Meet the Staff of Nizhoni
Faculty members support the Midwives' Model of Care and uphold its principles in their own practices. Members of the faculty hold current licensure in midwifery and have several years of clinical and teaching experience in midwifery and maternal-child health. Current faculty have received Certificate of Authorization for Services from the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. As our student enrollment increases we anticipate inviting other Licensed Midwives, Certified Nurse-Midwives, Physicians and complementary Health Practitioners to serve as guest lecturers on subjects of their specialties and of interest to practicing midwifery.
Marla Hicks, R.N.- B.C., C.P.M., L.M., Program Manager
Marla began practicing midwifery in 1979 after working extensively with midwives and physicians attending homebirths. Her own seven births were all attended by midwives, the first in the hospital and the last six at home. She successfully completed the Seattle Midwifery School Challenge Process and is licensed as a midwife by the Medical Board of California. She is a Certified Professional Midwife with the North American Registry of Midwives and is one of only a few registered nurses in the United States holding ANCC-board certification in Perinatal Nursing, the high-risk obstetric nursing specialty.
She has taught midwifery in California, Texas and Utah. In Salt Lake City she served as the executive director of a community midwifery education program for ten years before returning to San Diego. She has attended nearly a thousand homebirths as a senior midwife and has also worked in hospital labor and delivery units, ambulatory care settings and a free-standing birth center. She is passionate about preserving homebirth as a safe choice for pregnant women and their families and is firmly committed to educating future midwives through direct-entry and nurse-midwifery educational programs. Marla believes strongly in each woman's inherent ability to give birth and in physiologic birth as a transformative experience that uniquely prepares a woman for motherhood and brings family members closer together. She is presently the Program Manager and a lead instructor for the Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery.
Gerri Ryan, C.D., C.D.T., C.P.M., L.M., Chief Financial Officer
Prior to pursuing her goal of becoming a midwife, Gerri worked in management of corporate business for several years before leaving the corporate arena. In 1999, she become a birth assistant to a CNM in a small home birth practice and then apprenticed with another LM for 13 months. After studying and acquiring clinical experience, in 2003 she successfully completed the California Challenge process proctored by Seattle Midwifery School. She received her license by passing the NARM exam also in 2003. Gerri has attended over 400 births as a doula and another 200 as primary or assistant midwife.
She is a licensed and certified professional midwife, is certified as a doula and is a nationally recognized doula trainer. She was one of the first doulas at the University of California at San Diego volunteer doula program, Hearts and Hands, and has an active midwifery practice, A Better Birth, in San Diego. Her practice is Mothering Pregnancy – group care and she specializes in water birth. She has served single parents, traditional families, alternative families, and teen mothers. She has assisted women during vaginal birth, cesarean, and vaginal birth after previous cesareans in local hospitals, birth centers and midwife attended home births. She believes the ability to birth is deep in every woman and when women have confidence in their own abilities, the encouragement and freedom to tap into their innate wisdom, and have the loving support of family, friends and professionals who believe this too, they will truly have a satisfying birth experience. She has taught midwifery in California since 2004 and is the Chief Financial Officer for Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery.
Are you interested in becoming an instructor at the Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery?
Click the Contact Nizhoni button tab located on the top menu bar. Complete and submit the Nizhoni Insitute of Midwifery Contact Form. You will receive an email confirmation verifying your request.