Executive Leadership
Lily Dalke, MS, CM, LM (She/Her)
President
Lily has practiced midwifery for 14 years in New York City. She currently provides patient-centered, trauma-informed reproductive and sexual health care at Planned Parenthood of Greater New York and perinatal care at Oula / Mount Sinai West. She previously worked at Woodhull Medical & Mental Health Center and the Brooklyn Birthing Center. Since her student days, she has served ACNM and NYM in many capacities, including NYM treasurer and member of the ACNM Core Competencies Committee.
Lily is a persistent advocate for midwifery care of transgender individuals. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping expand the midwifery scope of practice to include this care nationally and statewide. She has received the Outstanding Student Leadership Award, Joan B. Ditchik Memorial Award, Excellence in Research Award, Marilyn Cottrell Award for Family Planning, and Koko Roy Award.
Lily shares many midwives’ vision of a profession rooted in autonomy, equity, and social justice. She recognizes that U.S. midwifery has been shaped by racism, xenophobia, and patriarchal medical systems, and believes meaningful change requires both inward reflection and outward advocacy. In a time of environmental, political, and social upheaval, she is committed to mobilizing midwives and allies across New York State to strengthen the profession and advance reproductive justice.
Lily earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master’s degree in Midwifery from SUNY Downstate. Before becoming a midwife, she worked as a doula, in immigration law, and in advancing employment for women in the construction industry. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.
Sherrie Hunter-Kelly, MSN, CNM, LM (she/her)
Vice President
Legislative Committee Chair
Sherrie Hunter Kelly is a licensed midwife practicing in the beautiful Mohawk Valley of New York, after spending many years working as a nurse and midwife in the Capital Region. She is drawn to midwifery care, and specifically advocacy work with New York Midwives, because every person deserves conscious and specific care as they move through the stages of life. Our current medical system is designed around fixing problems after they have gone wrong, rather than promoting health and well-being, as midwifery care has done for millennia.
Sherrie was educated in Fine Art at the University of New Mexico, and she enjoyed a career in theater and opera. While living in the Southwest, she met her future husband, and they started a small business making cabinets, furniture, and architectural steel sculptures. A move to the beautiful Schoharie Valley in upstate New York brought them closer to family. Sherrie then completed nursing school at SUNY Delhi followed by midwifery school at Stony Brook University, all while working full-time. Together, Paul and Sherrie have four children, a dog, and a cat, and they spend their days reading, hiking, canoeing, and cooking. Sherrie continues welding and metal sculpture design, and fabrication. Midwifery fills Sherrie’s heart and mind in much the same way art does- there is no end to what can be learned, and solutions to conundrums require creativity. Sherrie credits her foremothers for giving her insatiable curiosity and connection to nature, as well as creative problem-solving skills.
Sherrie is the current Vice President of New York Midwives, and she is the chair of the NYM’s legislative committee. She enjoys Advocacy Day, NYM’s yearly day to visit with state legislators to discuss midwifery concerns, as an opportunity to make change at the state level, as well as meet and support student midwives.
Mimi Bhatt, CNM, LM, MPH, PhD, FACNM
Vice President Elect
I am an Assistant Professor at NYU. As a researcher, my work explores the value of integrated models of midwifery within healthcare systems as a primary way of enhancing quality, safety, and equity for women and birthing people. The north star of my career is pursuing and protecting the autonomy, dignity, and legacy of midwifery – the stronger we are, the more we can authentically serve the people we care for. For 14 years, I practiced midwifery at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn in an exemplary collaborative practice model. Prior to that, I was a community health nurse in East Harlem, working with the Visiting Nurse Service of NY – the herstoric nursing service that demonstrated the value of addressing people’s social, economic, and environmental health in order to enhance their overall health.
I am an active member of the midwifery community locally, nationally, and globally. I completed my PhD at NYU and went on to work as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Saraswathi Vedam of the Birth Place Lab – whose work has significantly impacted how we conceptualize midwifery integration as a core driver of improved outcomes. I sit on the NYC Maternal Mortality Review Committee, as well as serving as the Research Lead to the Americas Regional Committee of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM).
I have received various awards, including the Johnson & Johnson Minority Faculty Award, the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Award, and the Koko Roy award (named for the brilliant and beloved NYC midwife). I hold a PhD (Nursing Theory), a Master’s in Nursing (Midwifery), a Master’s in Public Health (Global Health Leadership), a BSN (Nursing), and a BA (Comparative Literature). In addition, I am intensively trained in Yoga (RYT-200) and Mindfulness Meditation (The Interdependence Project Year Long Training).
