Meet Our Trustees

As a former Board member with the AOM representing the North, practising with Maternity Care Midwives—Thunder Bay for 23 years, and holding the position of Chief of the Midwifery Department at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre for six years, Eileen Abbey understands both the pressures midwives face due to the demanding work inherent in midwifery, as well as the need to work with limited dollars and market forces. Originally from the UK and of mixed-race heritage, she brings both experience and a fresh perspective to the Trust.

Prior to midwifery, Kim pursued a commerce degree from the University of Guelph with an eye on the corporate world. While in school, she founded a private swim school with a focus on one-to-one teaching, and realized her passion for supporting families in smaller communities. Her childhood dream of delivering babies then re-emerged and she was accepted into McMaster's Midwifery Program. After graduation, she worked in Mississauga before heading north to Simcoe County in 2016. Kim loves tax time, budgeting, and finances. When she's not on call, she enjoys reading, bike riding, and camping with friends and family. Kim looks forward to serving her midwifery colleagues in this capacity.

Juana Berinstein is the Co-CEO of the Association of Ontario Midwives (AOM), where she shares leadership with Ellen Blais in a unique co-leadership model. Juana brings more than two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, strategic communications, and public policy to her work advancing midwifery-led care in Ontario. Her leadership has focused on transforming systems through advocacy and collaboration. Juana has been instrumental in shaping initiatives to value midwives’ work and expand access to midwifery care. An immigrant from Argentina and a long-time Toronto resident, Juana is a writer, facilitator, and artist. She brings curiosity, warmth, and an equity-driven approach to everything she does—from mentoring to strategic planning and finds joy in conversations that spark transformation.

Prior to entering midwifery, Krista trained and worked as a molecular biologist at the Universities of Guelph and Calgary. Although her training gave her a strong foundation in analytical thinking, she found that the constant solitude of the lab bench did not suit her collaborative personality. She is well-versed in personal risk management, asset allocation, tax and estate planning. She brings teaching experience as a preceptor in the MEP, as well as experience with AOM CPG development and the SOGC Genetics Committee.

Simone Griffith has decades of experience as a community midwife as well as a hospitalist midwife at McMaster. She also works as a preceptor, guiding senior students in their last year of study.

Andrea has been a registered midwife in Ontario since 2011. Prior to this, she completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a diploma in benefits administration, and worked in various business roles for twenty years, with experience in pensions & benefits, accounting, administration, and human resources. She was previously a trustee with the AOMBT from 2012-2019.

Carey is a Thunder Bay–born midwife who has worked full‑time in northern Ontario since 2012. She teaches Fetal Health Surveillance as well as Emergency Skills for the AOM and supports the next generation of midwives as a preceptor with the Midwifery Education Program. For the past 11 years, she has served on the organizing committee for the Northern Women’s Health Conference. Carey brings a deep understanding of the challenges and strengths of low‑resource northern communities, shaping her commitment to equity and sustainability in midwifery care.

Emily grew up in a family of self-employed individuals, which primed her to think creatively with respect to finances as a midwife. She has grown her financial literacy through hours of listening to podcasts, reading blogs and emails about finance. Her perspective as a self-taught financially literate person will benefit members who, like her, do not have a background in finance or business. Emily wants all members to feel as though they understand their finances as they relate to the AOMBT, and trust that decisions continue to be made with the needs of members top of mind. She believes that financial security is one of the basic human needs, and one that the AOMBT should strive to prioritize.

Originally from Toronto, Jamiena studied midwifery through a 3 year program in the United States at Birthwise Midwifery School in Bridgton, Maine. She apprenticed and worked with a team of certified professional midwives and registered naturopathic doctors in Brunswick, Maine specializing in home births and births at a freestanding birth centre. Her passion for midwifery took her to Lancaster, Pennsylvania after her time in Maine, where she worked with midwives who primarily served the Amish and Mennonite communities.

Jamiena completed the International Midwifery Pre-Registration Program, a bridging option for internationally trained midwives through Toronto Metropolitan University (formally Ryerson University) in the spring of 2021 and has worked in full-scope midwifery with Uxbridge Community Midwives from 2021-2025. She currently splits her time working with rural practices in Ontario seeing the need to support midwives with work/life balance as well as working in the family and baby clinic at Markham Stouffville Hospital in Markham, Ontario. Jamiena is registered with the College of Midwives of Ontario and maintains certifications in Neonatal Resuscitation, Fetal Health Surveillance, CPR, and Emergency Skills.

Prior to midwifery, Jamiena spent 10+ years working in the non-profit and NGO sector as a facilitator, project manager and coordinator within women’s health, youth leadership, and conflict resolution. It was during this time that she discovered her interest in midwifery as a profession having worked with midwives internationally. She also carried a strong desire to support women during pregnancy, childbirth and into the postpartum having grown up listening to stories from her grandmother who birthed 5 children all with midwives and at home in India.

In her spare time, she enjoys playing with spices in the kitchen, baking, yoga, reading, checking out farmer's markets, local coffee shops, great restaurants (self-proclaimed foodie) and playing on her pottery wheel.

Jasmin is an experienced midwife with extensive expertise in reproductive health, obstetric emergency skills, policy, advocacy, and health system integration. A former President of the Association of Ontario Midwives, she brings a strong focus on equity, access, and the social and system determinants of health to the Board.