Midwifery Education Program

Ronnie Lichtman, CNM, LM, PhD, FACNM received her Midwifery education at Columbia University, where she later taught for many years. Prior to teaching, she was one of the first midwives at North Central Bronx Hospital and has always practiced clinically. She is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Midwifery Education Program here, at SUNY Downstate. Previously, Dr. Lichman was midwifery Program Director at Columbia University and SUNY Stony Brook. She co-edited and was a major contributor ot Gynecology: Well Woman Care and the first author of a major revision of the classic guide for women: Dr. Guttmamacher's Pregnacy, Birth and Family Planning.

Aleida Llanes-Oberstein, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM received her midwifery and master's degree from Columbia University. During the 1980s and 1990s she started two private midwifery practices and developed expertise in the areas of insurance and billing issues. Aleida has been a midwifery educator since 1990 at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and is a recipient of the ACNM Excellence in Teaching Award. She developed and implemented the first international program on the medical center campus, and exchange program with Cuba, received a SUNY Downstate Medical Center Presidential Award for this project, and has published on perinatal health care issues of Cuban immigrant women. She is recipient on the New York University Midwifery Alliance Koko Roy Award.

Aleida Llanes-Oberstein is an ACNM Division of Accreditation Site Visitor, member of the Division of Education Continuing Education Panel, and a peer reviewer for the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. Aleida is well-known throughout the region for her influential work in effecting important state legislative and regulatory change as ACNM local chapter Chair of the Legislative and Managed Care Committees and for coordinating state-of-the-art continuing education programs. Aleida Llanes-Oberstein was appointed to the New York State Board of Midwifery in 1998, is currently serving her second term and is the Board Chair.

MaryAnne Laffin, RN, FNP, CNM, LM, FACNM has been involved in women's health care for more than 29 years: first as a family nurse practitioner, then as a certified nurse-midwife for the last 26 years. MaryAnne is very active in women's health issues on the local, state, and national level and currently serves as President of NYSALM (New York State Association of Licensed Midwives).

Laffin also serves on the board of National Perinatal Association, as well as the New York State Perinatal Association. In ACNM, Laffin is currently on the Government Affairs Committee as well as being active in local activities such as serving as past president of the Long Island Midwives. In 2006 she received the SUNY Downstate, Midwifery Education Program's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Valerie Roe, CNM, MS, FACNM received her BA in Dramatic Literature from NYU, her BS in Nursing and midwifery certificate from SUNY Downstate Medical Center and her MS in Nursing from SUNY Stony Brook. Valerie joined the faculty of the Midwifery Education Program at SUNY Downstate in 1994 and participated in the development of the curriculum for their direct entry program. In her clinical practice with MIC Women’s Health Services, she provides primary care for underserved and uninsured women. 

Valerie has presented and published on a variety of women’s health topics including sexually transmitted infections, perinatal infections, and antimicrobials. She is Vice Chair of the ACNM Division of Education and Chairs its Basic Competency Section which is responsible for the Core Competencies of Basic Midwifery Practice document.  She has served on the reader panel for the Continuing Education Section of the DOE for more than 8 years.

Maria Freytsis already had an impressive resume before entering the Midwifery Program. In addition to providing training and health services to women in China, Antigua, Guatemala, and Kosovo, she is co-founder and board president of Friends of the Birth Center, a grassroots organization formed after the only birthing center in Manhattan closed in 2003. While enrolled at Downstate, she continued to volunteer as a public health worker, helping villagers in Indonesia affected by the tsunami. An excellent student, she pioneered a new clinical site for the Midwifery Program at the Developing Families Birth Center in Washington, DC, to provide quality care for underserved patients.

Each year, schools within the State University system are encouraged to submit nominations for the Chancellor’s Award. SUNY Downstate was permitted two, based on its student enrollment. Students graduating between June 2007 and May 2008 were considered for the award.