I am an immigrant New Yorker, the mother of two children born at home in New York City with midwives, and I proudly carry the legacy of my mother’s work as a nurse-midwife in India. I look forward to serving my midwifery colleagues in New York State so that we can use our model to serve, protect, and care for people as they navigate the complex U.S. healthcare system to ensure their optimal sexual, reproductive, and maternal health outcomes.
Danielle Assibu-Gilmore, MSN, MBA, CNM, LM (she/her)
Treasurer
Danielle Assibu-Gilmore was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, to Ghanaian immigrant parents. Danielle went to SUNY Brockport, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2008. While at SUNY Brockport, Danielle served as treasurer and then vice-president of the Organization for Students of African Descent (OSAD), where she administered several activities for students and residents. After graduating, she began working as a med-surg nurse at Rochester General Hospital, then transitioned to Critical-care nursing. In order to better understand the financial organization of healthcare systems, Danielle attended the William E Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, first in 2011 for an MS in Business Administration (Master’s in Medical Management), then in 2014 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). During this time, Danielle also worked at her alma mater, SUNY Brockport, teaching Nursing Leadership and Management to RN-BS students.
After a few experiences in her personal health, as well as in caring for a variety of patients as a nurse, Danielle reignited a passion for birthwork. In a desire to continue to work more closely with birthing people and their families, Danielle returned to schooling once more, through Frontier Nursing University, to begin her education as a midwife. While at Frontier, Danielle served as the Class 135 Class Representative and the ACNM Government Affairs Committee (GAC) student representative from 2015-2017.
Danielle has been practicing full-scope midwifery since 2018, in Rochester, New York, where she lives with her husband and their three daughters. In her free time, Danielle enjoys cooking, crocheting, reading historical fiction, half-completing crossword puzzles, and camping with her family. Danielle currently serves as the Treasurer of New York Midwives.
Sunday Smith, CNM, FACNM, DNP, LM
Secretary
Sunday Smith became a midwife in 2016 and moved to Northern New York in August of 2017, with her husband and two children, to support women in the North Country seeking respectful, family-centered care.
She began working in healthcare education in 1996. She was a LaLeche Leader after the birth of their first child in 2004 and a childbirth educator before going to nursing school in 2009. Upon graduation, Sunday worked in a renal/medical unit for 5 years. She attended midwifery school at the University of Indianapolis, which included an out-of-hospital component, as well as a Women’s Health Medical Mission trip to the Dominican Republic. She opened a freestanding birth center in January 2021, which recently became accredited, and completed her Doctorate of Nursing Practice at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in 2025. With her current private practice, she’s attended over 650 births, and considers it an honor to have been part of every one.
Sunday loves getting together with friends, reading a great book, and spending time with family…unless she’s at a birth, of course! And wherever she is, don’t be surprised if you spy her latest knitting project in process.
Sunday is the Immediate Past President of her local chapter of Rotary International, has been Adjunct Professor for the Clarkson PA program, Clinical Preceptor for SUNY Stony Brook, and Midwifery Instructor at Stony Brook’s Midwifery Program. Sunday was inducted as a Fellow to the American Academy of Nurse Midwives in May of 2023.
Sunday has been a recipient of the ACNM Best Practice Award for Four Core and Triple Aim from 2018 to Present. Sunday says, “My philosophy of the midwife model of care is that pregnancy and birth are not medical conditions to be managed; they are life events to be mindfully and thoughtfully observed. You are not a patient, you are a client – because you are not sick, you’re pregnant! You deliver the baby, I attend and assist as needed.”
Sunday looks forward to serving the NY Chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives to participate in advocacy efforts to support the midwives of our state!
