Black Excellence: Karie Stewart

Biography

Karie Stewart is a certified nurse-midwife with UI Health Mile Square Health Center and the University of Illinois Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Over the past seven years, she has dedicated her career to providing comprehensive midwifery care, primarily serving communities on Chicago’s South Side. In 2023, Stewart was promoted to the inaugural role of director of the UI Health Mile Square Women’s Health Institute of Excellence. Under her leadership as principal investigator, the institute was awarded a $2 million HRSA grant to examine maternal and child healthcare delivery in a Federally Qualified Health Center – the UI Health Mile Square Health Center’s Auburn Gresham location. 

Stewart earned her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Illinois Chicago and her master’s degree of public health from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. As a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, she received their prestigious Excellence in Leadership and Innovation Award in 2023 for her commitment to her community, patients and profession as demonstrated through her service, leadership and research. 

As a native of Chicago’s South Side, Stewart is deeply committed to advancing health equity. She is a passionate advocate for diversifying the healthcare workforce, particularly in midwifery, women’s and reproductive health. Additionally, she serves as co-principal investigator on a $7 million PCORI-funded study, “Black Midwives for Black Women: Maternity Care to Improve Trust and Attenuate Structural Racism.” This groundbreaking four-year initiative explores the impact of evidence-based practices — including racially concordant care, group prenatal care, nurse navigation and in-home postpartum doula support — on factors that contribute to the rising Black maternal mortality and morbidity rates in Chicago.  

In 2019, Stewart founded Melanated Midwives, a nonprofit organization that provides financial support to students of color training to be midwives. Her mission is to diversify the midwifery workforce and promote inclusive, equitable care for all communities. She has since expanded that mission to include diversifying the community health care worker and doula workforce by partnering with other local Black-woman led community organizations. 

More Episodes

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• Black Excellence: Jewel Younge
• Black Excellence: Tracy Crump
• Black Excellence: Miriam Mobley Smith
• Black Excellence: Harrell Jordan

Transcript

Tariq El-Amin 00:01  

Welcome to “Black Excellence” at UIC.  

The Office of Student Success and Belonging, with Dr. Aisha El-Amin.   

Recording of Dr. Martin Luther King 00:09  

[Applause] Believe in yourself and believe that you’re somebody.  

Clips from 1995 movie “Panther”  00:17  

His intention is that we study and master a bunch of different things. 
Why are you here?   
Study and master a bunch of different things. 
I’m proud to introduce our new Minister of Information  

Aisha El-Amin 00:26  

I’m Dr. Aisha El-Amin.  

Tariq El-Amin 00:29  

Welcome to “Black Excellence.” 

Karie Stewart  00:34 

We talk about the MCAT, we talk about the NCLEX, and these are all tests that manage our skills, but we aren’t testing our hearts. We aren’t testing our level of humility. You know? If you don’t have that good stuff, then all that education and skill, it’s null and void. It’s null and void. 

Aisha El-Amin  00:54 

Hello, hello, hello, good people, and welcome back to all of my my great listeners, both new and old. I want to welcome you to the University of Illinois Chicago’s “Black Excellence” podcast, sponsored by the Office of Student Success and Belonging in partnership with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Marketing and Communications, and I’m your host, Dr. Aisha El-Amin. I serve as UIC’s executive associate vice provost for student success and belonging.  

Just a little bit of history and context. UIC’s “Black Excellence” podcast was initiated in Black History Month 2022, and we started off with “28 Days of Black Excellence,” and this highlighted the history and legacy of exceptional Black faculty, students and staff that all call UIC home. During this month, we talked to graduates in all walks of life, from entrepreneurs to politicians, and they offered inspiration and sage advice while connecting the historic past to our contemporary times. However, UIC’s cup of Black excellence runneth over and so we continue this podcast with understanding that you cannot know where you’re going until you understand, appreciate and connect into where you’ve come from. So, I stand in gratitude for the time that each of our alumni have given to us to have a conversation and to inspire.  

In this episode of “Black Excellence” podcast, we speak with Karie Stewart. Karie is a UIC alum with a career in midwifery and a passion for Black maternal health. While acknowledging the obstacles in our world and in this field, Karie’s mission goes far beyond the credentials and plays close attention to the heart behind the work. Her impact is clear, and she has paved the way for those following in her footsteps, Karie begins today’s episode sharing her own story and her journey to the heart work she’s doing right here in our community. 

