Awards: Midwifery Faculty & Students are Recognized
Ronnie Lichtman, CNM, LM, PhD, FACNM, was the recipient the 2021 American College of Nurse-Midwives Excellence in Teaching Award for demonstration of outstanding teaching qualities, for promotion of high standards of midwifery education and for inspiring students to excel.
Aleida Llanes-Oberstein, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM, CHSE, was the recipient the 2019 American College of Nurse-Midwives Excellence in Teaching Award for demonstration of outstanding teaching qualities, for promotion of high standards of midwifery education and for inspiring students to excel.
MaryAnne Laffin FNP, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM, was the recipient of the School of Health Professions Donald Scherl Faculty Excellence Award (2018)
Awarded to the member of the faculty who has demonstrated:
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Innovations in Teaching
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Professional and Community Services
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Contributions to the College and Medical Center
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Student Advocacy, Support and Service beyond student advisement
Ronnie Lichtman, CNM, LM, PhD, FACNM, Professor & Program Chair, received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence.
Presented by President Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, on May 26, 2017
Aleida Llanes-Oberstein, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM, CHSE was the recipient of the School of Health Professions Outstanding College Contributor Award for significant contributions to advance the mission and goals of the School of Health Professions.
Presented by Dean Allen Lewis PhD, CRC
The ACNM Fellowship in Recognition of Lifetime Achievement
This honor is bestowed upon those midwives whose professional achievement, outstanding scholarship, clinical excellence, and/or demonstrated leadership have merited them special recognition both within and outside of the midwifery profession. In light of the vast wealth of expertise and collective wisdom represented within the body of Fellows, its mission is to serve the ACNM in a consultative and advisory capacity.
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 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 of 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 a 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 fifth term and was the Board Chair.
Suzanne Schechter, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM received a BA in English from Clark University,
a MS in Nursing from Pace University and a midwifery certificate from State University
of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center where she has been a member of the faculty
since 1985 and the program’s Education Director since 1995. Professor Schechter contributed
to the transformation of the nurse-midwifery certificate program into a graduate level
program that, for over a decade, has been offered not solely to students whose background
is in nursing, but also to those whose education and experience is in disciplines
other than nursing. She is currently the co-investigator of an on-going educational
research project comparing direct entry and RN graduates of the SUNY Downstate Midwifery
Program from 1997 through 2006.
Professor Schechter served as a member of the Board of Review and is a site visitor for the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (formerly the Division of Accreditation). She has also been a member of the Division of Education, Continuing Education Section’s reader panel since 2001. As an active member of ACNM Region 2, Chapter 1 for over twenty years, she has served in a variety of capacities including two terms as Treasurer, Chair of the Nominating Committee and has mostly recently joined the Editorial Staff of the chapter newsletter. In 2006 she spearheaded the formation of a Student Scholarship Committee which she has Chaired since its inception.
While the principal focus of her midwifery career has been in the area of education, Suzanne Schechter has provided direct health care services to mothers, babies, and families for over thirty years. In 2004, she was a recipient of the ACNM Regional Award for Excellence and in 2008 the ACNM Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award. Suzanne is grateful to her midwifery mentors, colleagues and students who have inspired and helped guide her professional endeavors.
MaryAnne Laffin FNP, CNM, LM, MS, FACNM received her BA in English Studies from John Jay College (CUNY), a MS in Nursing from Pace University and midwifery education at SUNY Downstate where she later taught. MaryAnne has been involved in women’s health care for more than 27 years; first as a family nurse practitioner, than as a certified nurse midwife. MaryAnne is very active in women’s health issues on the local, state and national level: She has served on numerous professional boards.
March of Dimes Graduate Nursing Scholarship: Shakima Wiggins, Class of 2018
After growing up in the housing projects of East New York, Brooklyn, and being raised by her grandmother who struggled to do it alone, Shakima has proudly returned to the communities of her youth as a public health nurse. She dropped out of high school, experienced homelessness, and numerous other crises, but overcame all of it as part of her journey to pursue the dream of becoming a nurse.
Shakima is currently enrolled in the joint program of the School of Health Professions and the College of Nursing pursuing the Advance Certificate in Midwifery and the Masters of Science in Nurse-Midwifery. She completed her undergraduate studies at CUNY’s New York City College of Technology and now works for the Nurse Family Partnership, a national program aimed at helping mothers, children, and families achieve optimal birth, child-development and self-sufficiency outcomes. Her current work focuses on lactation consulting and childbirth educations. She advocates for women survivors of domestic violence and assault, and is developing a program using social media as a teaching and social support platform to address some of the many issues she champions.
Shakima recently learned that she was selected as one of this year's recipients of the March of Dimes graduate nursing scholarship that is awarded for exceptional work in maternal-child health. She embodies the essence of Downstate's mission and values. We are so very proud of her.
American College of Nurse-Midwives Foundation Scholarship: Chloe Campbell, Class of 2019
Chloe Campbell, SM, received an American College of Nurse-Midwives Foundation scholarship. This is a highly competitive award that recognizes her past contributions and future potential in serving women’s health.
New York State Association of Licensed Midwives' (NYSALM) Award: Rachel Ritter Class of 2016
Midwifery Student, Rachel Ritter, received the Future of Midwifery is in Good Hands Award at the 2015 NYSALM Lobby Day.
SUNY Chancellor's Award For Student Excellence: Maria Freytsis Class of 2007
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.