Dr Fiona MacVane Phipps

Independant Midwife Consultant

Fiona was born in New York but her family originates from Maine. She has lived in the UK for over 42 years with her Scottish husband, Reg Phipps, and trained as a nurse and midwife in the UK. Fiona graduated with her first degree (Associate in Arts) from Lincoln College, a small liberal arts college in Illinois, the day her first child was born. As Fiona walked across the stage to collect her diploma she was timing contractions. She became a lactation educator with La Leche League as a result of her experiences as a young breastfeeding mother, which led to her determination to achieve a career in midwifery. Fiona considers learning a life-long journey and is committed to education that is challenging, liberating and facilitative of personal growth and development. Her own education includes: M.Med.Sci. from the University of Sheffield, PGCE (HE) from Bradford College and a PhD from the University of Bradford where she worked for over 18 years as a midwifery educator. Following her initial retirement from the University of Bradford at age 60, she then went on to work in midwifery education and research for a further five years at the University of Salford. Her final role was as a Senior Research Fellow in Midwifery when she led a research team in conducting the Baby Skin integrity Comparison Survey (BaSICS) study. This research project was brought in on time and on budget prior to her final retirement in 2019. Besides Fiona's university work, she is the Review Editor of the International Journal of Health Governance (IJHG) and is entering 2021 with the resolution to complete her trilogy of novels, the first of which, A Season at the Weaver’s Table’ is available on the Kobo platform and to publish her children’s book series about the life and death of a rescue dog.