Elizabeth Sager Sharp CNM, DrPH, FAAN, FACNM, (December 16, 1933 - February 7, 2016) was an American nurse and midwife who specialized in maternal and newborn health. In 1999, she received the American College of Nurse-Midwives' Hattie Hemschemeyer Award. Sharp started to work as a midwife at Holland City Hospital in

Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (formerly known locally as the Black River). ...

. She continued her nurse training at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, graduating in 1959. She was taught by

Ernestine Wiedenbach Ernestine Wiedenbach (August 18, 1900 in Hamburg, Germany – March 8, 1998) was a nursing theorist. Her family emigrated to New York in 1909, where she later received a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1922, an R.N. from Johns Hopkins School of N ...

. She also worked with

Ruth Lubic Ruth Watson Lubic, CNM, EdD, FAAN, FACNM, (born January 18, 1927) is an American nurse-midwife and applied anthropologist who pioneered the role of nurse-midwives as primary care providers for women, particularly in maternity care. Lubic is con ...

. Sharp received a doctorate in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. Sharp set up the Yale Young Mothers program to support teenage mothers. She believed that midwifery services must include

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

. In 1970 Sharp moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. She was one of the founders of the midwife service at

Grady Memorial Hospital Grady Memorial Hospital, frequently referred to as Grady Hospital or simply Grady, is the public hospital for the city of Atlanta. It is the tenth-largest public hospital in the United States, and one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in th ...

(the Emory University Nurse-Midwifery Service). In the 1970s Sharp set up a graduate midwifery training program, the Emory University Nurse-Midwifery Program, at

Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing is the nursing school of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The school awards the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Nursing (MN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Pract ...

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

. She was also one of the founders of the Graduate School of Public Health at Emory. Sharp was president of the

American College of Nurse-Midwives The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is a professional association in the United States, formed in 1955, that represents certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs). Dating back to 1929, ACNM is the leading example for ...

between 1973 and 1975. She is said to have "the credit for etting upmidwifery in Georgia”. After her death at the age of 82, a scholarship was set up in her name at Emory University. Her role in the history of midwifery and nursing has been studied.

Publications

* "Relationships between Professions: From the Viewpoint of the Physician and Nurse‐Midwife in a Tertiary Center" (1981), with W. Newton Long, in ''Bulletin of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics'' Vol. III, No. 3. pp. 184–200, and then in '' Journal of Nurse-Midwifery'', 1982 * "Nurse-midwifery education: its successes, failures, and future" (1983), in ''Journal of Nurse-Midwifery'', 28(2):17-23

References

External links

Elizabeth Sager Sharp: December 16, 1933 - February 07, 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Elizabeth 1933 births 2016 deaths American nurses American women nurses American nursing administrators American academic administrators Emory University faculty American women academics 21st-century American women