Betsy Freeman

Betsy has spent a significant portion of her life working as a midwife and humanitarian. After graduating from Emory University, Betsy served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa. Here she witnessed birth for the first time and felt immediately drawn to a career in midwifery. Betsy returned to pursue a master's degree at Columbia University in New York City. She spent the next eight years working as a midwife in public hospitals around the city, taking care of uninsured women and delivering hundreds of babies. Although her patients were primarily recent immigrants from countries around the world, she still felt the pull to return overseas. Following the devastating Haiti earthquake in 2010, Betsy volunteered on several missions to Port-au-Prince, assisting women and families in the wake of this natural disaster. Later that year she spent six months in Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic working alongside and training midwives in these war torn countries. Currently on mission in Nigeria, Betsy continues to try and help women give birth safely. At a time when maternal health care has finally captured the world's attention, Betsy hopes to further awareness of this critical issue by speaking candidly about her experiences directly from the field.