Biography
Nardini received a B.S. degree in Exercise Physiology with a minor in Psychology (1999) from the University of California, Davis. She earned her M.S. in Nursing with a concentration in Midwifery and Women’s Health and a minor in Education (2008) from the University of California, San Francisco. She later completed a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Community Health (2018) from the University of New Mexico. Following her graduate training, she joined the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she has served as a Certified Nurse-Midwife since 2012.
Personal Statement
Clinical: I first began working at UNM in 2012 as a locum/per diem midwife, and quickly found myself desiring to transition to a staff position as I valued the University’s commitment to clinical, educational, and research excellence. Since spring of 2013, I have worked full-time at UNM as a staff midwife. I enjoy the patient population at UNM, including the ability to care for monolingual Spanish speaking patients. While in the past, I have had two continuity clinics, I currently have one continuity clinic at the Women’s Health Clinic where I see people for prenatal and postpartum care as well as for gynecology and family planning services. I work a few times on Labor and Delivery each month, which includes coverage of OB Triage and the Mother Baby Unit, providing postpartum care. I also work in OB Triage in the role of OB Triage Midwife several times a month. I am trained in the CenteringPregnancy model of care and led four CenteringPregnancy groups prior to the cessation of Centering due to COVID-19; I hope to return to that role once we resume Centering.
I am continuously trying to improve processes for clinical care at UNM. I have worked hard to update, replace, and create education material to provide to patients in the clinic, hospital, and OB Triage. I have worked with the Health Literacy staff to ensure readable documents for our patients that are available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. I was recognized by the Health Literacy Department as a Health Literacy Champion for the Department of OBGYN.
Education: One of the reasons I left private practice to come to UNM was because I value the role that UNM plays in the education of learners. In private practice, I began precepting midwifery students. I have continued precepting students in clinic and in the hospital at UNM, and have expanded the role to precept Physician Assistant and Family Nurse Practitioner students. I have precepted 13 students over the last 11 years. I also have a Letter of Academic Title with the Department of OBGYN and am an Adjunct Professor with UNM’s College of Nursing, where I serve as a lecturer to the midwifery faculty; I lecture annually about Group B Strep. This past year, I was also invited to lecture at the College of Population Health on the topic of Maternal Mortality.
I have also come to recognize the importance of and my love for helping educate medical students and residents. I enjoy working clinically in the hospital with OB and MCH residents and interns, as well as with off-service interns and medical students. In the classroom, I have provided education on normal antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care to medical students since 2016. At first, teaching was in a lecture format, but I worked with another midwife to make the presentations more interactive, and redesigned curriculum to be formatted as case studies. With COVID-19, I began to provide the interactive lectures online, and then worked with another midwife to create a recording of the two of us presenting, which included simulation-style videos on pelvic care and on delivering a baby. In terms of resident education, I have lectured on prenatal care for incoming intern classes, and have been a primary preceptor for OB interns in their first month of July in the hospital. I have also presented at Resident School. In our new role as OB Triage midwife, I have worked with many learners, and have found the work to be extremely rewarding.
My work with the Maternal Mortality Review Committee and the New Mexico Perinatal Collaborative Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) has enforced my passionate about the importance of simulation drills. I have helped lead simulations for learners in several venues. One, I became an Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) Provider, and have led several years of simulations on emergency obstetrics to residents, midwifery students, midwives, OBGYNs, nurses, and emergency providers. I also became involved with UNM’s Labor and Delivery simulation team and began leading simulations in conjunction with the Unit Educator. When simulations became required by JCAHO, a formal simulations team was formed, of which I became a part of in order to help figure out how to have full participation of emergency OB simulations on Labor and Delivery. In addition, last year, the Department of OBGYN began efforts to lead medical students in simulations, and I helped create curriculum for this teaching, and have lead medical students in simulations throughout the various block schedules over the past year.
