NPA Saraswathi Vedam (PhD, RM, FACNM, Sci D) is Professor of Midwifery and Lead Investigator at the Birth Place Lab in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She served as Principal Investigator for Changing Childbirth in BC and Giving Voice to Mothers—provincial and national studies that informed the design of the JEPS program’s core components.

Dr. Vedam brings extensive expertise in community-based participatory research, quality measurement, instrument development, and curriculum design for health professionals. She has successfully led transdisciplinary teams in the co-creation and implementation of pragmatic guidelines, performance metrics, curricula, and strategies that improve equity and quality in perinatal care across North America.

Her leadership in the Access and Integration Maternity care Mapping (AIMM) Study resulted in the MISS scoring system—a novel approach to examining the effects of regulatory environments on maternal-newborn outcomes. She also leads the CIHR-funded Research Examining Stories of Pregnancy and Childbirth in Canada Today (RESPCCT) and Drivers of Disparities studies (2018–2027), which focus on amplifying the perspectives of communities that are seldom represented in research or policy.

As a midwife of colour and an immigrant in two countries, I have both experienced and witnessed the transformative impact of care models that centre the priorities and preferences of pregnant people. I have also seen the harmful consequences of allowing discrimination, mistreatment, and marginalization to persist without redress. These experiences continue to inform my commitment to equity and respectful care in perinatal health.

Through the JEPS Hub, and in collaboration with multi-stakeholder teams across provinces—guided by Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers—I hope to see the Canadian health care system move decisively towards community-led solutions to persistent inequities in perinatal care. My goal is to advance equity, safety, and respect for all pregnant people, regardless of background or circumstance.

I wish more people understood the profound impact that respect, autonomy, and unconditional positive regard can have—not only on perinatal health outcomes but also on long-term trust in the health care system.

1. Elder Roberta Price: A respected Coast-Salish Elder and Matriarch, Elder Roberta Price has devoted decades to cultural preservation, Indigenous health advocacy, and community education. Within the JEPS Hub, she plays a central role in embedding Indigenous worldviews, values, and priorities into all project activities. She advises on culturally respectful, trauma-informed engagement strategies and ensures that Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people’s perspectives are authentically represented. Her work fosters trust, reciprocity, and mutual respect between the Hub’s researchers and Indigenous communities.

2. Dr. Cynthia Maxwell: Vice President of Medical Affairs & System Transformation at Women’s College Hospital and a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Maxwell is also Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Toronto. She has been widely recognized for her leadership in health equity, co-leading the N-ABL network for Black medical learners and mentoring under-represented trainees. In the JEPS Hub, she applies her expertise in education, policy, and clinical transformation to strengthen the capacity of perinatal care systems to deliver respectful, equitable care.

3. Mo Korchinski (Unlocking the Gates, NGO): As Executive Director of Unlocking the Gates, Mo Korchinski leads initiatives to support people transitioning from incarceration back into the community. Drawing on her lived experience and long-standing research collaborations with the Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education at UBC, Mo ensures the Hub’s work reflects the realities of communities impacted by systemic inequities. She bridges the gap between research and lived experience, helping design care models and resources that are both accessible and relevant.

4. National Indigenous Council of Midwives (NCIM), NCIM is a national leadership body dedicated to restoring and strengthening Indigenous midwifery across Canada. Representing First Nations, Inuit, and Métis midwives, NCIM collaborates with the JEPS Hub to strategize the expansion of Indigenous-led perinatal care and the re-establishment of birth in Indigenous communities and Nations. Their guidance ensures that Hub projects promote self-determination, cultural continuity, and healing from the ongoing impacts of colonial policies in reproductive health.

5. Black Physicians of Canada (Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass – Past President): A national non-profit, Black Physicians of Canada advocates for representation, mentorship, and leadership opportunities for Black physicians and trainees, and works to eliminate racialized health disparities. In the JEPS Hub, BPC brings expertise in anti-racism in medicine and community advocacy, ensuring that Black families’ experiences are considered in all aspects of perinatal care reform and that barriers to culturally safe services are systematically addressed.

6. Ali Tatum – EDI Champion: As Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion, Ali Tatum provides strategic direction on justice-oriented research and knowledge translation. They design best practices for inclusive excellence, advise on participatory action research, and ensure that community engagement is equitable and respectful. Ali’s work helps embed equity principles across all stages of the Hub’s research and strengthens partnerships with historically excluded groups.

7. Dr. A.J. Lowik – Sex and Gender Champion:  An Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, Dr. Lowik researches the reproductive health experiences of trans and gender-diverse people using qualitative and arts-based methods. Their work spans menstruation, abortion, lactation, perinatal care, and forced sterilization, and they are recognized for advancing inclusive research methodologies on sex and gender. With the JEPS Hub and Birth Place Lab, Dr. Lowik contributes expertise on gender-inclusive perinatal care and leads efforts to embed equity-focused approaches across research and knowledge translation.

The JEPS Hub’s activities are guided by four core objectives:

1. Apply community-based participatory action research (CPAR) to scale person-centered care models and tools that improve perinatal service quality.

2. Support the mobilization, replication, and adoption of Indigenous- and midwifery-led perinatal services for marginalized and underserved communities.

3. Provide ready-to-use curricula and accountability tools to health care providers and facilities serving equity-seeking populations.

4. Build capacity among early-career scholars from marginalized communities to participate in and lead health equity research. 

The JEPS Hub works to ensure that all pregnant people in Canada can access care that treats them with dignity and respect, offers culturally safe and reliable information, honours their autonomy, and is free from discrimination or mistreatment.

Health professional curricula: The Dialogues and Decisions interprofessional course on person-centred care would be integrated into mandatory continuing education, strengthening competencies in autonomy, cultural safety, and respectful communication.

Person-centred accountability tools: Our quality measures would be routinely embedded in quality assurance systems in perinatal care settings.

Models of care: Indigenous midwife-led and other culture-centered models prioritizing informed choice, continuity, and self-determination would be accessible to all families, regardless of geography.

Membership in the Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition Hub amplifies the reach and influence of our work, enabling collaboration with researchers, health professionals, and community organizations across the country. These partnerships strengthen knowledge translation, ensuring our findings—such as those from the RESPCCT study—are effectively shared and acted upon in diverse settings.

Monthly Seminars (except December, July, and August) on global health, respectful perinatal care, participatory-action research, and JEPS-related scholarship.

Website: https://www.birthplacelab.org/jeps/

Instagram: @birthplacelab

LinkedIn: Birth Place Lab

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BirthPlaceLab/

Bluesky: @birthplacelab.bsky.social

Presentations: https://www.birthplacelab.org/jeps/seminar-series/

Prisha Vaidya, Project Coordinator – [email protected]

Damara is our Knowledge Translation and Communication specialist: [email protected]