Our leaders

School of Nursing and Midwifery - Academic and professional staff list

Head of School

Professor Kathleen Baird

Kathleen Baird has been a midwife since 1996 and she has a wealth of experience in clinical and academic positions. Kathleen has consistently advocates for teaching excellence, innovation in midwifery practice and evidence-based practice. She contributes to the development of midwifery knowledge and enhanced curriculum development and assessment by introducing progressive teaching and assessment processes to curricula in order to meet the demands and changes in service provision of midwifery. 

Her previous clinical and academic experiences have taught Kathleen how to build and maintain strong relationships with all departments within the University and the hospital. She is aware of the importance of developing and fostering collegial relationships and working closely with midwifery, medical and allied health colleagues to provide leadership. Kathleen has the ability to both lead and work within teams. She has worked with several agencies on various projects including statutory and third sector agencies and has been successful in fostering and achieving collaborative interagency working.

TWITTER: @kbaird20

Deputy Head of School - Research

Professor Anna Williams

Professor Anna Williams is a prominent applied health researcher with a PhD in Public Health and Community Medicine.

Professor Williams is currently Deputy Head of School (Research) within the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health UTS, and Co-Lead for the Health and Well-being Theme at the University Ageing Research Collaborative (UARC) at the University of Technology Sydney. She also holds the honorary position of Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Translational Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University. Anna is an Executive member of the Age and Ageing Clinical Academic Group (SPHERE), Non-Executive Director of Carrington Centennial Care current Vice President of the International Mixed Methods Research Association – Oceania and Associate Editor for the Australian Journal of Primary Health.

As an applied health researcher, Professor Williams leads a broad research program focused on ageing, health and well-being, health service development and quality, and sustaining the health care workforce. She is passionate about promoting healthy ageing, preventing and managing chronic conditions, chronic condition self-management support and developing a strong primary healthcare and aged care system. Over the past 3 decades she has had extensive involvement in the implementation and evaluation of complex interventions within acute, sub-acute and primary care settings. More recently Professor Williams was a CI on early studies piloting and evaluating the introduction of a person-centred model of care into Australian hospitals and sub-acute care settings, work that is now informing mainstream health service implementation.

To date Professor Williams has been a CI on 25 funded projects; in the last 5 years they have received $4,581,741 in funding, published 25 peer reviewed publications on ageing, long term/chronic conditions, models of care and cross sector collaborations; 11 national and international conference papers and 4 book chapters.

Deputy Head of School - Teaching and Learning

Associate Professor Jacqui Pich

Jacqui is the Deputy Head of School – Teaching and Learning for the School. Prior to this she worked in a number of leadership roles since joining UTS in 2017. She served as the First and Further Year Coordinator from 2018-2019 and held the position of Course Director for the Bachelor of Nursing for over three years. Jacqui is also currently the Responsible Academic Officer for the BN program. Jacqui has comprehensive experience in program, course and curriculum design and reaccreditation in undergraduate nursing. Her achievements were recognized by UTS in 2021 when she was awarded two Vice Chancellor’s Teaching and Learning citations for innovative projects that have had a direct impact on students’ learning outcomes, enhancing the development of skills and knowledge related to patient safety and empathic practice. In 2022 she led a team that was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by the Australian Awards for University Teaching.

Jacqui is regarded as an expert in the area of violence in nursing and has made regular media appearances, including a feature story on the 730 Report on the ABC. Jacqui works closely with industry partners including the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) where she is the co-chair of the Nurses and Violence Committee. Jacqui has also worked closely with the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) and her work as Chief Investigator in a study on violence in nursing in midwifery in NSW was submitted to the Anderson Review - Safe and Secure: Review of NSW Hospitals in 2019. 
 

Head of Discipline – Midwifery

Professor Jennifer Fenwick

Professor Jennifer Fenwick has been a registered midwife since 1983 and has extensive clinical, academic and research experience. Jennifer’s background in the clinical setting has focused on caseload, continuity and community models of midwifery care and service delivery.  Jennifer has a national and international research profile. 

There are very few clinician researchers in Australia or internationally who have been as successful as Jennifer in bringing together clinical skills and credibility with sociological and psychological insights into women’s birth experiences and their transition to motherhood. In 2018 and 2019 Jennifer was named Australia’s lead researcher in Pregnancy and Childbirth.  

Head of Discipline – Nursing

Professor Stacy Blythe

Stacy Blythe has been a Registered Nurse since 2003 with clinical expertise in critical care and infection control. Stacy’s research focuses on the health and well-being of children in out-of-home care and their families (both birth and foster families), and she has a particular interest in infants and children who were prenatally exposed to harmful substances (eg. illicit drugs). 
In addition to her nursing, teaching and research qualifications, Stacy has post graduate certification in Developmental Trauma and has been an authorised foster carer for 18+ years. Drawing on her skills as a nurse, knowledge as a researcher and experience as a carer, Stacy provides training to health care workers, social service providers, educators and foster/kinship carers in relation to working with children who have experienced prenatal substance exposure and/or developmental trauma.