Ruth Lubic

Ruth Watson Lubic, CNM, EdD, FAAN, FACNM, (born January 18, 1927) is an American nurse-midwife and applied anthropologist who pioneered the role of nurse-midwives as primary care providers for women, particularly in maternity care. Lubic is considered to be one of the leaders of the nurse-midwifery movement in the United States.

Lubic holds an RN diploma (1955) from Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, a certificate in nurse-midwifery (1962) from the Maternity Center Association (MCA), and a BS in nursing (1959), MA in medical/surgical nursing (1961), and EdD in Applied Anthropology (1979) from Teachers College, Columbia University. Lubic has also been awarded honorary doctorates from six universities.

Lubic co-founded two legally sanctioned, freestanding birth centers in New York City: the Childbearing Center (1975), which served middle-class families of Upper East Side Manhattan, and the Morris Heights Childbearing Center (1988), which served the lower-income families of the South Bronx. By focusing on providing safe and family-centered maternity care, education, and services, these birth centers served as effective alternatives to institutionalized obstetric care. Lubic utilized the $375,000 grant to found her third birth center, the Family Health and Birth Center in the collaborative of the Developing Families Center in Washington, D.C. (2000), where the maternal and infant mortality rates were the highest in the United States. The Family Health and Birth Center has had a significant impact in Washington, D.C., as demonstrated by the decreased rates of cesarean sections, preterm births, and low birth weight newborns when compared to those of the city's. The center has also saved the city's health care system an estimated cost of over $1 million each year. She is currently Founder and President Emerita of the Developing Families Center and Founder of the Family Health and Birth Center.

Early life and education Lubic was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania to John Russell Watson and Lillian Watson (née Kraft) and raised as the second of two daughters. Following the death of her father in 1942, and with her older sister in college, Lubic managed the drugstore full-time with her mother while completing her schooling. whom she later married in 1955. Lubic continued her education concurrently through courses at Hunter College to work towards a bachelor's degree in nursing, which she pursued part-time for three years before resuming her education full-time at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University. Collaborating with the ACNM president and board, Lubic, her husband, and Martin Ginsburg helped to establish the ACNM Foundation in 1967. In 1963, Lubic accepted a position with the MCA and worked as a parent educator and counselor until 1967. Lubic advocated for the role of nurse-midwives as providers of prenatal care, birth, and postpartum care and believed that freestanding birth centers served as a safe, comprehensive, and less costly option to both hospital births and home births. Booth Maternity Hospital was originally founded in 1962 and operated by The Salvation Army. It provides operating information and certification programs for birth centers. In 1988, in collaboration with the Morris Heights Health Center, Lubic and the MCA established the second MCA freestanding birth center, the Childbearing Center of Morris Heights in South Bronx.

Lubic moved to Washington, D.C., in 1994 to begin her work in Ward 5, where the maternal and infant mortality rates were the highest in the United States.

As a result of the DFC's work in Washington, D.C., birth outcomes have improved and the rates for preterm births, low birth weight newborns, and cesarean sections have decreased when compared to respective rates in D.C.

Lubic currently serves as founder and president emerita of the Developing Families Center and Founder of the Family Health and Birth Center. Lubic's papers can be found at the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing.