Karie Stewart  03:00 

I’ve been a midwife for about seven years now. I’m a mom of one son, who’s 23, who will be graduating from college soon. And born and raised, I’m from Chicago, South Side, so this is my home, and I purposely wanted to work in my neighborhood, just because I have, just as a young mom, experienced what it feels like to try to navigate the health care system, try to navigate the world as a mom, to still be trying to find yourself in your 20s, and then parenting a little one. And so that’s what has been my passion, and my work’s mission. And so, I went to Southern Illinois University, graduated from Carbondale, and I did my master’s in public health there, and then I wanted to be, I thought I wanted to be an obstetrician. I am of that age — I’m telling my age — of the Bill Cosby Show, and the clinic in the basement of your house. That was like: Yes! That’s what I want to do. 

Aisha El-Amin  04:19 

We there together. 

Karie Stewart  04:21 

That’s what we grew up on, right? And so, you know, having that, as something that I wanted to do, and I have been working in maternal health since I was in my teens. Becoming an obstetrician didn’t work out, didn’t work out my life path, but I’m still able to catch babies and educate women on their reproductive health choices and really do some good stuff. And so I’m grateful for the journey to get to this point, and I’m loving it. It can be very exhausting on days and tiring on days, but very rewarding. So I am embracing that.  

Aisha El-Amin  05:06 

Oh, I appreciate that. So. you got your master’s degree in nursing from UIC, and then a Master of Public Health from Southern, and now you have Melanated Midwives. There’s so much you’ve been doing. Talk about all of these things – can you tell us the difference between OBGYN and midwife, for folks that don’t know.  

Karie Stewart  05:27 

Absolutely, so an obstetrician gynecologist is a physician who specializes in pregnancy and the care of individuals who want to have children. And so usually the obstetrician focuses on after they’ve gotten pregnant, any health conditions, if they’ve desired to have a C-section, or any of those things. And so they specialize and if there’s some high-risk conditions, so if there’s high blood pressure, if there’s diabetes that arise in their pregnancy, they traditionally specialize in those things.  

Midwives, we are nurse practitioners who are certified to care for moms in a range of places. So through UIC’s program, I am trained to not only work with moms in maternity care who are pregnant, prenatal care, postpartum care, breastfeeding, but I also do a little bit of primary care. You know, all my patients aren’t pregnant, and don’t desire pregnancy, and so I care for them in those stages, but I also care for them after they’ve had children. So, I have a lot of patients that are in the stage of life, of menopause and navigating that journey.  

So, there’s a nice range of individuals that I can care for as a nurse practitioner, but the difference between an obstetrician and myself is, I don’t do surgery, so if an individual needs to have a C-section, I could possibly assist, and I have assisted obstetricians with C-sections on some of my patients who have needed them, but I don’t actually do the surgery. And so that’s the huge difference that that we have. And they may manage some higher risk situations that may arise in pregnancy, whereas I would co-manage with them if the patient desires the midwifery care. 

Aisha El-Amin  07:22 

Got it. OK. So, I know you have a lot of experience and passion around being a midwife, and you started Melanated Midwives. So, can you kind of tell us what you know, what Melanated Midwives does, and why you felt the need to start this organization. 

Karie Stewart  07:44 

Absolutely. Melanated Midwives is a not-for-profit organization that really is my baby. The reason I started Melanated Midwives was as a student, I felt I didn’t have a lot of representation in representation in midwifery that was available to me, that being mentorship, that being midwives at UIC, that I trained at, and so I really wanted to make sure that I put in an effort to make sure that students who were coming behind me has some type of representation, mentorship some financial assistance, if needed. Because as a mom who’s trying to navigate life with a child and follow my dream, sometimes it takes a lot of money that I don’t have, and so scholarships, sometimes individuals need those, and I tapped into a lot of things that UIC had, but sometimes not everyone can qualify for those things. And so being able to offer something from the outside that didn’t necessarily have so many strings attached, just having a passion for midwifery, and having appropriate credentials for it, and where you were in your education, and that was it.  

