Amy Romano, MBA, MSN, CNM, FACNM

Step Up Together Co-Founder, CEO and Founder of Primary Maternity Care

Amy (she/her) Romano is a maternity care leader focused on care model innovation, community-integrated care, and quality improvement. With a clinical background as a nurse and midwife, Amy has particular expertise in midwife-led and team-based care models, and implementation of clinical, wellness, and quality management programs.

A prolific author and speaker on maternity care system reform, she has developed nationally recognized quality improvement programs with partners including the American Association of Birth Centers, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Health Equity Solutions, the Institute for Perinatal Quality Improvement, the National Partnership for Women and Families, and the Purchaser Business Group on Health.

Jen Johnson, MS, CNM

Step Up Together Founding Faculty Lead and Primary Maternity Care Clinical Operations Specialist

Jen (she/her) is a Certified Nurse-Midwife with extensive clinical experience in both community and hospital settings. As a co-founder of Step Up Together, she leverages her expertise to enhance teamwork among perinatal professionals, ensuring they are better equipped to meet the needs of their local communities. As part of her work in full-scope clinical practice at Jefferson Health-Abington Hospital she promotes interprofessional education to improve collaboration between resident physicians and midwives.

Jen is dedicated to advancing equitable, safe, and high-quality care, with a focus on expanding access to midwives and community birth. She works closely with providers from all backgrounds, valuing their unique perspectives and emphasizing the importance of learning from and honoring each other’s skills and strengths.

Alexa Dougherty, MSN, PHN, CNM

Step Up Together Faculty and Primary Maternity Care Clinical Operations Specialist

Alexa (she/her) is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Public Health Nurse with over a decade of experience in maternal health. She specializes in systems strategy, aiming to improve health outcomes through interdisciplinary collaboration. With clinical experience in both birth centers and hospitals, Alexa is dedicated to integrating community birth into the broader healthcare system, reducing racial inequities, and enhancing maternal and neonatal outcomes.

At Boston Medical Center, Alexa educates resident physicians and medical students, fostering collaboration and supporting physiologic birth. Additionally, as Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown University, Alexa advises midwifery and women’s health nurse-practitioner students, overseeing clinical faculty nationwide. Her commitment to education and integration is central to her work in creating sustainable healthcare change.

Mari-Carmen Farmer, MSN, CNM

Step Up Together Faculty and Community Design Specialist

A first-generation Afro-Latinx midwife and educator, Mari-Carmen has been engaged in social justice and maternal wellness for over 20 years. The inclusive approach and implicit trust in the birthing process provided by the midwives attending her own birth helped clarify her calling to midwifery. Prior to midwifery, Mari-Carmen completed a degree in sociology and anthropology and became engaged in social justice and community organizing in Philadelphia. She is an Americorps alum, a seasoned doula and childbirth educator, and an experienced facilitator with a strong background in designing and leading trainings and group experiences. Since graduating from the CNM/WHNP program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, Mari-Carmen has been providing full-scope care for families from a wide range of cultures in Philadelphia. She is also currently serving as the president of Philly Metro Midwives, the local chapter of the PA ACNM, and is the founder and lead facilitator of Midwife y Maestra, an organization that designs workshops, retreats, and healing circles that focus on antiracism, healing trauma, and building community. As a vocal advocate for health equity and reproductive justice, Mari-Carmen is committed to centering the narratives of the people she serves, as she believes that stories create connections that can catalyze powerful social change.

Christy Santoro CPM, LM, MA

Step Up Together Faculty

Christy Santoro, MA, CPM (she/her), is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Health Justice and Bioethics and the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine. A Certified Professional Midwife since 2002, Christy brings two decades of hands-on experience in community birth, reproductive justice advocacy, and interprofessional collaboration to her consulting with Primary Maternity Care.

Her work focuses on building equitable, relationship-based systems of perinatal care. She partners with clients/patients, clinicians, and community organizations to redesign care pathways, strengthen trust, and improve outcomes through participatory research, community-driven quality improvement and advocacy. Her current projects include curricula for medical trainees and teams on respectful, anti-racist, and culturally responsive care; practice transformation grounded in epistemic humility; and perinatal health equity research that center birthing people’s expertise and community priorities.

Christy holds a BS in Public Health from UNC–Chapel Hill and an MA in Bioethics from Temple University. She is based in Philadelphia and works with partners nationally and internationally, remotely.