Jo-Anna L. Rorie, MSN, MPH, PhD, CNM, FACNM

Jo-Anna L. Rorie, MSN, MPH, PhD, CNM, FACNM, is a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She serves on the board of the Bay State Birth Coalition and the steering committee of Birth Equity and Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA).

In addition to caring for patients at BMC, Jo-Anna travels to neighborhoods around Boston for home visits as part of BMC’s Curbside Care community health program for new parents and their newborns.

Jo-Anna holds an undergraduate degree from Simmons College in Boston, and earned her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Yale School of Nursing in New Haven, Connecticut. She also holds a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and subsequently earned a doctorate. She is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (FACNM).

The core of Jo-Anna’s commitment to maternal and child health lies in the early 1990s, when Massachusetts was faced with an infant mortality crisis that was especially concerning in the Boston neighborhoods of North Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury. Jo-Anna was the featured midwife in a provocative and pivotal Boston Globe series that highlighted the “Death Zones of Boston”—bringing the devastating statistics about racial and ethnic disparities within Boston’s infant mortality crisis into the light of day. She contributed greatly to an extensive needs assessment, that led to a citywide maternal and child health (MCH) agenda, as well as to recommendations for community-based perinatal initiatives to leverage nurse-midwifery services as a critical element of care for underserved communities.

In 2023, Jo-Anna received the Dorothea Lang Pioneer Award, the most prestigious midwifery award by the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM), which honors one exceptional CNM who has exhibited vision, leadership, and innovation, and made a lasting mark on the field of midwifery and midwifery educational programs and the integration of midwifery into the health care systems. She has also been selected by the Boston Celtics to receive their Hero Among Us Award, which is presented to an individual who, through their unique commitment and humanitarian spirit, has made exceptional and lasting contributions to our community.