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.”

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.

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."

Sandra Macon, CNM, MSN: Virginia Commonwealth University, 1998; Frontier School of Midwifery, 2009. Sandy recently moved her family to Tucson from Charlottesville, VA. She has been working with expecting families for 12 years in all capacities from a home birth practice to a tertiary care high-risk hospital. She says, “ I have learned that no matter the birth site or outcome its all about the relationships along the way”. She is looking forward to being a part of the Birth Center and working with all of our wonderful families.

Kerry Griffin, CNM, MSN: University of Arizona, 1999; Frontier School of Midwifery, 2008. Kerry began attending births after a wonderful experience giving birth to her own son more than 16 years ago at the Birth Center. She started as an assistant midwife, attending primarily homebirths until 2000. She was an RN at TMC’s Labor and Delivery Unit until she came to the Birth Center as a CNM. Before Kerry became involved with birth, she spent lots of time in another sort of nursery; she started a wholesale plant business and spent 10 years growing flowers.