Joyce Cowan

Florence Joyce Cowan is a New Zealand midwife and educator, and an authority on pre-eclampsia. She was co-founder and director of the charity NZ Action on Pre-eclampsia, and introduced the GAP programme to monitor the growth of small babies. In 2023 Cowan was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to midwifery, after a more than fifty-year career contributing to the profession.

Career

Cowan trained as a registered nurse at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, beginning in 1966, and then travelled to Dunedin, where she intended to train as a doctor. followed by a PhD also at AUT in 2020.

Cowan is an authority on the hypertension in pregnancy, called pre-eclampsia. She co-founded and directed the charity NZ Action on Pre-eclampsia (NZ APEC) in 1994, which raises awareness among health professionals about the condition, and supports women and their families.

Honours and awards In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours Cowan was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to midwifery.

Selected works