ACNM Recognizes Charles S. Mahan, MD for the Inaugural Loius M. Hellman Midwifery Partnership Award

Charles, S. Mahan, MD, FACOG, is the recipient of the inaugural Louis M. Hellman Midwifery Partnership award. The Hellman award was created to recognize a physician who is a supporter of midwifery practice. The award is a joint effort of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc. and the Midwifery Business Network.

Midwifery Business Network President Denise Henning, CNM, said, “Dr. Mahan has spent his entire career advocating for women and championing midwives as the providers of choice for women's healthcare. At every opportunity, Dr. Mahan strives to relay the message that the most important measure of a civilized society is in how it treats the most vulnerable among us. His efforts have improved the lives of countless underserved women and children.”

Mahan said, “The many wonderful midwifery colleagues I have been privileged to know and work with in my 45 years in Ob/Gyn have greatly enriched my knowledge and skills to better help women through pregnancy and childbirth. I knew Dr. Hellman personally and that also makes this a very special award for me. I thank ACNM, the A.C.N. M. foundation and the Midwifery Business Network for this honor.”

Mahan has worked with the March of Dimes Prematurity Prevention Campaign and has served on advisory committees for Health and Human Services as well as the National Advisory Council on Infant Mortality. He also served on the National Association of Childbearing Centers' Board of Directors form the very beginning (now the American Association of Birth Centers), for more than 20 years, and has contributed to women’s’ healthcare issues in his resident state of Florida, including co-developing a nurse-midwifery education program at the University of Florida.

“Dr. Mahan is a fearless champion of midwifery and birth centers. His unwavering support of the midwifery model of care spans almost half a century,”said Eunice “Kitty” Ernst, CNM, MPH, DSc(Hon), FACNM, ACNM member and former ACNM President. “I could always depend on [him] to help in the development of partnerships with our obstetrical colleagues and advocate for legislative efforts.”

Currently, Mahan serves as a senior scientist for The Lawton and Rhea center for Healthy Mothers and Babies (Tampa, Fl.), and is on the board of the Frontier School of Midwifery & Family Nursing and the National Foundation to Advance Public Health Through Certification.

Last Revision: July 08, 2010