Baystate Medical Center Midwifery Education Program Faculty

All Baystate Medical Center Midwifery Education Program faculty are masters or doctoral prepared nurse-midwives in the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology, Division of Midwifery.

We hold faculty appointments at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate.

And, we are all active in clinical practice with Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health. This gives our students exposure to more than 10,000 women's health visits and 450 deliveries a year.

Between us, we have more than 110 years of clinical practice and 100 years of faculty experience.

Everyone Benefits from Professional Balance

Our faculty find the balance of classroom teaching, clinical precepting and independent practice especially unique and rewarding.

Clinical Practice and Precepting

Our practice with Baystate Midwifery and Women's Health provides full scope care to women at a variety of settings, including four community health centers and the Hampden County Women's Correctional Center. At Baystate Medical Center, midwives with faculty expertise make up the Midwifery Triage Program and the Midwifery OB Team Program.

The collaborative relationships we have with our physician colleagues in the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology, in the medical center as a whole, and with other CNM practices in the area provides our students with exposure to additional clinical and educational situations.

Research and Leadership

Most faculty have participated in funded research, published or edited in professional publications, and presented at national meetings.

We are active in professional organizations at the national or regional level as well.

View the Professional, Research and Community Contributions from 2005-2024 for the Baystate Medical Center Division of Midwifery.

Our Faculty

Winifred Connerton, CNM, PhD, FACNM
Director, Midwifery Education Program

Midwifery education is a central pillar of my practice. I come to Baystate with experience in graduate nursing education, and I am happy to be in a community of midwives so dedicated to the education and support of midwife students. Midwifery practice has many different options across a career – working with students as they launch into their midwife careers is an investment in the future of the profession, and it is a privilege to accompany students on this transition in their professional lives.

Midwifery brought me from New York City to California, Pennsylvania and now to Massachusetts. I completed a second bachelor’s in nursing at Columbia University, and my midwifery education in the University of California (San Francisco and San Diego). I have practiced in urban hospitals and clinics with coworkers and patients from around the world. I pursued a PhD in Nursing History because I wanted to explore why health care providers leave their home countries to come to a new place to practice. I conduct history research in early twentieth century nursing, and the history of midwifery in the United States to contextualize current issues in health care practice.

Avery Klepacki Allen, MN, CNM

I joined Baystate at the end of 2023 after starting my midwifery career in Arizona. I received my midwifery education at Oregon Health & Science University and graduated in 2019. I was always fascinated with pregnancy and birth, and knew I wanted to work in a profession that was centered on advocacy and empowerment. It was actually in an ad in the paper for an event hosted by the Baystate Midwifery and Education Program where I first learned the definition of a certified nurse midwife at 17, and I have never looked back. Some of my clinical interests include promoting physiologic birth, trauma informed care, family planning, and perinatal mood disorders. My faculty role is mainly as a clinical preceptor. I am passionate about promoting the field of midwifery, and I am grateful to be a part of building future cohorts of midwives. I value mentorship and focusing on the individual learning needs of each student, and hope to foster a learning environment where students are able to grow into the midwifery role.

Outside of work, I enjoy anything that gets me outdoors, and enjoy running, hiking, and skiing. I am also constantly trying out a new craft, the latest being embroidery. I live with my husband and pup in Easthampton, and love exploring what our sweet town has to offer (especially the food!).

Carly Detterman, MSN, CNM
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I received my midwifery education for Frontier Nursing University in 2008. I have been at Baystate since 2009 and on the faculty since 2011. I teach the Intrapartum and the Postpartum and Newborn Care Courses. I came to midwifery because I was drawn to the power and intensity of birth and because I understood the importance of personal individualized care for each person giving birth. I love working with students especially in a small program like Baystate because I get to continue this philosophy of individualized care through education. I value getting to know each student and helping them through their struggles and triumphs. Students keep me learning, are a reminder of why I became a midwife, and keep me centered in my philosophy of midwifery care. Some of my clinical interests are physiologic birth, pelvic medicine, sexual wellness, postpartum support, and correctional health. I am grateful that our practice has chosen to work to identify and attempt to shift health inequities that impact maternal health.