State Regional Representatives
Anne Gibeau, CNM, PhD, LM
New York City Representative
Anne Gibeau, CNM, PhD, is the Director of the Midwifery Practice – Department of OB/GYN, Jacobi Medical Center. Dr. Gibeau has been a long-standing member of the Department of OB/GYN, and her clinical work and experience have focused on care of the client with complex psychosocial presentation, sustaining effective interdisciplinary healthcare teams on inpatient obstetrics, and optimizing the experience of people in labor, birth, and postpartum in the hospital setting. She has initiated and led various initiatives during her tenure in the Department, including the “Transformation: Fourth Trimester” project. Dr. Gibeau has participated in research within the Department and as part of a research group from The Connell School of Nursing – Boston College and The School of Nursing – Ohio State University. The program of research has focused on preterm labor and birth and antenatal mental health, stress, and coping. She is a member of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee for the New York City Department of Health. Dr. Gibeau has served as a Board Member of the American College of Nurse Midwives as the Region 1 Representative. She has also served in various capacities, including two tenures as Chapter Chair, for New York City Midwives (AKA New York City Chapter – ACNM). Annie believes that collective consciousness, mutual support, and situational awareness are key to the success of sustained midwifery in New York State.
Jennifer Seymour, MSN, CNM, LM (she/her)
Mideast Region Representative
Jennifer Seymour is the Founder and Director of Cocoon Wellness & Birth, LLC, and a rural health midwife. For the greater part of her career, she has worked with rural birthing communities, primarily in the Southern Tier of New York and the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. With over 25 years of experience, she has attended more than 1,500 births within hospitals, community birth centers, and homes.
Her private practice and “birth and breakfast,” Cocoon Wellness & Birth Center is a safe, nurturing, light-hearted place to give and receive care. As an emerging midwifery birth center, Cocoon is working to obtain its CABC accreditation and New York State licensure. Jennifer practices integrative, holistic, functional, individualized care where she marries her intellect, intuition, and evidence-based midwifery care. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer traveled to and worked in New York City at the Jazz Birth Center of Manhattan, where she worked with midwives who validated and healed one another through adversity, but also found joy within such a diverse group of kindred spirits.
Jennifer has been a member of New York Midwives (NYM), formally known as NYSALM, since 2005, where she is currently a member of the Insurance Committee since 2021. She has served as the Member-At-Large, Regional Representative, and Recording Secretary of NYSALM between 2010 and 2014. She is also an active member of the New York State Birth Center Association (NYSBCA), where she serves as the At-Large member on the NYSBCA executive committee since 2022.
Since receiving her Certificate in Midwifery from Frontier Nursing University in 1997, Jennifer has lived in Tioga County, about 20 minutes outside of Ithaca, in her cozy homestead. Jennifer later received her Master of Science in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University.
Throughout her career, Jennifer has come to realize and accept that she is a “big picture,” collaborative and team-oriented person who has the deepest sense of meaning from her work and service and can get along with anyone so long as they have a sense of humor. In having been called to serve as the Mid-Regional Representative for New York Midwives, she is ready and willing to strengthen her awareness and capacity around bias and anti-racist work.
Jennifer is committed to serving the Mid-State members of NYM to the best of her ability, and looks forward to working, serving, and learning with the current NYM Board and the greater New York midwifery membership at large.
Rose Mitchell, MS, CM, LM, CD(DTI) (she/they)
Northeast Representative
Co-Chair of the Birth Center Committee
Rose Mitchel is proud to be a Licensed Midwife, having earned her Master’s in Midwifery from SUNY Downstate in 2022. She spent her first year out of school working in a busy L&D unit in Albany, NY, and is now launching her own full-scope GYN and homebirth practice. Prior to pursuing formal midwifery training, they worked as a birth and postpartum doula, birth photographer, and administrative assistant for a homebirth midwife, with whom they also apprenticed. She has developed and taught newborn care classes for expectant parents and led support groups for postpartum mothers and caregivers.
Rose began their journey as an activist at the age of 7, when they hung an illegible banner from their family’s mailbox, urging passersby to Protect the Earth. She had her feminist awakening at age 13 when she attended her first Take Back the Night rally and learned about intersectionality and gender-based violence. They entered the world of reproductive justice activism as a teenage volunteer for Planned Parenthood and the Albany Social Justice Center. As an undergrad, she studied anthropology and critical social theory, always seeking a deeper understanding of her own place in the world as an able-bodied, middle-class, queer and nonbinary white woman. Doula work was very much a form of activism for them, as becoming a mother had shown them firsthand the profound importance of supporting those individuals who hold up the world and shape the future. In addition to serving women and birthing people as they built their families, she was an active board member of BirthNet, a Capital Region-based nonprofit dedicated to improving birth. During her time with BirthNet, Rose was instrumental in refocusing the mission of the organization to combat racial disparities in birth outcomes by centering the voices of the Black community and nurturing a multi-ethnic birth justice coalition. BirthNet is now headed by a board that is majority Black and has since trained dozens of doulas of color. More recently, she has been an active member of the Save Burdett Birth Center Coalition, fighting alongside friends, colleagues, and community members to halt the proposed closure of Rensselaer County’s only labor and delivery unit and the Capital Region’s only midwife-led obstetric care center.
