Meet the Board
2017-2018
President
Elizabeth Brandeis, RM, BHSc, MScCH
Elizabeth first joined the AOM board in 2009, first as a Member at Large, then Vice- President, and, since 2016, as President. Elizabeth is a midwife and senior partner at the Midwives Collective of Toronto and has privileges at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital and the Toronto Birth Centre. She is a graduate of the Midwifery Education Program at Ryerson University and has a Masters of Science in Community Health from University of Toronto. She is a clinical preceptor and has been a part-time instructor at Ryerson University and an AOM ESW instructor. In addition to serving on the board, Elizabeth has chaired the AOM Policy, Leadership Development and Negotiations Committees. She has extensive experience in government relations, having sat on several joint committees with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. She is the Ontario representative of the Board of the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) and the CAM representative for the College of Family Physicians of Canada Maternal Newborn Committee. Elizabeth has a passion for midwifery advocacy and strengthening midwives’ integration into the health-care system as well as clinical education. Both her clinical practice and board-level work are dedicated to addressing the needs of underserved populations and to social justice. Her daughter was caught by a midwife in 1994, the first year of regulated midwifery.
Vice-President
Rebecca Carson, RM, BHSc
Rebecca has served on the AOM board since 2012, initially as Member at Large, then as Vice-President since 2015. She has been a midwife at Family Midwifery Care of Guelph since graduating from the Midwifery Education Program in 2004 where she enjoys a mix of urban and rural practice. Rebecca is a member of the Audit Committee and has served on the AOM Negotiations Committee. She was a member of the Negotiations Team which secured the 2017 – 2019 Funding Agreement with the MOHLTC. Before becoming a midwife, Rebecca completed a degree in Biology and Indigenous Studies at Trent University and worked as a park naturalist, outdoor educator and for the Ministry of Natural Resources. She is passionate about providing high-quality care and advancing the equity and sustainability of the midwifery profession.
Secretary
Genia Stephen, RM, BHSc
Genia started on the AOM board in 2012 as East Region Coordinator, and was elected as Secretary in 2017. She is a midwife at Generations Midwifery Care in Brockville, with satellite clinics in Kemptville and Smiths Falls. She has privileges at Brockville General Hospital and at the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre. Genia is the chair of the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) Committee and has been a contributing author on two CPG work groups. Other AOM service has included sitting on the Negotiations Committee, the Work Life Balance Committee (dissolved) and the Genetic Screening Task Force (dissolved). She is the chair of the Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program Midwifery Community of Practice. Genia enjoys running the Generations Midwifery blog and social media platforms, focusing on local campaigns that promote midwifery services in the community. Genia lives in Brockville with her partner and two sons.
Treasurer
Jasmin Tecson, RM, BHSc
Before becoming AOM Treasurer in 2017, Jasmin was the South East Region Coordinator for four years. She is a midwife at Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives, a large and busy practice serving Scarborough, Ajax, Pickering and Whitby. She has served as chair of the AOM Hospital Integration Committee. Her primary goal as Treasurer is to help maintain the fiscal health of the AOM so that it can continue to be a strong and stable resource for midwives. Jasmin is committed to social justice and equity principles alongside clinical excellence and to ensuring Ontario midwifery remains vital and empowered. She provides midwifery care in English, Spanish and French, with a bit of her native Tagalog thrown in. She has a personal passion for creating art trading cards.
Member at Large
Sarilyn Zimmerman, RM, BHSc
Originally serving on the AOM board in the 1990s as South Region Coordinator, Sarilyn came back to serve again in 2016. Sarilyn began practicing in 1996 and has witnessed the AOM grow into the active and dynamic organization that it is today. Sarilyn practices at The Midwives’ Clinic of East York-Don Mills and has privileges at Michael Garron Hospital as well as the Toronto Birth Centre. Sarilyn is a clinical preceptor and has taught at Ryerson University and in Texas at Maternidad la Luz. Sarilyn recently has been involved in collaborative projects with the Canadian Association of Midwives in Tanzania and South Sudan. She has served on numerous AOM committees and work groups, including the Emergency Skill Workshop Committee and the CPG Committee. She brings to the AOM board a voice of experience and a passion for being a strong advocate for normal birth. Sarilyn has three children and recently joyfully caught her first grandchild. Sarilyn is an artist and musician and continues to use her creative talents to support and promote midwifery.
