Ruth Mielke, PhD, CNM, FACNM, WHNP-BC is an associate dean and professor at Azusa Pacific University School of Nursing in Azusa California. Dr. Mielke has been awarded numerous state and federal grants to support midwifery education. Most recently she was the PI on a HRSA Advanced Nursing Education Workforce grant that expanded women’s health services in a rural health clinic and provided traineeships to midwifery students in underserved and rural areas. In 1991, Dr. Mielke founded a nurse-midwifery practice in downtown Los Angeles which continues as the largest OB-GYN/midwifery practice in Los Angeles offering water birth and collaborative midwife/OB GYN management. In addition to her academic role, Dr. Mielke continues in this full-scope practice where she precepts medical residents and nurse-midwife students. Professional service includes her current role on the Nurse-Midwifery Advisory Committee for the California Board of Registered Nurses, past president of the California Nurse Midwives Association; contributor/reviewer for the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health; and trainer for perinatal home visitors as part of Los Angeles Best Babies Network. Her research interests are gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, newborn male circumcision, rural health issues related to perinatal health, and midwifery management – intrapartum and postpartum.
