I was born and raised in South Florida but Georgia has been my home since college. I practiced for a number of years as a nurse in maternal/women's health before earning my Master of Nursing in Midwifery. I have more than 25 years of experience as a CNM in full-scope clinical practice. I earned my Doctor of Nursing Practice focusing my project on birth satisfaction with the laborist model of care. I began to shift my focus to education during my doctoral work and have enjoyed it immensely. I continue in clinical practice as a laborist midwife for a large, managed care practice and practicing office gynecology with a physician colleague. I have my certification as a yoga instructor and have enjoyed sharing my practice with my students. I am married with 2 sons, a daughter(in-law), and 2 dogs.

1. Gibbons, W. Appel, S. (2021). Nurse midwives create a meaningful birth experience within a laborist care model. J Nurse Pract 4(1), 224-231. doi 10.36959/545/388
2. Swan, B., Gibbons, W. & Kaligotla, L. (2023). Giving life to learning through rural maternal health immersion experiences. Nurse Educator (in press). 1-4. doi 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001574
3. Swan, B., Kaligotla, L., Abiri, A., Allen, L. Becklenberg, A., Bhatia, C., Biller, S., Brasher, S., Chandler, R., Charles, D., Davis, E., Demmink, A., Diamond, H., Downes, E., Elting, R. Gibbons, W., Giordano, N., Hamilton, J., Kee, C., Lee, S., Meadows, A., Modly, L., Mueller, K., Plattel, C., Poole-Dubin, M., Saavedra, M. Slaughter, I., Starks, S., Swanson, S., Upchurch, I., Wells, J., Wright, P. & Yang, I. (2023). SDOH in action: Exemplars of incorporating SDOH in entry-level and advanced-level nursing education. In J. Hamilton, B.A. Swan, & L. McCauley (Eds.), Integrating a social determinants of health framework into nursing education (pp. 150-157, 172-182). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21347-2

My goal as an educator is present the content/experience so the learner can understand, assimilate, and apply the information to their own nursing practice. Learning and learners constantly change and the onus is on us, as educators, to adapt to evolving evidence and circumstances. I believe respect and professionalism is the cornerstone of a positive learner/educator interaction; we acknowledge and respect the experiences and understanding each brings to the learning environment.

My areas of research focus are: laborist care models, birth satisfaction,  experiential/simulation teaching and learning, health care need for women with intellectual disabilities.

Fellowship, American College of Nurse Midwives

Appointment, GA Perinatal Mental Health Task Force

CHHAP Teaching Fellowship

WHEA Teaching Fellowship

United States Department of Labor Occupational Expert