I live in the Berkshires with my family and when I am not midwifing, teaching, or driving my kids around you can find me outside kayaking or hiking with my dog or inside snuggled under a blanket reading cookbooks or fiction and drinking tea.

Curshelle Floyd, MSN, CNM

Born and raised in San Juan, PR. Graduated from Metropolitan University of Cupey in 2012. Joined the Navy and practiced as a postpartum nurse for 4 years before joining the civilian sector as a labor and delivery, postpartum, antepartum, and home health nurse. I completed my MSN at Old Dominion University in 2020 and post-master's certificate in Midwifery at Shenandoah University in 2021. I have been a midwife at Baystate since 2021. Since becoming a midwife, I have been able to serve my community with a focus in caring for my Hispanic community. I am fluent in Spanish, and I am happy to be of service. My clinical areas of interest include care of teenagers, perinatal mood disorders, preconception, and birth control management. As a newer faculty member, I hope to be an example to oncoming students of what patient centered midwifery care should look like and participate in their transition into midwifery in a positive way.

I became a midwife because I wanted to make long lasting changes in the way the underserved community views and receive medical care. Working at Baystate gives me the chance to make a change from various aspects of practice. I can participate in research, education, community outreach and further my education to provide the best care to all that need it.

I chose to live in Springfield when I moved here because I wanted to live amongst the population I serve. When I am not midwifing, I enjoy spending time with my family that includes my 2 daughters, eating and getting to know New England better as I am not a native of the area.

Emily Jackson, MS, CNM

I am a Baystate Midwifery Education Program alumnus and have been a member of the faculty since 2017. My primary faculty role is clinical preceptor for beginning and advanced midwifery students in both the outpatient and inpatient settings. My personal experience as a graduate of the program offers me a unique perspective as a faculty member. My clinical interests include physiologic birth, health promotion and education, adolescent wellness, and family planning.

When I am not working or busy raising my three sons, you can find me trying new recipes, hiking, kayaking, playing soccer, and Olympic weight lifting.

Donna Jackson-Köhlin, MSN, CNM, CCHP, FACNM 
Assistant Professor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I was brought to midwifery though my experience volunteering after college in a feminist women’s health center in Philadelphia, which had its own out-of-hospital birth center. I still feel so lucky to be able to help women with their health care needs, building their families, and occasionally, attending the births of children I had been present for 20 years or so earlier. I have worked with incarcerated women for many years, and have been able to advocate for improvements in care including pre-release contraception and a breast milk pumping program in the correctional center. I have spent time on international projects, including helping to found a nonprofit organization in the Dominican Republic, whose goal was to help the nursing staff improve care to mothers and families in the maternity ward and in the community. We brought down interested volunteers, many of whom have since returned to school to become nurses, midwives, and physicians. I find teaching so rewarding, whether with our patients in the course of a visit, or with nursing staff in Santo Domingo and Haiti, but particularly with our own midwifery students. Watching the growth from nervous beginner to competent, questioning empathetic new midwife is a wonderful transformation to see, every time.

Outside of work I love spending time traveling, cooking, and playing or hearing and watching music. Our local fiddle orchestra keeps me on my toes.

Susan (Sukey) Agard Krause, MSN, CNM, FACNM
Assistant Professor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I received a BSN from the University of Vermont, an MSN in Midwifery from the University of Pennsylvania and a Post Master's Certificate in Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania. I have been on the faculty since 1992 and Director since 2016, and in full scope clinical practice continuously. I have wanted to be a midwife since the age of 14, never waivered from that professional path and have never looked back. I am in midwifery on the national and regional levels. I have been instrumental in the development interprofessional education at Baystate. My passion is to grow the midwifery workforce because every person deserves the care of a midwife. I chair the ACNM Task Force on Innovative Program Design.

I teach the Foundations in Ambulatory Midwifery and Integration courses. I precept in all settings and present seminars in all courses.

I have successfully launched three young adults, live happily with my husband and no pets. I love to dance traditional dances of England and New England as well as ballroom and sword. You will see me often with knitting needles, as well. But not on the dance floor. 

