Christopher Columbus High School. After graduating as valedictorian from Christopher Columbus High School, Lichtman attended

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

for a year, leaving to join an anti-war group in New York City called The Resistance. This was in the late 1960s during the height of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Anti-war issues led Lichtman to become involved with the Women's Liberation Movement. She started a "small consciousness-raising group" of women who worked with The Resistance. Lichtman, along with several other women, founded a woman's magazine titled ''Up from Under''. She both wrote and edited articles for ''Up from Under'' Her article on the small group in women's liberation was widely reproduced and appeared in

Gerda Lerner Gerda Hedwig Lerner (née Kronstein; April 30, 1920 – January 2, 2013) was an Austrian-born American historian and woman's history author. In addition to her numerous scholarly publications, she wrote poetry, fiction, theatre pieces, screenp ...

's anthology, ''The Female Experience: An American Documentary.'' "Working on health care articles for the magazine made me realize how important those issues were to women," Lichtman was quoted saying in
New York Daily News article
"I knew I wanted to do something involving women, and I knew I had to go back to school. But I didn't want to do medical school because I was not really interested in pathology or disease." Lichtman would go on to become a childbirth educator and earn a

registered nursing A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to ob ...

degree from

Bronx Community College The Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (BCC) is a public community college in the Bronx, New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. History The college was established in 1957 through the effo ...

in 1974 and eventually her master's and doctoral degrees from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

Education

* MS in Maternity Nursing, specialization in Midwifery, Columbia University * Fellowship in Midwifery, The State University of New York at Downstate * MPhil and PhD in Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University

Doctoral Dissertation

Ronnie Lichtman's doctoral dissertation was on psychosocial factors and pregnancy outcomes. Lichtman's findings were presented at the Research Forum at an American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) annual meeting and a
Research Day
at

Professional Experience

Ronnie Lichtman began her professional midwifery career at

North Central Bronx Hospital NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx, better known as North Central Bronx Hospital, is a municipal hospital founded in 1976 and operated by NYC Health + Hospitals. The 17 story Brutalist style building is located next to the Montefiore Med ...

working both in the clinic and the labor and delivery unit, caring for low-income, immigrant, and under-served women. She eventually opened a private midwifery practice that focused on well-woman gynecologic care. Lichtman, while working as a midwifery educator. She left North Central Bronx to become a midwifery faculty member at

where she later became Program Director. Lichtman wanted to be exposed to

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

in midwifery so she left Columbia to become Education Director of the midwifery education program at

. She was appointed Program Director at Stony Brook University before moving to her current position as Professor and Program Chair of th
Midwifery Education Program
at

SUNY Downstate Medical Center SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University (Downstate) is a public medical school and hospital in Brooklyn, New York. It is the southernmost member of the State University of New York (SUNY) system and the only academic medical center for health e ...

in 2002. While working primarily as a midwifery educator, Lichtman continues to practice at MIC-Fort Greene Women's Health Clinic Www.healthsolutions.org Lichtman has assisted in over 300 births in her career, and has the birthing diaries - logs that list everything from the expecting mother's first exam to details of the birth itself - to prove it. More important, Lichtman has educated hundreds of midwives since entering the field in the mid-1970s, some of whom have gone on to deliver more than 1,500 babies each.

Contributions to the Midwifery Profession

Lichtman served a
Nominating Committee
Chair for th
American College of Nurse-Midwives
(ACNM). She also was chair of this committee for the New York City Chapter of the organization. She has served on the Education Committee for ACNM and the Public Relations Committee for the NYC chapter. Lichtman was a member of the ACN
Diversification and Inclusion Task Force
the Task Force on Doctoral Competencies and the Task Force on Re-entry to Practice. Lichtman helped found the Peer Review Committee for the NYC chapter. She was a board member of th
Caribbean Women's Health Association
for several years. She was an editorial consultant to the '' Journal of Midwifery &'' ''Women's Health''. Lichtman has authored and edited books, book chapters, and journal and magazine articles. She travels nationwide delivering presentations and educational sessions on midwifery and women's health related topics to varied audiences. In recognition of her many contributions, Lichtman was inducted into the American College of Nurse Midwives’ Fellowship (FACNM) in 2004. Currently, Lichtman is working on creating a Doctorate of Midwifery (DM) program at

. Among her significant ideas, Lichtman has suggested a new word for what midwives do at birth. Rejecting both the traditional idea of "delivering" babies (mothers deliver, not midwives) and the more whimsical "catching" babies that some midwives use (as an educator, she feels this diminishes the valuable hand skills that midwives use at birth), she has suggested the simple word "guide." She noted that this demeans neither the birthing woman nor the midwife and relates to both the midwife's role in helping women through labor and guiding the baby through the birth canal.

Research

Ronnie Lichtman's doctoral dissertation was on Psychosocial Factors and Pregnancy Outcomes. Lichtman's findings were presented at the Research Forum at a
ACNM Annual Meeting
and at Research Day at

. She was the Principal Investigator, with Suzanne Schechter, on comparing outcomes between CNM and CM graduates of th
SUNY Downstate Midwifery Education Program

In the News/Media

Last center standing
''The Bronx Ink''
A Midwife's tale
New York Daily News

Articles

"The CM Credential and the Case for National Implementation" ''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health'' (in press)
"Midwives Don't Deliver or Catch: A Humble Vocabulary Suggestion"
''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health''
"Science and Sensibility: Choice of Birth Place in the United States"
''Medscape Ob/Gyn''
"Supporting innovations in midwifery education"
''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health''
"Pearls of Wisdom for Clinical Teaching: Expert Educators Reflect"
''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health''
"Examining Ourselves: Exploring Assumptions About Teaching Pelvic Examinations in Midwifery Education"
''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health''
"Perimenopausal and postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy. Part 1. An update of the literature on benefits and risks"
''Journal of Nurse-Midwifery''
"Perimenopausal and postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy*: Part 2. Hormonal Regimens and Complementary and Alternative Therapies"
''Journal of Nurse-Midwifery''
"Entry-level degrees for midwifery practice"
''Journal of Nurse-Midwifery''
"Perimenopausal hormone replacement therapy: Review of the literature"
''Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health''
"More voice for educational innovation"
''Journal of Nurse-Midwifery''
"Coping with Postpartum Depression"
''American Baby''

Books

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichtman, Ronnie 1950 births Living people American women's rights activists American health activists American midwives Jewish American writers Columbia University School of Nursing alumni People from Brownsville, Brooklyn Bronx Community College alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women