KATHLEEN BELZER, CNM

CO-CHAIR

Kathleen has been a midwife for over 25 years. She has worked in a
variety of settings, including an out of hospital midwifery-owned
birth center, private collaborative practices, and community health
clinics. She has also worked at UCSF, teaching medical students
and residents.
She has held numerous clinical leadership positions over the years
and was recently inducted as a Fellow to the American College of
Nurse-Midwives. Currently, she works at Kaiser, Napa Solano with
an integrated practice of family practice physicians, obstetricians,
and nurse-midwives. She is also working at Millie Clinic in Berkeley
which is a new start-up midwifery lead practice that is an innovator
in re-designing reproductive and maternal health to provide the
high-quality care to individuals from all backgrounds. Kathleen is
committed to teaching residents and nurse-midwifery students in
her clinical practice; she is dedicated to continually expanding her
knowledge in reproductive and maternal health. She was the Lead
of a Physiologic Birth/Reducing Cesarean workgroup in which
there was a significant reduction in unnecessary cesareans. She is
also involved in Anti-Racism work personally and within her
organizations. She is passionate about advocating for and ensuring
respectful patient-centered care within the context of the systemic
racism and bias that exists. She is acutely aware of how important it
is to listen to each woman and provide sensitive, individualized
care.
She is the Past President of the California Nurse-Midwives
Association Board of Directors. Prior to being President, she served
as Secretary. During Kathleen’s tenure at CNMA, she oversaw
sweeping changes within the organization. These included hiring a
political strategist, spearheading the hiring of a new lobbying firm,
spearheading the commencement of the Reproductive
Justice/Anti-Racism Advisory Committee to the CNMA Board, and
the rewriting of the Bylaws to be centered on Anti-Racism. She
organized and conducted the first Anti-Racism training for CNM
leaders in the state and oversaw co-sponsorship of SB 464, The
Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act. She improved internal and
external channels of communication and oversaw the completion
of an extensive public education project. She also oversaw the
entire legislative cycle that led to the passage of sweeping
midwifery legislation, SB 1237, The Justice and Equity in Maternity
Care Act. Lastly, she realized the need for advocacy beyond what

CNMA had the capacity and resources to address and as such, she
founded the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation. 
On a personal level, she is married with three children.  Her
greatest accomplishment has been to successfully launch all of
them!  She also enjoys hiking, dancing, biking, paddle boarding,
reading, and escaping to the mountains. As of Fall 2022, she
began teaching at Dominican University of California, and will be
overseeing the Maternal, Newborn and Women’s Health curriculum
for the RN program.​

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​OLIVIA FAVELA-GARY, CNM

CO-CHAIR

Olivia Favela-Gary, CNM has been on the Board of Directors for the California Nurse-Midwife Foundation since 2021. After completing her Master’s degree in Midwifery in 2013 at Philadelphia University, Olivia joined a large, midwifery-led practice in the heart of Los Angeles, California. After 5 years as a staff midwife, she was promoted in 2019 to co-direct the midwifery practice as Director of the Women’s Health Center which lasted until 2021. During her time as director, she focused on improving operating systems, improving access to patient care through telehealth, and growing the preceptor program to assist student midwives. At the beginning of 2020 Olivia expanded her personal midwifery practice to include homebirth and birth assist work with community midwives all while navigating the obstacles of COVID-19. She is a founding member of an online platform for pre-pregnant, pregnant and postpartum women called the Health Bump Club which is composed of a panel of professional women of color looking to serve women of color. Currently, she works as a staff midwife at Eisner Health. When Olivia’s not working or studying for her doctoral degree at Georgetown, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and performing music.

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ANA DELGADO, CNM

SECRETARY

Ana Delgado, MS, RN, CNM studied midwifery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. She is currently an Associate Clinical Professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) Division.

Ana splits her time between clinical practice and administration at ZSFG. She acts as the Assistant Director of Inpatient Obstetrics, primarily responsible for quality improvement and systems change, and as Director of Inpatient Services for the Nurse-Midwives of ZSFG, a 45 year-old, autonomous midwifery service. She also manages a contract to provide prenatal care services at Mission Neighborhood Health Center, a federally qualified health center in the community. The Nurse-Midwives of ZSFG are the primary clinical teaching site for the UCSF Nurse-Midwifery Education program, graduating approximately 15 nurse-midwives per year.

