Photo: Hallie Leo
Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing PhD students Jamie Bourgeois, RN, MSN, CNM, PMHNP-BC, and Melissa Anne DuBois, BSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM, are advocating for maternal health in their dissertation work, powered by 50 years of collective nursing experience and collaboration with each other.
When Bourgeois matriculated at UMass Chan Medical School in the fall of 2024, DuBois reached out as her PhD peer mentor. The two discovered a shared background in obstetrics and maternity care and became friends after realizing their similar perspectives.
“I’ve always been very passionate about human rights and especially women’s rights, even as a teenager. My career in maternal health care is the perfect way for me to continue that passion,” said DuBois. “Everyone is born. Everybody has a birth experience, and the way we’re born affects our health for the rest of our lives.”
DuBois is pursuing her PhD at UMass Chan to become a perinatal nursing professor and nurse researcher. With her PhD in nursing, Bourgeois aspires to best serve her patients at the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester.
Bourgeois, who hails from Nashua, New Hampshire, and grew up in Tewksbury, is on track to graduate next year. A UMass Lowell alum who holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati and the University of New Hampshire, she has worked in inpatient and outpatient obstetrical nursing and is currently employed as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
“The classes I thought were just a requisite to the program have all been something I can really sink my teeth into,” said Bourgeois. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy anything related to philosophy or theory, and I ended up expanding on them. I can’t say I’ve ever considered combining nursing and politics, and UMass Chan’s health policy class completely changed my perspective. The nursing PhD is such an important degree to our profession, and it’s been the best experience in education I’ve ever had.”
In her dissertation, Bourgeois plans to explore nurse practitioners’ understanding and beliefs around how various forms of bias may impact perinatal mental health care. Research published on the National Library of Medicine website shows that suicide is a leading cause of death for mothers in the first year after birth, a fact that has not changed despite improved universal screening, patient and provider education, and an increase in evidence-based treatment options.
DuBois, who grew up in Millbury and lives in Princeton, is on track to graduate in December. She studied nursing at UMass Amherst and has worked as a labor and delivery nurse, outpatient OB/GYN nurse, home birth assistant, postpartum visiting nurse, lactation counselor and childbirth educator.
For her dissertation, DuBois is conducting a qualitative descriptive study, interviewing current labor and delivery nurses in the U.S. about any experiences they’ve had witnessing acts of obstetric violence committed by their colleagues against pregnant people during labor and birth. Her work aims to guide future interventions to help support nurses, decrease obstetric violence, change maternity care and lead to better outcomes for parents and babies. Dubois was recognized with a research award from the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing last month.
DuBois and Bourgeois were invited guests on an international podcast called Humanism Now and are regular contributors to an online nursing forum called Writer’s Camp.
The Student Spotlight series features UMass Chan Medical School students in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and T.H. Chan School of Medicine. For more information about UMass Chan Medical School and how to apply, visit the Prospective Students page.
