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Why Earn an MS in Midwifery?

Midwives have provided pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care since the beginning of human history. Today, midwives are independent, licensed professionals. They are educated at SUNY Downstate at the graduate level. Midwives provide primary, reproductive, and pregnancy-related care. They work within the health care system, collaborating with physicians, social workers, nutritionists, nurses, and other health care providers and specialists as the need arises. 

Why Earn an MS in Midwifery at SUNY Downstate?

Midwifery is a cornerstone program at SUNY Downstate. The program's roots go back to 1932, when the nation's first formal educational program for midwives began. Today, we are recognized nationwide for providing excellence in education and clinical experiences for students, academic innovation, and celebrating diversity. SUNY Downstate developed the first integrated program in the United States for people with nursing licensure and those from a variety of professional and educational backgrounds. 

The program emphasis its relationship to the community Downstate serves. Although our graduates can and do provide midwifery services in all settings, our particular focus is on urban, underserved  populations, many of which include large numbers of immigrants and/or persons of color. In any given year, Black, Latinx, and Asian students represent 30 to 70 percent of the midwifery program鈥檚 student body. 

What You Will Learn

• This graduate-level program prepares students to be safe beginning practitioners, meeting standards set by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
• You will learn to provide prenatal care; labor and birth management; postpartum care; reproductive and sexual health care; primary care; and care of the newborn. Midwifery鈥檚 focus is on health promotion and disease prevention, but midwives often continue to provide care, collaborating with other health care professionals, when complications arise.  
• All students take the core midwifery curriculum, which includes classes examining all phases of pregnancy, postpartum care, pathophysiology, pharmacology and more. Master's degree students also take classes in research, education, and health care policy. Students who come to Downstate with a master鈥檚 or doctoral degree in a related field are eligible for the Advanced Certificate pathway and are not required to repeat the three master鈥檚 degree courses. The program is two years long, in six consecutive semesters.
• Graduates are prepared to take the national certifying exam administered by the American Midwifery Certification Board.