Amy Alspaugh, assistant professor at the college, has been named a 2025 Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. The ACNM Fellowship honors certified nurse-midwives whose contributions have significantly impacted the profession.
“It’s a real honor to be named an ACNM Fellow,” shared Alspaugh. “Being a midwife is such an important part of my identify and outlook on life, so naturally it was always something I wanted to study when my focus shifted to research. Exploring understudied issues that help grow and diversify with midwifery workforce means that more people have access to the high-quality, patient centered care that midwives provide.”
A certified nurse-midwife and scholar, Alspaugh’s research focuses on improving the sexual & reproductive health care encounter from both the patient and provider’s experience.
Her current projects include exploring the experiences of midwives during their clinical education, studying the sexual and reproductive health care experiences of individuals across Appalachia, and a newly funded project on exploring the impact of policy on an individual’s ability to work as a midwife.
Alspaugh has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Nursing Outlook, Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, and BMJ Open. She is also a contributing editor for the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health.
In addition to her research, Alspaugh has taught both undergraduate and graduate nursing courses and mentors numerous student researchers across disciplines. She is an affiliate of UT’s Appalachian Justice Research Center, Center for the Study of Social Justice, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, reflecting her commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration.
Before joining the UT College of Nursing faculty in 2021, Alspaugh worked as a Certified Nurse-Midwife in a Title X Family Planning Clinic in Durham, NC. She also held academic positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. She earned her PhD in Nursing Science from the Medical University of South Carolina, an MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from Vanderbilt University, and a BA in History and Russian from Haverford College.
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CONTACT:
Kara Clark Cardwell ([email protected], 865-974-9498)