About Ginger,
Solving the shortage of women’s health care providers in the US is a daunting task that requires coordination, collaboration, and vision. Few people in the world understand this complex challenge as well as Dr. Ginger Breedlove. With more than four decades of experience as a clinician, educator, leader, and advocate, Ginger has shaped midwifery and maternal health at the local, national, and international levels.
Her journey began in 1979 when she co-founded the Holistic Birth and Growth Center in Topeka, Kansas — one of the earliest freestanding birth centers in the region. There she practiced full-scope nurse-midwifery for 15 years, building trust with families and introducing collaborative care models that would become a hallmark of her career
In the 1990s, Ginger established the first nurse-midwifery practice at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, serving as Practice Director while fostering strong partnerships with physicians. She later launched the first graduate nurse-midwifery program at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, preparing future leaders to carry midwifery forward. As a tenured professor at Shenandoah University, she continued to influence countless students and colleagues
Her leadership extended beyond academia. Ginger served as President of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (2013–2016), where she represented midwifery at the highest levels of health care, including board meetings of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She also founded March for Moms, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to raising national awareness about maternal health, which has hosted rallies on the National Mall and elevated maternal health into the public policy arena
Ginger’s voice has reached far beyond the classroom and the clinic. She has testified before Congress on the maternity care workforce shortage, served on numerous national panels, and contributed to groundbreaking discussions on maternal mortality, facility design, and innovative care models. Her scholarship includes dozens of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and editorial contributions, along with editing Nobody Told Me About That: The First Six Weeks, a book preparing families for the postpartum journey.
Her impact has been recognized with some of the highest honors in the field. In 2020, she received the ACNM Hattie Hemschemeyer Award, the College’s most prestigious recognition for historic contributions to midwifery. She has also been named a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (FACNM) and the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), cementing her role as one of the leading voices in maternal and child health.
Today, as Founder and Principal Consultant of Grow Midwives, LLC®, Ginger channels her lifetime of experience into helping hospitals, birth centers, and midwifery practices across the nation scale up and sustain midwifery-led care. Her blend of clinical expertise, academic leadership, policy influence, and consulting acumen makes her uniquely positioned to guide organizations through the technical and strategic steps of building successful, collaborative care models.
For Ginger, midwifery has always been more than a profession — it is a calling to build bridges, advance equity, and ensure that every family has access to safe, compassionate, and sustainable care.
See Ginger Breedlove’s CV