Member at Large
Carol Couchie, RM, BHSc
Carol is a new addition on the AOM board, having been elected in 2017. She is a midwife at K’Tigaaning Midwives in her home community of Nipissing First Nation, near North Bay, with a satellite clinic in Powassan. Carol’s particular interest is to support and advance the board’s strategic goal around restoring birth to Indigenous communities. Enthusiastic about association-level work, she is a founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM). She has served as a board member for women’s shelters, the College of Midwives of Manitoba, the Canadian Association of Midwives, and is an elder member of the core leaders of NACM. Carol has co-chaired the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada’s (SOGC) Aboriginal Women’s Health Committee and helped write the SOGC recommendations on returning birth to rural and remote Aboriginal communities, as well as recommendations for rural and remote maternity care. Carol is passionate about being a good midwife and a traditional teacher. She has a strong family tradition of midwifery (including a great-grandmother and a niece), and Carol is extremely proud to share her practice with her daughter, Rachel Dennis.
East Regional Coordinator
Liz Fraser, RM, HBA, BHSc
Liz Fraser graduated from the Midwifery Education Program in 2014 and joined the AOM board in 2017. She practices at the Midwifery Collective of Ottawa and has privileges at the Ottawa Hospital and the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre. She is an active participant in community-based research, has sat on interprofessional hospital and community based committees, worked on interprofessional education initiatives, and engages regularly with her midwifery colleagues as part of the Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program Midwifery Community of Practice. Liz believes in honouring birth as a life-changing moment, however and wherever it happens, and in promoting the strength and power of pregnant people through respecting choice and autonomy in pregnancy and birth. Liz is a new parent, and loves spending time with her partner and baby in the outdoors, no matter the season.
North Regional Coordinator
Kelly Graff, RM, HBA
Before becoming AOM North Regional Coordinator in 2013, Kelly was a Member at Large for two years. She practices at Kenora Midwives, a two-midwife practice near the Manitoba border. Kelly is a keen advocate for small, rural, remote and northern midwifery practices. She began her midwifery career in Maine, and went on to catch babies in Australia, the Philippines, and Dominican Republic before returning to Toronto to complete her training at Ryerson University through the International Midwifery Pre-registration Program. Kelly also has a degree in Women’s Studies. Kelly loves living in Kenora with her partner and two young children.
South Central Regional Coordinator
Simone Rosenberg, RM, BHSc
Simone was elected to the AOM board in 2017 and has been practicing midwifery since 2014. She practices at The Midwives’ Clinic of East York-Don Mills and has privileges at the Toronto Birth Centre and Michael Garron Hospital, where she is part of a committee to make the birth unit LGBTQ inclusive. Simone has a background in grassroots social justice work and community organizing. She has served on the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM)’s Reproductive Health Statement Working Group, as well as the CAM Peer-to-Peer Twinning Program in South Sudan. Simone has published in the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. She is excited to bring a new perspective to the board and is passionate about gender inclusivity and expanding midwifery services in Ontario.
South East Regional Coordinator
Disha Alam, RM, BA, BHSc
Disha first joined the AOM board in 2016 as the South East Regional Coordinator. She practices at Community Midwives of Halton in Oakville. Disha is at the beginning of her midwifery career and looks forward to being actively engaged with the AOM. She served on a number of committees while studying midwifery at McMaster University, and currently on the BORN Midwifery Advisory Committee and SOGC – Immunization in Pregnancy. She provides care in English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu. She is a certified yoga instructor and enjoys blending the benefits of yoga in midwifery practice. She avidly enjoy travelling and trying new things. Therefore, during her spare time she loves to explore and partake in excursions, preferably with her puppy, Arya.
South West Regional Coordinator
Anne Wilson, RM, BHSc
Anne has served on the AOM board for several terms, on and off, since 2003, both as Member at Large and as South West Regional Coordinator. She currently practices at Burlington & Area Midwives. She is past-president of the Canadian Association of Midwives and is a founding trustee of the AOM Benefits Trust. Anne is a long-time member of the AOM Negotiations Committee and has served on several interdisciplinary committees at local, provincial and national levels. She is also involved internationally in the Canadian Association of Midwives’ twinning project with Tanzania. She was chair of the Host Committee for the International Confederation of Midwives Congress that was held in Toronto in summer 2017, which saw the arrival of thousands of midwives from around the globe. Anne brings the voice of experienced midwives and an awareness of the political history of midwifery to the board. She is passionate about expanding midwifery services for families.
West Regional Coordinator
Andrea Cassidy, RM, BA, BHSc, IBCLC
Andrea started on the AOM board in 2016 as a Member at Large, and was elected in 2017 in her role as West Regional Coordinator. She practices at the Midwifery Collective of Essex County in Windsor, and at her satellite clinic in nearby Leamington. A midwife since 2005, she has served on AOM committees such as the Policy Committee, the Work Life Balance Committee (dissolved), and the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee. She has also been involved in several interdisciplinary committees on maternal newborn health. Andrea has more than 20 years of advocacy experience working on women’s issues. She is committed to serving the needs of the diverse populations in her area, and is equally committed to supporting the sustainability of the midwifery profession.