In addition, I have presented on multiple platforms regarding Maternal Mortality, both at the state and national level. Local presentations have included presenting at UNM’s Project ECHO Improving Perinatal Health Echo as well as the UNM Women’s Health Conference.
Research: I have moved from primarily supporting the research of other providers in the Department of OBGYN to participating in my own research around Group B Strep infection in pregnancy and the use of probiotics. As the Primary Investigator, in collaboration with Dr. Lisa Hansen of Marquette University, I have received grant funding from the Department of OB/GYN for the last two years to conduct this research. I have included a learner in this research project. The plan is to wrap-up data collection later this year, and then analyze the data and disseminate the findings. Previous to this project, I conducted a survey of midwives in New Mexico around controlled prescribing practices as an independent study project while earning my Masters of Public Health. I published the findings in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, which was recognized as one of the top ten most accessed articles that year. I have presented posters of my research work at national and local conferences. I have also collaborated to present data from our state’s New Mexico Maternal Mortality Review Committee findings.
Service/Leadership: My commitment to the University and Department of OBGYN is also demonstrated by my administrative and committee work. Shortly after I started at UNM, I became the scheduler for the midwifery division. I also filled the role of Family Medicine intern coordinator for our group for a year. When the Midwifery Division Chief left her position in 2016, I helped develop the vision to split the position into a Chief and Associate Chief Leadership Team. I became the Associate Chief in 2016 and served in that role until Jan 2022. As Associate Chief, I focused mainly on schedule and human resources (HR) within the division. Part of my HR role was leading the hiring efforts for our division as well as orienting new hires to UNM. I sat on the Advanced Practice Provider Credentialing Committee and the Labor and Delivery Steering Committee. I also filled in for the Chief when she was unavailable or on annual leave. While I have stepped down from this role this year, I continue to assist the new Associate Chief in her transition. I continue to participate in the Department’s Anti-Racism, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
I am focusing my work now on my collaboration with the Department of Health. I have been contracted with the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) since 2014, and work under UNM’s Master Services Agreement to provide services to DOH. My work with the DOH focuses on licensing and regulating of midwives. My role with DOH also includes work with the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC). I am an executive leadership member of the MMRC as well as the Lead Abstractor for the Committee.
Locally and nationally, I have served on numerous committees and have been elected or nominated to several leadership positions. I am involved with our National Organization, the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). I am involved in ACNM’s New Mexico Affiliate and have served in the past as President of the Affiliate. I have served on National Committees of ACNM including servicing as the Section Chair of the Division of Global Health Networking Committee Section. I currently serve on the Midwives in Support of Reproductive Health and Abortion Caucus and the Midwives Clinical Practice and Documents Section in the Division of Membership and Publications. I also represented the ACNM as a member of the National Quality Forum's Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Committee. I am a member and active participant of the New Mexico Perinatal Collaborative and was the Lead Midwife for the state’s AIM Initiative. I became a Fellow of the ACNM in 2019.
Certifications
Certified Nurse-Midwife, American Midwifery Certification Board, # 12756
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, National Certification Corporation, # NAR-1-0434-1724
Key Publications
Journal Article
Nardini, Katrina, Hanson, Lisa, Borders, Noelle, Singh, Maharaj, Shields, Anna, Trujillo, Victoria, Y. Lawton, Robyn, Malloy, Emily, 2025 Open?Label Randomized Controlled Trial and Feasibility Study of an Oral Probiotic Intervention to Reduce Group B Streptococcus Colonization in Pregnant People by the Time of Birth Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, vol. 70, Issue 3, 460-467 https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13765
Journal Article
Hanson, Lisa, VandeVusse, Leona, Malloy, Emily, Garnier-Villarreal, Mauricio, Watson, Lauren, Fial, Alissa, Forgie, Marie, Nardini, Katrina, Safdar, Nasia, 2022 Probiotic interventions to reduce antepartum Group B streptococcus colonization: A systematic review and meta-analysis Midwifery, vol. 105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2021.103208
Languages
- English
- Spanish