Jain Lattes, MSN, CNM, PMHNP
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I completed my midwifery education at Columbia University in 2000. I have been working with Baystate Midwifery and Women's Health since 2003 in the role of clinical provider, clinical preceptor and faculty member of the Baystate Midwifery Education Program. Recently I returned to school as a student and completed a post-graduate certificate to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. My clinical interests have always been focused on adolescent health care and mental health issues surrounding women's health. Now I am able to combine my areas of expertise to provide psychiatric care for pediatric and adolescent patients in the Baystate community.

Most recently I have also worked to develop a women's mental health consultation service, providing outpatient psychiatric care within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I continue to work as a clinical midwife as well because I am not ready to give up my original passion for midwifery which is the provision of intrapartum care.

Bess Lazo, CNM

I came to Baystate in 2021, and joined the faculty in 2022. I'm originally from the Southeast, and completed my midwifery education at Vanderbilt University in 2016. Before landing in Western Mass, I practiced midwifery in Chicago, and then in a rural "critical access" facility in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. In every setting, I have been humbled by, and grateful for, what I consider the midwife's greatest privilege - being invited by patients to bear close-up witness to their incredible strength and innate wisdom as they navigate through their reproductive years (and beyond). The work we get to do is special, and I'm lucky participate in preparing more of us to carry it forward, through the education program.

I provide care in English and Spanish, and my clinical interests include family planning, perinatal mental health, patient education, consent in clinical settings, and promoting physiologic birth in the hospital. When I'm not midwifing, you'll often find me talking about midwifery anyway, spending time with my partner and cat, trying to find some water to be in, coffee shop-hopping, or spending too much time on TikTok.

Laura Motyl, MS, CNM
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I have been a midwife with Baystate Midwifery & Women's Health since 2012. My midwifery work is primarily focused on caring for incarcerated women at the Western Mass Correctional Facility for Women, caring for women on labor and delivery, and performing colposcopy services. I have been precepting students in the Baystate Midwifery Education Program since 2014. I enjoy precepting students in the antenatal and intrapartum settings, as well as teaching select courses in ambulatory care. The diverse clinical and didactic experiences midwifery students of this program encounter is unique and prepares students to become competent, caring, diverse and respected midwives. As a 2012 alum of the Baystate Midwifery Education Program, I can say this will full confidence.

Rochelly Maldonado, MS, CNM

I attended the Baystate Midwifery Education Program and graduated in 2015. I worked in a community hospital in a neighboring city until 2019 when I joined the faculty here at Baystate. As an alumnus of the program and now a faculty member, I find it rewarding to help grow our students. This program and the care we provide is very evidence- and midwifery-based—keeping all faculty on their toes and learning every day. I feel grateful to work alongside amazing midwives that molded me into the midwife I am today.

My clinical interests include lactation, physiologic birth, contraception, sexual wellness and Intrapartum/Postpartum care. I am a strong believer that it is essential for women to be engaged in their health choices and I believe this is accomplished through respect and listening. I am originally from Springfield and am bilingual in Spanish and English. I enjoy providing culturally congruent care in the same community in which I was raised.

Mary Paterno, CNM

I completed my nurse-midwifery training in 2010 in a partnership program through Shenandoah University and Johns Hopkins University while simultaneously completing my PhD. My clinical and research content expertise includes perinatal substance use disorders, postpartum hypertension, trial of labor after cesarean, and contraceptive use. I am a methodological expert in narrative inquiry, measurement, and survey research.

I currently teach Advanced Ambulatory Midwifery. I have many years of teaching experience in various settings and joined the faculty at Baystate in 2023. I am active in ACNM at the state and national levels because I am passionate about the profession of midwifery and moving midwifery forward in the U.S. In 2020, I received ACNM’s prestigious Kitty Ernst Award for innovation in clinical practice, education, and research.

My favorite activities outside of work include exercising, gardening, wood working, sewing, and other crafty endeavors. I love spending time with my husband and daughter and being a gymnastics mom.