The midwifery workforce is only made up of 6% of Black and brown midwives. We service predominantly Black and brown patients. And so to have a mom, a patient, a client, come and say they want a midwife, and I would love to have someone that looks like me, that can identify with me, that I can relate with, who could understand what I may be going through as a Black and brown patient, and then not being able to provide that, it’s heartbreaking. And knowing that I know individuals who are passionate about being a midwife and being of service. And in the history of midwifery, these are our moms, our sisters from slave days came over, and we cared for each other. This is just what we do, and to now have to have specific steps and credentials that may limit us from being in this field and individuals not knowing how to navigate that is very hard. And so my goal is to eliminate at least one or two of the barriers that prevent us from, you know, being in this space and if I can do that, because I can’t do this forever, that has been my goal with Melanated Midwives.  

Aisha El-Amin  10:15 

I love that. And your passion is just jumping across, right? So, I really appreciate that. Can you talk a little bit about the Black maternal health crisis? 

Karie Stewart  10:25 

Right now, it’s sad, we are in a crisis. And I was just doing some research a little bit last night. And, you know, every year, unfortunately, Black and brown patients are affected the most when it comes to maternal mortality and morbidity. And we have put into place all of these programs and implemented collaborations with organizations and entities and institutions. And we’re sitting at tables trying to figure out what’s happening, and at the end of the day, we’re just not treating Black and brown people appropriately. We’re not being very good human beings. And we’re not being empathetic, we’re not being compassionate and the humility has just not been very prominent in the care that we’re providing.  

And I just, I want us to be able to understand something like that is quite fixable, and we just have to be very intentional understanding the Black and brown population and the historical context behind research and the health care system and how we were brought here. And really involving that in our care, and that involves being empathetic and compassionate and taking the time to understand where patients are coming from, and so those things are affecting the numbers and why Black and brown patients are dying. Specifically Black women, we’re not being heard. We’re not being listened to. This ideal that because of the color of our skin, we should be able to take things more, pain is not a thing for us, and that’s just ridiculous. We are humans just like anyone else, and we experience pain and conditions and have desires just like anyone else.  

And so we have to start there. We have to understand the needs of our patients, where they’re coming from, and then how to cater our care, our management to that, and it’s true racism. We’re singling out individuals who we think are not deserving of what another individual should get. And that’s just not being good humans. And so, we need to change that. And we need to change that early. Folks are taught this very young, how to treat Black and brown individuals, not only in the schools, but in their homes. And so, knowing that that is happening. And these are individuals that are going to be caring for folks in the future.  

We need to figure out how we get some good old character assessment. We talk about the MCAT, we talk about the NCLEX. And these are all tests that manage our skills, but we aren’t testing our hearts. We aren’t testing our level of humility. If you don’t have that good stuff, then all that education and skill, it’s null and void. It’s null and void. And so, we are dying because we are a nation that has a very racist background, and we need to change that. And I’m hopeful that individuals that don’t look like me, that are working with me on the research that we have at UIC, we have been very impactful in what we’re doing. The community has been very receptive to it. My colleagues in the department have been very helpful in getting patients in and referring patients to us. And so, it’s been well received. And so, I’m hopeful that once we have the data that comes out, it shows that this is how we should be caring for Black and brown patients. This is what they’re saying, this is what they’re asking for, and this is what we’ve given them.  

Aisha El-Amin  14:19 

Oh, absolutely. So, this seems like a great time to ask about your grant. I know you recently got a grant from HRSA, a $2 million grant. Can you talk about some of the work that you’re doing with Mile Square Health Clinic, and that beautiful grant — the work that you’re doing. 

Karie Stewart  14:45 

We have been given a HRSA Quality Improvement Maternal Health Grant that really focuses on maternity and the things that are happening up around Black maternal health and how we can really address those issues. And so just being a new midwife over at Mile Square at Auburn Grisham Clinic, which is, my neighborhood, my grandmother lives up the street, so I know the neighborhood, I know the people, and it’s so nice to have a clinic there in the neighborhood that people can go to that and don’t have to drive distances. And so, UIC has been very intentional about doing community work and serving the community. That’s what I love about where I work.  

 But we even took a step further, and with this grant, a lot of individuals in the area didn’t know the services that we provide and that we existed there. And so, we really wanted to make sure that we highlighted women’s health care but also make sure that we were providing collaborative care to our moms, our birthing people, our families who had children. That’s what we have done with this grant, we have really highlighted the services at the Mile Square clinic.  

And when you come into that clinic, if you are pregnant, you automatically receive care from a midwife. We have a physician, OBGYN there. If there are some patients that are high-risk that need some consultation, I am able to provide them with a consultation for those conditions, but they still receive that midwifery care there. There is a pediatrician that they can eventually transition the baby’s care to in-house as well. We have a dental clinic there, and so we always highlight the importance of dental care and not having conditions that can affect the mom and the baby, and so we make sure that they have dental appointments throughout their pregnancy and their postpartum periods of their care.  

