About the Series
The objective of the Reynolds-Finley Historical Lecture Series is to review, assess, and discuss various historical aspects of the health care sciences. The series runs from Fall to Spring. The Annual Reynolds-Finley Lecture is the foremost presentation in this series that brings speakers of prominence to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
44th Annual Reynolds-Finley Historical Lecture: March 10, 2023 from 4:00-5:00 p.m.
"A Century of Maternity Care: Alabama's Highlights and Challenges" will be presented by Jenny M. Luke, Independent Historian, Former RN and CNM, and the recipient of the 2017 Reynolds-Finley Research Fellow.
The lecture will be held in UAB Volker Hall Lecture Hall E, 1670 University Boulevard, Birmingham, Alabama. It will also be viewable online with the live link. A reception will follow.
The Reynolds-Finley Historical Lecture is part of the 50th Annual University of Alabama Medical Alumni Weekend and is co-hosted by the Medical Alumni Association.
Biography of the Speaker
Jenny M. Luke trained as a registered nurse at the Manchester Royal Infirmary in the U.K. in the mid-1980s, and in 1987, began a post-registration course in midwifery at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, qualifying as a registered midwife in 1989. Sometime later she came to the U.S. to work as a RN on labor and delivery at Parkland Hospital, Dallas, Texas. Although initially intending to return home at the end of her year-long travelling nurse contract, one year turned into two and so on! She eventually married and settled in Dallas-Fort Worth. Her interest in the history of midwifery was piqued when she arrived in the U.S. and discovered a great difference in the perception of midwifery between Britons and Americans and had the opportunity to delve into the subject while earning her bachelor's and master’s degrees in history.
Her book, Delivered by Midwives: African American Midwifery in the Twentieth Century South, (University Press of Mississippi, 2018) is the product of this study, greatly supported by a Reynolds-Finley Research Fellowship in 2017. It was the recipient of the American Association for the History of Nursing Lavinia L. Dock Award for exemplary research and writing in 2019. Her essay on African American midwife, Margaret Charles Smith, was published in the book, Alabama Women: Their Lives and Times. (University of Georgia Press, 2017). With the help of a second Reynolds-Finley Research Fellowship in 2022, Jenny is currently exploring the complex issues surrounding maternity care provision after the prohibition of midwifery in 1976. Jenny lives in North Texas and has two grown children.
CMEs Available
The University of Alabama School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Parking
Parking is provided adjacent to Volker Hall in UAB Lot 5A; entrance is located on 16th Street between University Boulevard and 7th Avenue South. Please be aware if you are entering a parking deck, this is Children’s Hospital parking, and we cannot validate for this deck.
Disability Accommodations
To request disability-related accommodations, please contact reynoldsfinley@uab.edu.