(Pronouns: she/her) Heather Bradford is a midwife educator, perinatal health services researcher, and administrator with a passion for midwifery and women's health. She strives to grow and diversify the midwifery and WHNP workforce, address inequities within perinatal care specifically related to weight bias, and improve perinatal outcomes.
She currently serves as the Assistant Program Director for the Nurse-Midwifery/Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) and WHNP Programs and was selected in 2024 as the Mary L. and Raymond T. Holden Endowed Professor for Maternal and Infant Health. She joined the GU community in 2017. She was a 2019-2021 GUMC Bias Reduction Improvement Coaching (BRIC) Program Trainer and in 2024 was apart of the first cohort of the Health Equity Influencers Program (HEIP) for Nurse Educators. She served as Secretary to the ACNM Racism in Midwifery Education Task Force and was instrumental in publishing the first program content toolkit to address racism in midwifery education. She joined the GUMC Teaching Academy for the Health Sciences as a Principle member in 2024. Clinically, she served as a full-scope midwife from 2002-2024, attending almost 800 births. She completed her PhD in nursing science in 2023 at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, studying weight bias among midwives.
She has advocated for advanced practice nurses and midwives at both the state and federal legislative front. Under her leadership in coalition with other nurse leaders, WA ARNPs acquired the capacity to prescribe without a joint practice agreement. While Chair of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Government Affairs Committee, nurse-midwives achieved equitable reimbursement under Medicare Part B services. She has served on the WA State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission as a member of the ARNP Subcommittee and participated in case review. She was appointed by the Department of Health to a state advisory committee working to improve maternal and child health outcomes. She has also served on the WA State Maternal Mortality Review Panel and on the Partnership for Patients Safe Deliveries Roadmap Steering Committee with the WA State Hospital Association. She currently serves as a site visitor with the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME) and Vice Chair of the Eastern Consortium of the Comprehensive Midwifery Exam (ECCME). She was inducted into ACNM Fellowship in 2011. She has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in leading midwifery and women's health textbooks. She is an Associate Editor of the 7th edition of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Midwifery and Women's Health and was recently hired as a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Assistant Professor, SON - Nursing Academic Department