Staff

Interim Executive Director - Heart Phoenix

Heart has served as Executive Director of FSTM for the past five years.  She recently co-founded the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, and serves as the Board President of RPCP.  Inspired by the life of her son River, RPCP is dedicated to raising awareness and teaching skills that empower individuals and groups in the transformation of behavior from violent to peaceful.  Heart considers one of her greates contributions to be that of birthing her five beautiful children naturally.  She believes that educating, empowering and caring for women before, during and after the birthing process bring an essential ingredient to the health of families.  This is the care that is give by midwives!

Finance Director - Eli Santana

Eli is a graduate of St. John’s University. He holds a Master of  Business Administration with a major in Accounting. Eli’s vast professional experience in over 10 countries  includes positions such as controller, audit manager and internal auditor with Fortune 500 and smaller companies,  including public accounting firms.  His passion is to serve people exercising his highest degree of competency,  integrity and kindness.

Academic Director - Erin Dorman, M.S. CHES

Erin is a Certified Health Education Specialist and Holds a Master’s Degree in Health Education from the University of Florida.  Erin spent her time at UF researching and teaching courses about women’s health and reproductive health.  Now, in addition to being an administrator and teaching several coursed at FSTM, she is pursuing certification in Childbirth Education through ICEA and hopes to soon be a Brith Yoga Educator.  When she’s not being a natural birth advocate, you can ususally find her frolicking in her garden with her puppies, Elmer and Rupert, and her fantastic husband, Nick.

Clinical Director - Stacey Walden, L.M.

Stacey has worked as an instructor at FSTM for five years. She began her midwifery training at FSTM in 1995 and graduated from Sage Femme Midwifery School in California in 1998. She has worked as a licensed midwife in California, Alaska and Florida, in both homebirth and birth center practices. Stacey’s enthusiasm and dedication to midwifery motivates her to educate future midwives for the continuation of midwifery in Florida.

Academic Advisor – Abby Reichardt

Abby was a student of FSTM, but took time off from school to work. She graduated from The University of Florida in 2010, earning a B.S. in Family, Youth, & Community Sciences. After working for nearly a year as an Office Manager at a local non-profit, she followed her passion for midwifery care, ending up at FSTM. She and her husband live in Gainesville with their extensive family of three cats and a dog. Abby enjoys working with the school, assisting in academic and administrative duties, and promoting the midwifery model of care to the community.

Financial Aid Coordinator – Nellie Eshleman

Nellie has been working for midwives and student midwives in varying capacities for over 4 years. She has been with us as Financial Aid Coordinator for over a year and is glad to answer any questions regarding on State and Federal funding for our school. She is a local musician who enjoys playing the cello around the Gainesville area with different musical groups. She is working toward her goal of opening a daycare with a “Reggio Emilia approach”, which is focused around making music, in a few years.

Administrative Coordinator - Glenn Cameron

Glenn brings thirty years of experience in midwifery and education to FSTM and has worked in various administrative capacities at the school since 1997.  She volunteered in a variety of capacities in the development of the midwifery practice act in Florida as well as midwifery related conferences and workshops.  She  enjoys assisting midwifery students during their “student midwifery journey” and graduation from the program. She has also completed training in Doula, Childbirth Educator, American Aqua-Natal Instructor and worked for the last ten years as  a Gynecology Teaching Associate for the University of Florida. Glenn is the mother of three daughters, all born at home, and two granddaughters and two grandsons.

Librarian - Saroj Earl, L.M.T.

Saroj was trained in midwifery at FSTM from 1999 through 2002, during which time she served as the library coordinator and continued to serve in that capacity until 2004. She has an understanding of a student midwife’s library needs and is available part-time to assist students, faculty & staff .  In addition to her work at FSTM, Saroj is a  Florida Licensed Massage Therapist, training for a specialty in pregnancy and postpartum, a certified yoga instructor, a certified HypnoBirthing practitioner and a postpartum Ayurvedic doula. Prior to her student midwife years, she worked for many years at the public library in Ft. White, a branch of the Columbia County Public Library.

Administrative Assistant – Angie Fennel

Angie has been working with the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery since May 2012, and will graduate the FSTM midwifery program in the Summer of 2013.  Angie has dreamed of being a midwife since her first experience with a midwife at the age of 19.  She received midwifery care for all three of her babies.  She has a dream of furthering the availability of midwives in Florida with her own homebirth or birth center practice, providing clients with women-centered care that empowers them with knowledge and understanding of the normal process of pregnancy and birth.