Meet the Midwives

Birth & Women's Health Center
2595 N. Wyatt Dr.
Tucson, AZ 85712
Phone: 520-795-9912
Fax: 520-795-9934

Meet the Midwives

Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) are registered nurses with advanced education, training, and national certification in maternity and women's health care. CNMs care independently for healthy women and consult with physicians if there is a problem that puts them at risk. In addition, they work with other nurses, pediatricians, and physician specialists when needed, and can make referrals to social workers and other professionals.

Judy Butler, CNM, MSN, Stony Brook University (SUNY), 1998. Judy has attended over 1000 births in her 11 years as a CNM and has been in maternal/child health for 20 years. She has taught OB/GYN to RNs, Midwives, Nurse Practitioners and Medical Students. She has been a neo-natal resuscitation instructor for 16 years. “I came to Tucson to be a part of an amazing birth center and to provide an opportunity for women and their families to reclaim birth as a family and wellness centered event.”

Photo coming soon!

Fran Wertman, CNM, MN, IBCLC, Memorial University, 1986; Stonybrook University, 2003. Fran has been working with new and changing families for 24 years, the last 9 as a perinatal clinical nurse specialist. She is a certified lactation consultant. Fran has taught diploma and baccalaureate level nursing students and has also taught emergency birth to EMTs. She joined the Birth Center as a CNM in 2004.

Cecelia “Cece” Dirks, CNM, MSN, MPH Emory University 1997. Cece has spent her adult career caring for women and their infants. She attended U of A and worked as a labor and delivery nurse at TMC for 5 years. Over the last 8 years she had been running her own practice in Washington state caring for woman. She choose to leave her very busy practice and demanding schedule to have more time to raise her children, ages 8, 10, and 13.

Photo coming soon!

Susan (Sam) Cook, CNM, MSN, Case Western Reserve University, 1996. Sam has been a practicing CNM for 13 years. Here at the Birth Center, she heads up our GYN program, providing annual exams, cancer screening and other important women's health services. "At each visit, I endeavor to listen carefully with all of my heart to what each woman is saying, literally and figuratively, as I try to figure out what she needs physically and emotionally."

Nicole Pavlides, CNM, MSM Institute of Midwifery, Women & Health 2000. Nicole joined the Birth Center in the winter of 2008, moving to Tucson from New York by way of Georgia. Her goal as a midwife is to offer women holistic care in a safe, professional environment. She says, “I believe that women, with their own intrinsic knowledge bolstered by education, can empower themselves in every area of their lives.” When she is not busy catching babies she can probably be found somewhere on a mountain basking in Tucson’s awesome weather!
Photo coming soon!