Name: Monica Evans

Pronouns: she/her

Education: Vanderbilt University BS Child Development/Medicine, Health & Society - Health Behaviors Concentration 2015; University of Pennsylvania Accelerated BSN 2017; University of Pennsylvania CNM/WHNP Program (Expected Graduation: Dec 2020)

Home State: Tennessee

Midwifery Interest: Full Spectrum Care, Addressing Black Morbidity & Mortality

For as long as I can remember, I have always known that I wanted to work in health care in some capacity. It wasn’t until undergrad that I realized I wanted to help advocate for women and grow families. Midwifery was something I had never truly considered as an avenue that would allow me to explore those passions until an opportunity to become a volunteer doula presented itself during my junior year at Vanderbilt. It took a few months of being on call before I had my first experience assisting a birth, but after meeting that first family I was hooked!

I was nearly done with my undergraduate degree at this point, so I knew that in order to become a nurse-midwife I would have to enter an accelerated program. After graduating from Vanderbilt, I took a year off in order to work towards the goal entering of nursing school. During this time, I was able to volunteer as an abortion doula at an amazing clinic called CHOICES back home in Memphis, TN. That experience allowed me to see the glory of full-spectrum sexual and reproductive health care.

I moved to Philadelphia to begin Penn’s ABSN program in 2016, and after graduation, I began working as a nurse on Pennsylvania Hospital’s postpartum floors. My goal is to work in a full spectrum midwifery practice and to work against the many structures that have created the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis that Black women in America continue to face. This overarching goal is what pulled me towards midwifery initially, and it is what will continue to drive me as I embark on my career.