Midwifery Anthropology

Melissa Cheyney is a medical anthropologist and licensed midwife. She obtained Master's in bio-archaeology with a focus on health and disease patterns in classical antiquity. As Melissa entered her doctoral program, her focus began to shift to the health of living populations. (Oregon State)

Her doctorate researches are focused on a subfield of medical anthropology called evolutionary medicine. Evolutionary medicine is directly connected and focuses on studying the geographical, cultural and genetics variations in human health and disease and this helped her interest lean in to examining the health conditions of maternal and infant health pattern in a cross-cultural perspective. From there, Melissa decided in to pursuing a clinical degree in midwifery while still continuing her doctorate in medical anthropology. (Oregon State)

In interview by Rachel Newman a journalist at rhrealitycheck.org, Chaney summarized her in depth research “To my knowledge, this is really the first of its kind, at least one that is being formally implemented and studied. However, in areas where midwifery is legal, these kinds of arrangements exist more informally between individual midwives and physicians that have developed relationships usually over years of working together. I would love to see these protocols replicated and modified to meet the specific needs and goals of the given area. We know that homebirth is safest when it is planned, a trained midwife is present and medical back up is available if needed. It’s really that third criterion that needs streamlining and strengthening in our country.” (Reality