Awards and recognition

1955: Letitia White Award for Highest Academic Average, School of Nursing at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania 1955: Florence Nightingale Medal for Excellence in Nursing Practice, School of Nursing at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania 1959: Election to Pi Lambda Theta, Academic Honor Society 1971: Elected Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences 1978: Election to Sigma Theta Tau, National Honor Society of Nursing 1978, Fellow, American Academy of Nursing 1980: Teachers College, Columbia University Nursing Hall of Fame Inductee and TC Achievement Award for Nursing Practice 1981: Jane Delano Distinguished Service Award, New York Counties Registered Nurses Association 1981: Rockefeller Public Service Award, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University 1982: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 1983: Hattie Hemschemeyer Award, American College of Nurse-Midwives 1985: Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa, University of Pennsylvania 1986: Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey 1987: Fellow, Society for Applied Anthropology 1989: R. Louise McManus Award, Nursing Education Alumni Association of Teachers College, Columbia University 1991: Visiting Fellow, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Perth, Australia 1991: Kate Hanna Harvey Visiting professor, France Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University 1992: Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award 1992: Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, The College of New Rochelle 1993: Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, SUNY Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn 1993: Fellow, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 1994: Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Pace University 1994: Honorary Recognition Award, American Nurses Association 1994: Lillian D. Wald Spirit of Nursing Award, Visiting Nurse Service of New York 1994-1995: Consultant, Division of Nursing, Bureau of Health Professions Health Resources and Services Administration, Public Health Service, United States Department of Health and Human Services 1995-1997: Expert Consultant, Office of Public Health and Science, United States Department of Health and Human Services 1996: Sigma Theta Tau Pace Setter 1997: MCA Award, Maternity Center Association 1999: Women of Distinction Award, National Association for Advancing Women in Higher Education 1999: Irving Harris Visiting Scholar, College of Nursing, University of Illinois 2001: Gustav O. Lienhard Award, National Academy of Medicine 2001: Special Recognition Award, Alumni Society of the School of Nursing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania 2001: Election to Honorary Membership, Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society 2001: Designation as a Living Legend, American Academy of Nursing 2003: Lillian D. Wald Award, Visiting Nurse Service of New York 2004: Centennial Medal, The College of New Rochelle 100th Anniversary Dinner Dance 2004: Hugh P. Davis Lectureship, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University 2005: Jamie E. Bolane Award for Lifetime Achievement, NACC Foundation (National Association of Childbearing Centers, now the American Association of Birth Centers) 2006: Martha May Eliot Award, American Public Health Association 2007: Invited Speaker House of Representatives Hearing on Infant Mortality 2008: Visionary Award, Morris Heights Health Center 2008: Chapter I Honorary Lifetime Chapter Membership, American College of Nurse-Midwives 2008: LEAP Award, Morris Heights Health Center 2009: Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, University of Massachusetts College of Medicine at Worcester 2009: Irving Harris Visiting professor, Department of Women, Children and Family Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Illinois 2009: Edna L. Fritz Lecturer, College of Nursing, Ohio State University 2010: Foremother Lifetime Achievement Award, National Center for Health Research 2010: Senior Midwives Award, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery 2011: Honorary Doctorate, Frontier Nursing University 2018: Urban Health Equity Champion, New York Academy of Medicine

Selected publications

Lubic, R.W. (1962). Nursing care after adrenalectomy or hypophysectomy. The American Journal of Nursing, 62(4), 84–86. Lubic, R.W. (1969). The Puerto Rican family. The Journal of Nurse-Midwifery & Women’s Health, 14(4), 104–110. Lubic, R.W. (1972). The nurse-midwife joins the obstetrical team. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 17(3), 73–77. Lubic, R.W. (1972). What the lay person expects of maternity care: Are we meeting these expectations? Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 1(1), 25–31. Lubic, R.W. (1974). If elitism is the answer, what is the question?. The Journal of Nurse-Midwifery & Women’s Health, 19(2), 9–11. Lubic, R.W. (1974). Myths about Nurse-Midwifery. The American Journal of Nursing, 74(2), 268–269. Lubic, R.W. (1974). Statement of Maternity Center Association before the House Committee on Ways and Means. The Journal of Nurse-Midwifery & Women’s Health, 19(3), 11–16. Lubic, R.W. (1975). Developing maternity services women will trust. The American Journal of Nursing, 75(10), 1685–1688. Lubic, R.W. (1976). Alternative patterns of nurse-midwifery care: I. The childbearing center. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 21(3), 24–25. Lubic, R.W., & Ernst, E.K. (1978). The childbearing center: an alternative to conventional care. Nursing Outlook, 26(12), 754–760. Lubic, R.W. (1979). Barriers and conflict in maternity care innovation. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International. Faison, J.B., Pisani, B.J., Douglas, R.G., Cranch, G.S., Lubic, R.W. (1979). The childbearing center: An alternative birth setting. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 54(4), 527–532. Lubic, R.W. (1979). The impact of technology on health care—The Childbearing Center: A case for technology's appropriate use. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 24(1), 6–10. Bennetts, A.B., & Lubic, R.W. (1982). The free-standing birth centre. The Lancet, 319(8268), 378–380. Lubic, R.W. (1982). Nurse-midwifery education—The second 50 years. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 27(5), 4–9. Lubic, R.W. (1983). Childbirthing centers: delivering more for less. The American Journal of Nursing, 83(7), 1053–1056. Lubic, R.W. (1985). Reimbursement for nursing practice: Lessons learned, experiences shared. Nursing & Health Care, 6(1), 22–25. Lubic. R.W. (1986). The proposed New York state legislation on midwifery. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 31(3), 150–152. Lubic, R.W., & Hawes, G.R. (1987). Childbearing: A book of choices. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lubic. R.W. (1988). Insights from life in the trenches. Nursing Outlook, 36(2), 62–65. Lubic. R. W. (1989). The midwife as an agent of change. Australian College of Midwives Incorporated Journal, 2(2), 6–7. Lubic, R.W. (1990). The alternative or the norm for the future?. Women and Birth, 3(2), 6–14. Lubic, R.W. (1997). Drive-by deliveries: A missed opportunity. Public Health Reports, 112(4), 284–287. Lubic, R.W. (1997). Principles for a successful professional life. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 42(1), 53–58. Lubic, R.W., & Flynn, C. (2010). The family health and birth center—A nurse-midwife-managed center in Washington, DC. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 16(5), 58–60.