Our Team
Dr. Andrew Bisits
Andrew Bisits recently retired as the Director of Obstetrics at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, Australia, a tertiary academic hospital which oversees 4000 births per year. He moved there from Newcastle, 150km north of Sydney, where he had been the Director of Obstetrics for eight years. Dr Bisits was in full time obstetrics for 40 years (which includes the training and residency positions).
He has had a strong interest in breech birth since the term breech trial was first planned. In the research arena he has a strong leaning towards epidemiology and biostatistics. In the clinical arena he has participated in several initiatives to promote normal birth through helping establish primary midwifery care programs for pregnant women. Dr Bisits has a conjoint associate professorial position with the UNSW (University of New South Wales) and is on the Australian board of ALSO (advanced life support in obstetrics).
Dr. Meriah Fahey
Dr. Meriah Fahey is a Royal College–certified specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Born and raised in Calgary, she began her medical training at the University of Calgary before completing residency at the University of Manitoba, where she was mentored by many influential leaders in the field, including Dr. Savas Menticoglou, author of the SOGC Guidelines that continue to shape the support of vaginal breech birth across Canada, and the world.
After residency, Dr. Fahey returned to Alberta, working as a locum physician before joining South Health Campus (SHC) in 2013. She is now the Site Lead for SHC and maintains a generalist practice in both obstetrics and gynecology. Her work spans several sites, including South Health Campus, Foothills Medical Centre, and collaborative clinics at Elbow River Healing Lodge, Eden Valley, and Tsuut’ina Nation. She has particular interests in breech birth, menopause, Indigenous health, and environmental health.
Dr. Fahey also leads Calgary’s program for vaginal breech birth, working alongside 12 outstanding obstetric colleagues and dedicated low-risk providers to expand safe access and patient choice. Her published research includes Outcomes of a Breech Birth Program in Canada, Quality Assurance Project (JOGC, 2021) and Women’s Selection of Mode of Birth for Their Breech Presentation (JOGC, 2021).
She looks forward to continued work and excellence in obstetrical care and is especially excited to support the upcoming local conference in Calgary this November
Betty-Anne Daviss RM,MA
Betty-Anne Daviss is an Adjunct Professor in Women’s Studies and a Canadian midwife who has practiced for 50 years in various settings in Canada, USA, Latin America, and Afghanistan. She has been the scientific co-ordinator for 3 breech conferences and attended over 200 planned vaginal breech births..
A researcher for 40 years in the social sciences and clinical epidemiology, she has published on human rights in childbirth, vaginal breech, avoiding arbitrary timelines in labour, VBAC and PPH. She co-authored with Ken Johnson, the largest North American prospective home birth study for its time (BMJ 2005, downloaded over 600, 000 times).
Of 4 volumes she co-edited on models for maternity care, she considers Birthing Models on the Human Rights Frontier: Speaking Truth to Power (Routledge 2021) to be the most critical treatise offering templates for global change. It is a colourful academic and activist treatise chronicling how human rights violations in childbirth, like other social justice issues, can be turned around in dynamic communities.
Although she attended her first breech in 1976, Betty-Anne did not gain privileges as an “MRP”(Most Responsible Person) at breech births in hospital until 2013--at l’Hôpital Montfort in Ottawa due to a forward-thinking Head of Obstetrics, Dr. Dan Moreau. She has had no newborn deaths or long-term negative sequelae as MRP at breech births.
Her research began in earnest in 2007 when she negotiated attending breeches in Frankfurt, mapped the cardinal movements of the breech, analyzed the 2004-2011 data with Dr. Ken Johnson, and wrote the article comparing upright to dorsal positions, “Does Breech Delivery in an Upright Position instead of on the back improve outcomes and decrease cesareans?“ (IJGO 2017) for the Frankfurt team. Some of her other Frankfurt/North American publications can be found on her website at www.understandingbirthbetter.com. Her breech manual about the history, research and manoeuvres for breech, Rethinking the Physiology of Breech Birth, is in its 18th edition and become the official manual to read to prepare for the BABE course in Australia.
Dr. Kenneth C. Johnson
Kenneth C. Johnson, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, and was a Research. Scientist/Senior Epidemiologist with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada (1982–2013). His work there focused on cancer risks associated with environment, occupation, diet and physical activity. Since 2014, his major focus has been on the renewable energy revolution and pushing for broad action on the climate crisis.
His early perinatal epidemiology work included research on the limitations of randomized controlled trials in perinatal research. From 1991 to 2004 he was the epidemiologic consultant with the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Statistics and Research Committee, helping to establish MANA’s long-term collection of home birth data.
He was the co–principal investigator of the CPM2000, a prospective study of 5,418 planned home births with Certified Professional Midwives in North America, published in the British Medical Journal in 2005. He has collaborated on a number of commentaries on the epidemiologic shortcomings of specific home birth and vaginal breech studies and meta-analyses.
He was the analyst for the largest cohort study of upright vaginal breech birth to date, published in 2017, utilizing data from Frankfurt, Germany that helped establish the evidence that upright vaginal breach was not only safe, but the preferred method of breech delivery.
Lisa Cowdery RM
Lisa Cowdery is Registered Midwife and a founding member of the National Breech Society of Canada (NBSC). During their time as a policy writer and a member of the College of Midwives of Alberta Continuing Competency Committee (2022-2026), Lisa co-authored several regulatory standards, policies, guidance documents and position statements for the profession.
Lisa’s clinical practice focuses on bridging systemic gaps and navigating reproductive law and ethics through challenging clinical situations.
After attending two exceptionally challenging vaginal breech births and navigating shifting institutional policies, they were accepted for an observational placement at the Frankfurt University Hospital in May 2025, where they gained additional education and experience from German obstetricians who routinely attend upright, physiologic vaginal breech birth.
Their comprehensive informed choice documents and clinical care frameworks have been utilized throughout Alberta to help support informed decision making for clients choosing midwifery attended vaginal breech in all birth settings. While Lisa now resides and practices on Prince Edward Island, they continue to work closely with Albertan midwives to reclaim access to midwifery hospital privileges for planned breech and twin birth.