But then, even more important, we have social services, and we have behavioral health and mental health care services that are tied into the clinic as well. And so all of those things we offer in collaboration with the Healthy Start program, and we’re making it work. We’re utilizing what we have.  

 We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. All these things that you know, UIC has done individually, we have just put them together. And it just makes sense, because we know that individual programs and entities weren’t necessarily addressing the needs of our community. So, when you put them together, everything works out, and patients are happy, and they’re going to one place to get all the things they need. And we’ve worked with organizations in the community. WIC is up the street. We have some schools in the neighborhood, and so we’re working together in that community to just highlight what we’re doing and how these dollars can make sure that we’re providing comprehensive, collaborative care, so then we can do this at our other clinics within the Mile Square core system. 

Aisha El-Amin  18:07 

I really, appreciate the intentionality about looking at the whole picture and pulling everyone together. I think when we when we do things individually, our impact is individual, right? Collectively, we can really impact the community. So, kudos for doing that collective work and leading that collective work. We’ll have potential students listening to this. We’ll have current students listening to this, some of them looking for advice, looking for encouragement, looking for inspiration. For those students who may be thinking about becoming a midwife, what advice, what encouragement can you share with them? 

Karie Stewart  18:45 

Yeah, I’d ask them to really consider shadowing someone or getting an understanding of birth work. So whether that be a community health worker, a doula, lactation consultant, find someone who can really educate you on those roles and what they look like in a community setting versus other environments, and then make a decision from there and then just even really understanding the emotional work that goes into servicing families and individuals with birth work, and because of the climate, because of Black maternal health, I will share that there’s a lot of anxiety that patients come to see me with and really making sure that they’re comfortable and understanding what’s going on.  

And I can’t tell you how many times Black and brown patients have come to me and say, “I just don’t want to die,” and because that is just what’s happening right now. We, as birth workers, feel that. That’s heavy on us, but we also have to be very reassuring that this doesn’t have to happen, and this is how we both are going to work to make sure that doesn’t happen. So, we’re educating the individuals that we’re working with. We’re educating our colleagues about why our patients are having these feelings and concerns, and we’re all trying to work together to make sure we have some very what I call Black birth joy, happy situations for our community.  

So, I really want them to do some work on understanding what’s happening in the climate that it’s happening in. And if after you see everything that’s happening, you still have a passion for this work, then absolutely go for it. There’s various ways you can get into midwifery work, whether that be becoming a nurse and then becoming a nurse practitioner, or being what we call a certified professional midwife, and there’s direct-entry programs where you just go in and do it that way. And so, educating yourself on those avenues, maybe starting slow in birth work, becoming a doula, supporting someone during their birth, and seeing if it’s really something that you can manage. And go forth. You are needed. We have the space. We have the dollars. There’s funding that’s going towards community birth workers. And so, this is a good time for individuals to really do their homework and get into this field and bring happy families, happy outcomes, 

Aisha El-Amin  21:27 

Absolutely. So as one South Side Chicagoan to another, what or who has inspired you, doing the work that you’re doing, to being the person that you are. 

Karie Stewart  21:44 

I can’t necessarily say it’s one individual. I have to say it’s just the moms who are really trying to navigate this system and they’re educating themselves, and they’re finding providers who are being respectful of them and their voice. So, I’m really excited that young folks are really taking charge of their health and making sure that they understand what’s going on. So, they’re really inspiring me to keep going and do this work and make sure that they know about themselves, their bodies, the health care system, how to navigate it, what to do, what to expect, what not to expect, what your choices are, your options are. And I’m going to keep going as long. As they’re investing in themselves, I’m going to invest in them. 

Aisha El-Amin  22:49 

I think that is a beautiful note to end on. Thank you for all that you’re doing. I know that it is a heart’s work and hard work. And so, when our heart is in our work, it shows, and so, you are making a difference, and congratulations on all of the accolades that are coming your way,  

Karie Stewart  23:15 

I receive that. 

Tariq El-Amin 23:19 

Thanks for joining us. Find more inspiring and informative conversations with UIC alumni, faculty and staff and blackresources.uic.edu. That’s blackresources.uic.edu