Jill Alliman, DNP, CNM, APRN, FACNM

Jill has over 35 years of midwifery clinical and advocacy experience focusing on access to maternity care for rural and underserved communities. She worked in a rural birth center in Appalachian Tennessee for over 26 years. At AABC, she lobbied to pass the Birth Center Medicaid Bill in 2010 and serves on the Government Affairs Committee.

As Project Director of AABC Strong Start, she helped measure the impact of enhanced birth center care on outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries. Data show that this model of prenatal care reduces maternal and infant health disparities and significantly improves preterm, low birth weight, and cesarean rates, even when women give birth in the hospital. Participants had higher rates of breastfeeding with longer durations than those in usual care.

As Assistant Professor at Frontier Nursing University, she teaches Masters and Doctoral APRN and CNM students about policy and collaboration skills impacting their future practice.

Debbie Jessup, CNM, PhD

As President and Founder of Sage Femme Strategies and Senior Advisor to Wheat Shroyer Government Relations, Debbie brings 40 years of experience in nursing, midwifery, women’s health, and health policy to help her clients navigate the legislative and appropriations processes and develop organizational policy strategy. She holds the distinction of being the only Midwife to have ever worked in Congress, and the longest tenured Nurse to serve as a staffer in Congress.

For 18 years Debbie was a Health Policy Advisor in the office of former Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40). In that position, she was actively engaged in health appropriations work as well as helping the Congresswoman develop a robust public health, nursing, and maternal health legislative agenda. She also helped the Congresswoman found and Chair the Public Health Caucus and the Maternity Care Caucus and staffed her boss as Co-Chair of the Nursing Caucus. Deb is a frequent lecturer to health professional groups on the legislative and appropriations processes, and how to be effective at organizational advocacy.

Debbie is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse Midwives and completed a PhD in Nursing at George Mason University in 2012. Her dissertation research was a comparative case study analysis of Midwife and Nurse Practitioner Medicare reimbursement efforts.

Jill Wodnick, MA, LCCE, IMH(2)

Jill Wodnick works on maternal health policy and early relational health at Montclair State University offering community education in prenatal education and breastfeeding. She has done curriculum consultant work for Every Mother Counts and federal advocacy outreach with Lamaze International and a volunteer for legislation with the March of Dimes and United States Breastfeeding Coalition. She has written policy recommendations on funding mechanisms on doula care in Medicaid for several entities. Her policy and advocacy work has included invited legislative testimony, medical grand rounds, and community education on respectful, equitable maternity care. Jill's experience as a consumer with birth centers and the midwifery model of care gives her deep gratitude to the program and people of AABC.