Recently Ana was named Co-Director for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the UCSF ZSFG OBGYN division, recognizing her commitment to health equity. She is passionate about diversifying the midwifery profession and centering the voices of women of color in her work. Additionally, Ana sits on several San Francisco county-wide initiatives aiming at improving perinatal care for low-income women in San Francisco, partnering with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and non-profit, community-based organizations to transform how low-income women are supported and cared for throughout the reproductive life cycle.
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Ana sits on the California Nurse-Midwives Association Health Policy Committee, working on legislative efforts to remove physician supervision of midwifery practice and advancing access to health care options for women. Ana has worked in a variety of settings, autonomous private practice midwifery service, private practice collaborative practice, and academic collaborative practice.

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GENNA PURCELL, CNM, WHNP

Advisory Board Member

Genna Purcell completed her training as a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner at UCSF School of Nursing in 2018. Since then, she has been working in sexual and reproductive health as a clinician at Planned Parenthood, where her scope of practice includes family planning/abortion care and the provision of gender-affirming hormone therapy. She also works as an OB/GYN nurse practitioner at Kaiser. She is passionate about the role of midwives as providers of sexual and reproductive healthcare for all people throughout their lives. Prior to her midwifery career, Genna worked on global maternal/child health projects and completed her Master of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins University.
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Genna became involved with the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation as a member of the Advisory Committee before stepping into the Treasurer role. She is grateful for the opportunity to actively support student midwives of color, increase access to midwifery care, and address health disparities within communities in California through her work with CNMF. She lives with her husband and cat in Oakland, CA, and enjoys biking, skiing, reading, journaling, and spending time outdoors with family and friends.

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KAVITA NOBLE, CNM

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Kavita has been supporting families during pregnancy and childbirth since 1997. She graduated from UCSF as an RN and a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and Certified Nurse Midwife. She came to midwifery with a passion for supporting clients and families during the dynamic transition of pregnancy, birth and parenting. She emphasizes education and informed choice in all areas of health care. She has extensive experience assisting families in home, hospital and birth center settings and believes that birth unfolds best where the birthing person feels safest. She currently works at Pacifica Family Maternity Center, a free standing birth center in the East Bay.

Kavita is actively involved in health policy work to improve access to midwifery care. She is happily married and the mother of two adult daughters and a beautiful grandson all welcomed with the support of midwives.

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HOLLY SMITH, CNM

CONSULTANT​

Holly Smith is a Certified Nurse-Midwife with experience in both domestic and international women’s health policy and program development. Since starting her midwifery training 20 years ago at Georgetown University, her midwifery adventures have included many diverse practice environments – from back east, to various locations in southern and northern California, to Central America, over to Germany, and finally back home to California. Most recently she practiced at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center. She has enjoyed a mix of different roles in these locations including as a midwifery fellow, lead midwife, and as the co-founder of a multi-year program to improve maternal and infant outcomes in rural Guatemala. Holly continues to participate in and lead health and public policy projects that collectively aim to advance the status of women and girls. Holly was the Task Force Co-Chair and Lead Editor of the CMQCC Toolkit to Support Vaginal Birth and Reduce Primary Cesareans.
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Currently she is a consultant and clinical lead for the southern California region of the CMQCC Collaborative to Support Vaginal Birth and Reduce Primary Cesareans. Additionally, she serves as a hospital coach and steering committee member for ACNM’s Reducing Primary Cesareans Project. She is the California representative for the ACNM's AIM State Leaders Group and a newly appointed member of the CMQCC Executive Committee. Since 2017 she has been serving as the Health Policy Chair for the California Nurse-Midwives Association. Holly holds a BSN from the University of San Francisco, an MSN from Georgetown, and an MPH from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a mother of two and a military spouse (looking very much forward to her husband's retirement in 2 months!), and also an extremely mediocre but enthusiastic triathlete.

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DaiSY ORELLANA

OPERATIONS & COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

Daisy Orellana (she/her) is an aspiring midwife and aims to provide comprehensive reproductive health care in her future practice. Daisy studied Community Studies and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz with a focus on health justice. During her undergrad studies, Daisy was selected to participate in Civil Liberties and Public Policy’s Reproductive Rights and Activist Service Corp (RRASC), where she was placed at ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE as a bilingual health line intern and found her first political home in the repro world. Daisy has worked as a birth & postpartum doula in San Francisco supporting Latinx moms who are homeless or who are recent arrivals navigate birthing during the covid-19 pandemic.

Daisy currently works as an abortion doula at DuPont Clinic, an all trimester abortion clinic based in Washington D.C. Daisy enjoys spending her days being in nature, roller skating, and snacking on fruit. 

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