Amplification Profile:
Renée Byfield RN, FNP, C‑EFM, FAAN
PhD Student, New Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
Childbirth still gives Renée Byfield “goosebumps.”
“I have a deep love and appreciation for the miracle of childbirth,” says Byfield, the first PhD student at the School of Nursing to be named a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. “You’re supporting a family at one of their most vulnerable moments and helping them to the other side.”
Appreciating the duality of perinatal care – miraculous and normal, intimate and clinical, joyous and serious – Byfield has participated in many aspects of the maternal-child specialty. Early in her career, she worked in labor and delivery and then nursing education. She went on to hold leadership roles in academia, patient safety, simulation-based education and program development, and nurse management, ultimately shifting her focus to addressing perinatal disparities. She became program director of the Institute for Perinatal Quality Improvement’s SPEAK UP Against Racism Program, a curriculum reaching governments, health care facilities, and educational institutions in 42 states.
As Byfield’s career progressed, she realized she needed to hone her research skills to propel her work. “I realized I needed to cultivate a researcher’s mindset,” she says. “I participated in research, but I wanted to understand the underpinnings of its philosophy and processes so I could lead it.”
In 2023, she entered the School of Nursing’s PhD program and became a National Institutes of Health T32 Pre-Doctoral Training Scholar. She researches the use of health information technology to better understand how biophysiological markers such as heart rate variability can provide insight into the mental well-being of pregnant and postpartum women, particularly in underrepresented populations with higher rates of maternal morbidity and mortality.
What Byfield is amplifying:
She wants her research to address perinatal health disparities, particularly those affecting marginalized communities. Through her research and leadership, she emphasizes transforming research into actionable solutions that improve care for mothers, babies and families. Ultimately, Byfield wants her work to amplify equitable health care. “By addressing the needs of the most vulnerable, we create better outcomes for all,” she says.
“By addressing the needs of the most vulnerable, we create better outcomes for all.”
Built with Shorthand