GOLD Speakers

Saraswathi Vedam, Professor and Principal, Birth Place Lab at UBC

• Country: Canada

Biography:

Saraswathi Vedam is Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab at University of British Columbia. Over 35 years, she has been a midwife, educator, and researcher. She led the provincial, community-based participatory studies, Changing Childbirth in BC and the Giving Voice to Mothers Studies, exploring access to respectful maternity care across birth settings in North America. These projects led to two new quality measures: the Mothers’ Autonomy in Decision Making (MADM) scale and the Mothers on Respect (MORi) index, that assess quality and safety as defined by the service user. She is currently PI of a 5-year CIHR funded national study of respectful maternity care across Canada. Professor Vedam has been active in setting international policy on place of birth and interprofessional collaboration. She led a multidisciplinary team to conduct the Access and Integration Maternity care Mapping (AIMM) Study; convened 3 national Home Birth Summits; and chaired the 5th International Normal Labour and Birth Research conference.