45 Years of Combined Clinical Experience Caring for Critically Ill Pregnant Patients

Stephanie Martin, D.O.

Board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal Fetal Medicine

  • Extensive clinical experience caring for critically ill pregnant women
  • Served as Medical Director for the Obstetric Intensive Care Unit

    Responsible for development and implementation the Obstetric Intensive Care Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital Pavilion for Women in Houston, Texas

  • Highly regarded speaker and educator
  • Author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on critical care obstetric topics
  • Active in Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine, including having served on the Board of Directors
  • Participant and co-author on “Putting the M back in Maternal Fetal Medicine” meeting and publication
  • Serves as peer reviewer for American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Course Director for America’s Board Review MFM Oral Board Exam Review Course, helping MFM candidates prepare for the oral board certifying examination

Julie Arafeh

Julie Arafeh received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Evansville in Indiana and a master’s degree in perinatal nursing from Indiana University in Indianapolis. In the more than 40 years Ms. Arafeh has been in Obstetrical nursing, she has worked in a wide range of settings caring for low risk to high-risk women including working as an advanced practice nurse in an OB-ICU in both in-patient and out-patient settings.

Ms. Arafeh has been a national speaker on a variety of obstetrical topics since 1989. The topics of her publications include sepsis, cardiac disease in pregnancy, maternal cardiac arrest and simulation-based training. Ms. Arafeh was a member of the multidisciplinary obstetric simulation team at Packard Children’s Hospital on the Stanford University campus for over 15 years and has served as a simulation expert for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. She is a member of the expert panel for Obstetric Life Support (OBLS), a national certification course under development on maternal cardiac arrest.

Ms. Arafeh is currently Simulation Director for Clinical Concepts in Obstetrics and is a Simulation Specialist in Obstetrics at the Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Education at Stanford University.

Dr. Suzanne McMurty Baird

Dr. Suzanne McMurtry Baird is a graduate of Rush College of Nursing's DNP Executive Leadership track and Vanderbilt University MSN and BSN programs. Suzanne has extensive clinical experience in obstetrical nursing and currently works as a consultant throughout the U.S. with her company, Clinical Concepts in Obstetrics, LLC. Previously, Suzanne served as the Maternal Quality Improvement Specialist for the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care, as an Assistant Director of Nursing for Clinical Program Development at Texas Childrenā€™s Pavilion for Women, taught obstetric and critical care nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, and worked in L&D at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Suzanne has served on numerous programs for AWHONN including CCOE and PEOP modules author and editor, review of the Obstetric Triage toolkit, the Implementation of Evidence Based Practice Advisory Board, and now serves on the Board of Directors. She is an editor/author for the 5th edition of the textbook Intrapartum Management Modules and AWHONNā€™s High Risk and Critical Care, 4th edition textbooks, and has a podcast - The Critical Care Obstetrics Podcast.