Mimi Bhatt

Dr. Mimi Bhatt [she/her] has always been critical of systems. Her mother was a midwife, her father a physician, and she saw how often medical systems failed the people who needed them most. Her frequent childhood trips to India revealed a shocking poverty gap and a lack of healthcare access. Her mother shared tragic stories about women giving birth in underserved rural areas. It was clear to her that existing power structures privileged some and left others behind. And more often than not, those left behind were women. “My mother,” she says, “embodied the idea for me that women bore the price of the world’s injustice.”

Dr. Bhatt initially studied comparative literature at NYU. But she brought her intimacy with critical feminist theory and anti-oppression frameworks back into the medical field, first as a midwife, and then as a midwife-activist fighting to reform systems that fail women. “Individualized care is the key to good health outcomes,” Dr. Bhatt says. “That’s what midwifery excels at.” And yet only 10-12% of American births feature midwives, despite our high rates of surgical intervention and maternal mortality. And women from marginalized communities are disproportionately locked out of the midwife model-of-care.

Dr. Bhatt’s tireless activism has resonated throughout the healthcare system. She’s helped pass the Midwifery Birth Center Law in NY State, removing oppressive restrictions on midwife-led birthing centers. And through her appointment to the regional branch of the International Confederation of Midwives, she’s fighting for maternal healthcare equity around the world. Among her many accolades is the inaugural ‘Reproductive Justice and Equity Award’—bestowed unanimously by her peer clinicians. “The work of giving birth may be the most important work there is,” Dr. Bhatt says. “Our systems should honor this work.”