Sally Tracy is an Australian

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...

researcher, author and activist. She has authored numerous research articles. In 2023, she was appointed as a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

Career

In the first two decades of the 2000s, Tracy was at the forefront of midwifery politics in Australia. She has challenged the Australian maternity system through research and practice development in a bid to get a better deal for women in childbirth. She helped set up the Ryde Midwifery Caseload Practice, in Sydney, in 2003. Her research questions the acceptability of the increasing interference of obstetrics with the physiological birth process. Tracy is the Professor of Midwifery at the University of Sydney and the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney and a Conjoint Professor,

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, Sydney. She is based at the Midwifery and Women's Health Research Unit at the

Royal Hospital for Women The Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) is a specialist hospital for women and babies located in the suburb of Randwick in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Royal Hospital for Women shares the Randwick Hospitals' Campus site with the Prince of ...

, Randwick, Sydney. Her research projects include the safety of primary level (especially rural) maternity hospitals and Birth Centres in Australia and the evaluation of midwifery led units. She is currently the chief investigator on a large multicentre randomised controlled trial of caseload midwifery care, funded by a project grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The findings from this research demonstrated that caseload midwifery is cheaper and safer that fragmented care. She was a joint author of the National Maternity Action Plan.She is the co-author of the main midwifery textbook in Australia, ''Midwifery - Preparation for Practice'' which is now in its third edition.

Honours

Tracy was appointed as a Member of the

in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to tertiary education, and to midwifery".

Selected bibliography

* ''Midwifery - Preparation for Practice'', 2nd Ed Sally Pairman, Sally Tracy, Carol Thorogood & Jan Pincombe , Elsevier, 2011
Normal Birth - What are My Chances''
* ''Foreword -

With Women ''With Women: Midwives experiences: from shift work to continuity of care'' is the fourth book from Australian writer David Vernon. The book is an edited anthology of midwives' experiences of moving from providing care in a shift work environme ...

- an analysis of the differences between shift work and continuity of care,'' ed David Vernon, Australian College of Midwives, 2007 pXI
''Rates of Obstetric Intervention among Private and Public patients in Australia - a population based study'', Christine Roberts, Sally Tracy and Brian Peat, MJ 2000;321:137-141 ( 15 July )

References

External links

- Interview The 7.30 Report {{DEFAULTSORT:Tracy, Sally Academic staff of the University of Sydney Australian health activists Australian midwives Living people Members of the Order of Australia Year of birth missing (living people)