Kylea Laina Liese, PhD, CNM, FACNM
Associate Professor
Associate Director of Research Center for Research on Women and Gender
Department of Human Development Nursing Science
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Contact
Building & Room:
840 NURS
Address:
845 S. Damen Ave., MC 802, Chicago, IL 60612
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Link:
About
I am a medical anthropologist and certified nurse midwife who engages a reproductive justice framework to contextualize and address the social drivers and repercussions of sexual and reproductive health disparities. I use mixed methods to examine causal pathways and unforeseen consequences that link reproduction and health disparities in communities with intersecting identities of oppression. I conceptualize my global and domestic research programs as part of broader efforts to anchor reproductive trends in maternal mortality and morbidity in bio-social and socio-medical realms.
My current research focuses on the health system structures that drive disparities in equitable access to sexual and reproductive health. With funding from the PCORI foundation and in partnership with Chicago Birthworks Collective, this project assess the implementation and impact of a culturally-adapted and patient-centered model of maternity care inclusive of broad structural changes to attenuate the impacts of structural racism. Melanated Group Midwifery Care (MGMC) was designed with our community partners to center the voices of Black women and adopt the Illinois Maternal Mortality Review Committee’s(MMRC) recommendations for preventing maternal death. MGMC merges four evidence-based interventions: 1)Racial concordance between patients and providers; 2) Group prenatal care; 3) Maternal care coordination; and 4) In-home, postpartum doula support.
To address inconsistent abortion training and barriers to practice integration, I established the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Fellowship with funding from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The RADIANT Fellowship expands abortion access through three aims: 1) Establishing midwife-led abortion clinics and advanced practice clinician (APC) clinical training sites; 2) Providing trauma informed and patient centered abortion training and mentorship to licensed providers across the state of Illinois; 3) Standardizing abortion education and training across graduate curriculum for advanced practice clinicians.
My global work focuses on how social, political and historical processes shape reproductive health experiences and outcomes across geo-political borders. In Central Asia (Tajikistan/Afghanistan), I am interested in how political instability (e.g., fall of the USSR, decades of civil wars) reverberates to peripheral regions and impacts the everyday lives of families. Between 2005-2008, I conducted surveys of maternal mortality and comparative ethnography to understand women's experiences in two villages across a narrow geo-political border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan in the Badakhshan region.
I completed my BA at Emory University and my MA and PhD in Anthropology at Stanford University. My early research in global maternal health drove me to also pursue my MSN at Yale University and become certified as a nurse-midwife. My midwifery practice informs and grounds my academic research. Currently, I provide abortion are and attend births in both the hospital and community settings in Chicago.
Selected Grants
Illinois Department of Public Health, RADIANT Fellowship: Expanding abortion access with Advanced Practice Providers and students across the Midwest, Director
Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Foundation, Black Midwives for Black Women: Maternity Care to Improve Trust and Attenuate Structural Racism, co-PI
Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Foundation, Measuring the Costs and Burdens of Structural and Obstetric Racism in the Black Birthing community, co-PI
Chicago Community Trust, MGMC+: Integrated maternity care for Black mothers with high-risk pregnancies, dual-PI
Hillman Foundation, Yurok NET Wellness: A Culturally Congruent, Nursing-Driven, Village-Centered Model to Treat Trauma for Wellness Court Clients, PI
U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs Fulbright Scholars Program, Maternal Morbidity, Mortality and Survival in Badakhshan, PI
National Science Foundation, Maternal Mortality on the Border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, PI
Selected Publications
2025. Quinones, N, Auerbach, S, Grayson, N, Nisi, R, Pearson, P, Solis, E, Blumenfeld, J, Nuewirth, B, Liese, KL. Educating Midwives as Abortion Providers: Implementing innovative models for standardized training in abortion care. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health.
2022. KL Liese, Pearson, P, Stewart, K, Lofton, S, Patil, C, Geller, S. Melanated Group Midwifery Care: Centering the Voices of the Black Birthing Community Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13438
2021. KL Liese, Davis-Floyd, R, Stewart, K, Cheyney, M. Obstetric Iatrogenesis in the United States: The spectrum of disrespect, violence and abuse. Anthropology and Medicine. DOI: 10.1080/13648470.2021.1938510
2020. KL Liese, Kapito, E, Chirwa, E, Liu, L, Mei, X, Norr, KF, Patil, CL. Impact of Group Antenatal Care on Key Antenatal Services and Educational Topics in Malawi and Tanzania. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Oct 23. Doi: 10.1002/ijgo.13432.
2019. KL Liese, Mogos, MF. Abboud, S. DeCocker, K. Koch, AE. Geller, SE. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity Across the Pregnancy Continuum. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. March 15. Doi:10.1007/s40615-019-00577-w.
2018. KL Liese, Robinson, S. Pauls, H. Patil, C. Estimating Sub-National Maternal Mortality Using the Sisterhood Method in Tajikistan. Central Asian Journal of Global Health. Accepted.
2018. KL Liese. Childbirth and Social Change in Afghanistan. War and Health. Catherine Lutz and Andrea Mazzarino, eds. New York University Press: New York
2017. KL Liese and AE Maeder. Social conditions and maternal mortality in the Muslim world. Global Health Review. Sept. 20:1-15.
2017. KL Liese. Maternal mortality in the context of conflict. Modern Afghanistan: The impact of 40 years of war. Nazif Shahrani, eds. Indiana University Press.
Notable Honors
2023, Fellow, American College of Nurse Midwives
2022, Excellence in Teaching Award, American College of Nurse Midwives
2022, Joyce Roberts Excellence in Teaching Award, American College of Nurse Midwives
2017, NIH Scholar, Health Disparities Research Institute
2017, Faculty Fellow, Institute for Race Relations and Public
2016, Deatrick Junior Faculty Award, UIC College of Nursing
Education
2012 MSN Yale School of Nursing: Nurse-Midwifery
2009 PhD Stanford University: Anthropology
Dissertation: Mothers’ Deaths in Childbirth: Explaining Maternal Mortality in Badakhshan Tajikistan and Afghanistan
2005 MA Stanford University: Anthropology
1998 BA Emory University: Anthropology, Summa Cum Laude
Licensures and Certifications
Certified Nurse-Midwife since 2012, licensed in IL since 2015
Professional Memberships
National Abortion Federation
Society for Family Planning
American College of Nurse Midwives
Council for the Anthropology of Reproduction
American Anthropological Association
Research Currently in Progress
https://www.pcori.org/research-results/2021/black-midwives-black-women-maternity-care-improve-trust-and-attenuate
https://radiant.uic.edu/