While in midwifery school, Rose served as the treasurer of the Midwifery Student Association and was the recipient of the Marylin Cottrell Award for Family Planning. As a member of New York Midwives, they assisted with the organizing of 2023’s Abortion Conference and Training and was an enthusiastic attendee of Advocacy Day. They now serve on the Legislative Committee, helping to plan Advocacy Day, and are co-chairs of the newly-launched Birth Center Committee. Rose leaps at every opportunity to advocate for midwives, birthing people, and the queer community, and she is thrilled to be able to represent her hometown of Albany, along with the entire Northeast Region, on the NYM board.
Rose is wildly in love with her wife, Grace, and her two awesome kids. She is the devoted servant of her beloved husky mutt, Foxy, and many, many houseplants. They are also a proud member of Albany Voices of Pride, a 25+ year old all-voices LGBTQIA+ chorus, and they spend whatever shreds of free time they have cooking for fun, being outside, laughing with friends and family, badgering elected officials and napping.
Susan Rannestad, LM, IBCLC
Hudson Valley Representative
Susan has been a community birth midwife in one of the longest continuously operating home birth practices in the Hudson Valley. A longtime advocate, supporter, and volunteer for midwifery, one of her proudest accomplishments is providing clinical preceptorships to more than 40 students in community birth settings.
She has served as a board member of the New York State Association of Licensed Midwives (NYSALM), the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN), and the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA). Early in her career, she coordinated two regional midwifery conferences.
Susan and her husband have been married for over 41 years and are the proud parents of three adult children and four fabulous grandchildren, who lovingly call them YiaYia and PopPop.
She has attended more than 2,000 births and conducted over 15,000 postpartum home visits, experiences that have shaped and deepened her practice.
When she is not working, Susan enjoys visiting her siblings, reading, and indulging in her favorite hobby: napping.
Long Island Representative
As a young woman, I often heard women speak with praise about the midwives who cared for them. At the time, I was working as a physical therapy assistant across multiple specialties. Before long, I felt called to become a midwife myself.
In pursuit of that calling, I completed my BA in Women’s Studies at Stony Brook University in 2000—just days before the birth of my third child. When he was 12 weeks old, I began the midwifery program at SUNY Downstate. I pumped during the day, nursed at night, and earned my master’s degree in 2003.
I worked for four years in two private practices in Nassau County and at Mount Sinai Medical Center. In 2007, I was fortunate to join the midwifery practice at Stony Brook, where I have happily remained for the past 19 years.
I have served as Membership Chair and Secretary for Long Island Midwives and am willing and able to serve on the NYM Board. As the Long Island Regional Representative, I hope to strengthen and maintain our connections with midwives across New York State.
These are busy and challenging times in women’s health. We must support one another in our midwifery practices so that we can better serve the women of New York.
Rachel Cooper, MSN, CNM, LM (she/her/ella)
Western Representative
Rachel completed her Bachelor of Science at Emory University in 2009, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Columbia University in 2012, and her Master of Science in Nursing and Midwifery at Columbia University in 2013. She began her career in Elmira, NY, with Arnot Ogden Medical Center, where she practiced for 7 years before relocating to Rochester, NY, to join University of Rochester Midwifery Group as assistant faculty in January of 2021.
Rachel practices full-scope midwifery, including complete pregnancy/postnatal care and well-woman care. Her areas of special interest include adolescent sexual health, sexual assault and survivor recovery care, infertility and cycle tracking for natural family planning, and sexual dysfunction (including desire, arousal, orgasmic, and pain disorders). She is also trained in colposcopy and SANE for adult and pediatric populations.
Rachel is a Finger Lakes native, originally from Ithaca, and lives in the Rochester area with her family. Beyond midwifery, she loves to cook elaborate meals, hike through forests, dance to music outdoors, and swim in fresh water.
Vacant Positions
- Public Member at Large
- Treasurer Elect
- Student Midwife Representative
- Black, Indigenous, Latino/x, People of Color (BILPOC) Midwife-at-Large
Interested in being involved with New York Midwives? Contact us at newyorkmidwives@gmail.com