Vanessa Ross, CNM

I came to midwifery from a background in anthropology and sociology. After completing a Fulbright Scholar-funded project on women’s health and gender issues in rural development in Honduras in 1996, I was inspired by the birth stories of the women she met there to become a doula and then a midwife. I graduated from the UC San Francisco Nurse Midwifery Education Program in 2001 and attended births in California at both a freestanding birth center and in community hospital settings. I moved to Western Mass in 2006 and worked at Midwifery Care of Holyoke until early 2019. I joined Baystate later that year and have been a faculty member in the Midwifery Education Program since 2021.

I have precepted midwifery students throughout my career and love being involved in midwifery education. My clinical interests include pelvic pain, sexual wellness, and menopause, and I teach the seminars on those topics in the program. I am also a Certified Life Coach and a member of the Baystate Coaching Program. I incorporate coaching into my role as the Faculty Advisor for the student midwives, supporting the mental and emotional well-being of our learners.

I have a 19 year old son and 15 year old daughter, both born at home. When I am not working, I am likely to be found practicing or teaching hot yoga, hiking with my dog Moki, or playing pickleball.

Tonja Santos, MSN, CNM, FACNM
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I attended the Midwifery Education Program at Yale University graduating in 2002. I have been a Baystate since 2004 and on faculty for the program since 2005. My areas of interest are hypertension in pregnancy, racial disparities in maternal health, trauma informed care, reproductive justice, practice administration and quality improvement. I am the Assistant Chief of the Division of Midwifery and Community Health and the director of the faculty clinical practice, Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health. I am deeply involved in anti-racism work within Baystate Health.

Autumn Versace, CNM, DNP
Director, Division of Midwifery

My midwifery practice has spanned all settings, from home birth to hospital practice in a busy academic center. I am originally a direct-entry, apprentice-trained midwife, and attended families at home and in my freestanding birth center for the first 7 years of my career. During this time, I also served as the legislative and health policy team leader for the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives, and as faculty at a Midwifery school in rural Maine, where I taught the business of midwifery, preventative care, and physical assessment. After becoming a nurse in 2012, and then a nurse-midwife in 2015, I arrived at a community hospital, a collaborative “midwifery-first” practice where every patient was cared for by a midwife. In 2017, I became our Chief of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Midwifery, and the first nurse practitioner in the health system to hold a department-level leadership position. Joining Baystate in 2022 brought me into a group of incredibly skilled and creative midwives and restored my opportunity to teach. Through the years, my clinical practice has focused on rural outreach, Centering Pregnancy, and caring for pregnant patients in recovery from opioid use disorder. My doctoral project applied shared decision-making to meaningfully address social determinants of health during pregnancy. My work as a legislative and health policy advisor and department chief has afforded much experience with coalition-building and leadership of multi-stakeholder teams focused on improving healthcare quality and patient experience. I coordinate the Professional Issues in Midwifery course.

Sharon Weintraub, MSN, CNM
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

My journey to midwifery started with my years of work as an adolescent sex health educator in NYC schools and then clinics. I still use the skills I gained during that time in almost every patient interaction. After attending the Midwifery program at Vanderbilt University I joined the Baystate team in 2018. It is a privilege to work alongside our patients and recognize their power every day.

My particular areas of interest are reproductive justice, adolescent family planning, group prenatal care, and how to best support physiologic birth in a hospital setting. When I’m not midwifing I’m traveling with my partner, training our rescue pup, looking for live music, hiking, working on my swimming skills, and reading for hours on end.

Liza Winston, MSN, CNM
Instructor, UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate

I joined Baystate Midwifery & Women's Health in 2018 after over a decade of work in community hospitals in low risk birthing unit settings. I have been working with Baystate Midwifery Education Program students since 2007 and I enjoy spending time precepting, as well as teaching select seminars. As a faculty member, I strive to support individual students on their paths to becoming midwives. Teaching hand skills and decision making are some of my favorite aspects. My clinical time is focused on caring for incarcerated women, provision of care for primarily Spanish speaking women in the farm worker community and intrapartum care. I also spend time with the first year OB residents as the OB team midwife.

My professional interests include: reproductive justice and health equity, low risk birth settings supporting physiologic birth, care for incarcerated women, and family planning. Our practice makes it possible for both faculty and students to explore all of the dynamic aspects of midwifery care in a small, personalized educational setting.