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Noelene K. Jeffers

Noelene Kimiko Jeffers


PhD, MSN, BS, RN

APRN, CNM, IBCLC

Noelene K. Jeffers has over 10 years of experience as a nurse-midwife serving families in federally qualified health centers, hospitals, and free-standing birth centers in Washington, DC.

In her research, Dr. Jeffers utilizes a reproductive justice lens to examine the structural and social determinants of Black maternal and perinatal health. She currently leads or collaborates on studies that examine the impact of midwives and birth center care on perinatal health, racism, and discrimination in midwifery education programs, and the integration of doulas into state perinatal health systems.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University, an MSN from the Yale University School of Nursing, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research goals include the development and implementation of community-engaged interventions that promote perinatal health equity, wellbeing, and thriving for Black women and birthing people.


Specialties and Expertise
  • Disparities
  • Doula
  • Equity
  • Maternal Health
  • Qualitative Research
  • Quantitative Research Methods/Statistics
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Women’s Health