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Board of Directors
Dalia Abrams, MA, MPH
Dalia Abrams MA, MPH, is a DONA Certified Birth Doula and a DONA approved Doula Trainer. She started working with families in 1998 teaching parenting and preparation for childbirth classes. In 2008 she began working as a birth doula and started training new doulas in 2012. In partnership with BirthWell Director Susan Petrus, Dalia helped to found BirthWell Partners in 2011 and acted as program director of BirthWell until summer 2024. In 2006, Dalia received her Master’s in Public Health from UAB School of Public Health, specializing in Maternal and Child Health. From 2006 until 2013 she was the Mental Health Coordinator at UABs Early Head Start Program. Dalia’s passion is to make respectful and safe maternity care widespread in our community.
LaTanya Dawson, MA
LaTanya Dawson is the Health Coordinator with the UAB Early Head Start Program. LaTanya is a graduate of the University of Alabama (B.S. in Human Development) and University of Alabama in Birmingham (B.S. in Social Work and M.A. in Counseling). LaTanya is active within the Pelham City School system where she has been involved with PTO since 2012.
Matt Harris
Matt Harris has a Bachelors in Business Administration from UAH and serves as a Director of Operations for Chick-fil-A in Irondale. His experience as a supporting partner and dad gives him a unique perspective on the need for a doula. When his wife approached him about hiring a doula for her pregnancy and birth, he was very much a skeptic. But after they went through the pregnancy and birth his mind was completely changed on the need for a doula.
Jen Harvard
Jen has held positions in government, private industry, and nonprofits. Her nonprofit experience comes from five years as the Development Officer/Interim Development Director at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, one year in peer to peer fundraising at the National MS Society, and she currently serves the United Healthcare Children's Foundation as Director of Sponsorships and Planned Giving.
Jen brings diverse fundraising experiences to BirthWell Partners, strengthening efforts in individual giving, peer-to-peer fundraising, and corporate sponsorships.
Holly Horan, MA, PhD
Holly Horan, MA, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in UAB's Department of OBGYN's Global and Rural Health Program. She is also a birth and postpartum doula. Holly was previously a program coordinator for a Medicaid-funded, community doula program in Oregon. Her research focuses on the relationship between maternal stress and birth outcomes and the scaling up of collaborative perinatal care with an emphasis on the inclusion and recognition of doulas as members of the perinatal healthcare team.
Beth Albright Johns, MPH
Beth Albright Johns has over 30 years of professional experience in a variety of health care settings and nonprofit organizations. Currently, Ms. Johns works at UAB School of Public Health in Health Policy and Organization conducting needs assessment, program evaluation, continuous quality improvement, technical assistance, education and outreach, community engagement and strategic partnerships. Previously, she served as the Assistant Vice President, Early Childhood Initiatives and Education at United Way of Central Alabama’s Success By 6 an early childhood initiative of UWCA joining in 2008. She is a licensed occupational therapist with an emphasis on children and youth. She received a Master’s of Public Health from UAB School of Public Health in 2003 in Maternal and Child Health. She is an alumnus of Robert Wood Johnson Ladder to Leadership Community Health Scholars striving to improve the health of vulnerable populations.
Anjanette Robinson, LPC-S, NCC
Anjanette Robinson is a Counselor, Birth Doula, and Postpartum Doula. She leads a variety of groups at her business: Building Successful Families, LLC. She is passionate about birth, and especially about supporting families during the 4th trimester: the early months after the baby is born.
Crystal Spivey, MPH, DrPH
Crystal Spivey is an adjunct professor at Alabama State University College of Health Sciences. Previously, she worked for JCCEO Head Start/Early Head Start Program as a Health Coordinator, Health Manager, and Associate Director. Her passion and interest are Maternal and Child Health. She invests her time in community and faith-based organizations whose mission is to provide maternal resources and services to vulnerable populations.
Dr. Beverly VonDer Pool, MD
Dr. Beverly VonDer Pool is a board-certified family physician who received her medical degree from the University of California at San Fransisco and completed a family residency at the University of Washington, Providence Hospital Affiliated Program. Dr. VonDer Pool spent seven years in private practice and as a volunteer instructor for the University of Washington and nineteen years as an associate professor with obstetric privileges at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She currently practices family medicine at UAB-Highlands' Family Medicine Clinic.
Anne Markham Bailey
Anne Markham Bailey is a poet, author, creative arts and awareness educator. Her work appears in
journals and collections across the world, and her published books include several collections of poems, a children’s book, and a pithy guide to creative awareness practice. She teaches creative writing and book arts in the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project at Auburn University. Anne is a teaching artist with UAB Arts in Medicine and is on staff with Wild Alabama, a forest protection organization. Anne is a passionate advocate for positive birth outcomes for families. She did initial training as a doula although she did not pursue that path professionally, and is thrilled to bring her energy and creativity to the Birthwell Partners Board.
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