Margaret David | Helena Jacobs | Tina Pattara-Lau | Patricia (Tricia) Capo

Margaret David (Koyukon Athabascan), CNM, is a midwife at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Gee’eedoydaalno se’ooze, dehoon gissakk kk’e hełde Margaret Olin Hoffman David seznee. Tleyegg’e hūt’aane eeslanh. Bedzeyh te hūt’anaa eslaanh. Tlaa ologhe hut’aanh eeslanh dehoon Anchorage lesdo. Margaret Olin Hoffman David was born and raised in rural Alaska. She grew up spending summers at her grandparent’s fish camp on the Yukon River and is rooted in her Koyukon Athabascan culture. Through 12 years of working in tribal and rural community health promotion and program management, birthing her family, volunteering as a doula, and healing through Native ways of knowing, she realized her call to midwifery. The potential to heal ourselves, and our ancestors, during the transformation of childbirth is why she has chosen to dedicate her life’s work to midwifery. By becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife she hopes to expand perinatal community health programs and birthing options for rural Alaska Native women by remembering traditional practices and supporting more pathways for Indigenous birth workers. She lives in Anchorage with her partner and 4 children.

Helena Benozaadleyo “Lena” Jacobs (Koyukon Athabascan), MPP, is the daughter of Dee Olin and David Hoffman, and the granddaughter of the late Lillian and Fred Olin, the late Lorraine and John Honea, and the late Helen and George Hoffman. Born in Fairbanks with ancestral ties to Ruby and Kokrines, and raised throughout 7 different communities in Alaska, she now lives and works in Anchorage on Dena’ina land where she and her husband are raising their children. She has completed the Full Spectrum Indigenous Doula training, Indigenous Childbirth Educator training, Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor training, Spinning Babies workshop and has learned from the many families she has supported over the last 17 years as a birth helper. She is a cofounder of the Alaska Native Birthworkers Community.

CDR Tina Pattara-Lau, MD, FACOG, is the Maternal and Child Health Consultant with the IHS Office of Clinical and Preventive Services. In this role, she serves as subject matter expert, develops national programs and policies, and collaborates with federal and community resources to optimize patient access to quality care. She began her IHS career in 2015 as an OB/GYN at Phoenix Indian Medical Center, Parker and Peach Springs Indian Health Centers, and Valleywise Health Medical Center. During the COVID-19 pandemic she developed modified guidelines for OB/GYN care including delivery of telehealth prenatal care, vaccine education for patients, and multidisciplinary simulation training for Obstetric Readiness in the Emergency Department. Tina graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in Molecular and Cell Biology and Psychology. She commissioned into the US Public Health Service in 2007 and received her medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 2011. She completed her OB/GYN residency at the Naval Medical Center, San Diego, is board certified, and a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Patricia (Tricia) Capo, MD, FACOG, is an ObGyn physician at Alaska Native Medical Center and Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska. She graduated from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and completed her residency training at The Mayo Clinic and Greenville Hospital System in South Carolina. Tricia has an inherent passion for Indigenous women’s health. She is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and grew up on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. As a physician and a patient in the IHS system she hopes to provide a unique perspective and strive for quality care for Indigenous people.