Distinguished Alumna Award 2001
Joyce Cameron Foster
Class of 1961
Her forty years of professional scholarship and practice have given her colleagues in nurse-midwifery a firm and holistic framework of knowledge and skills focused on the well-being of women during their reproductive years.
Having graduated from UCLA in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in nursing, she embarked on the cross-country journey that would bring her to New Haven, and the academic course that would grant her a Yale degree in Maternal-Newborn Nursing and Nurse-Midwifery in 1961. Returning to Salt Lake City, she established the first graduate program in nurse-midwifery west of the Hudson River in 1965--a remarkable accomplishment only four years post-graduation from Yale.
In 1971, ten years post-Yale, she wrote the first nurse-midwifery act in the State of Utah. The passage of this legislation coincided with the culmination of her efforts as the Chair of the Testing Committee for the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Her role on this committee led to the development and administration of the first national examination in the US recognizing the title of Certified Nurse-Midwife. In 1981, 20 years post-Yale, she earned a PhD in Health Science from the University of Utah.
Her research and writings focus on a range of nursing and nurse-midwifery topics, establishing her as a pioneer in the field both nationally and internationally. In addition to her scholarly interests in nutrition intervention during pregnancy and the use of epidural anesthesia during labor and birth, her landmark paper in 1982 broke new ground by documenting the cost-effectiveness of nurse-midwifery care in hospitals. It is still applicable today in providing evidence-based information validating nurse-midwifery practice.
Her fortitude, enthusiasm, and courage have long been lauded by her colleagues in the American College of Nurse-Midwives who recognized her outstanding contributions in 1996 with their highest honor, the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award. Her extensive list of professional titles includes Distinguished Professor of Nursing, Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the American Nurses Association, the National Academies of Practice, and the International Childbirth Education Association.
For her sensitive nurturing, motivational influence, and insightful knowledge that have impacted the well-being of women worldwide for over four decades, the Yale School of Nursing proudly bestows its Distinguished Alumna Award on Joyce Cameron Foster, Class of 1961.
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