Karline Wilson-Mitchell
Karline Wilson-Mitchell is passionate about reproductive justice that informs midwifery education, practice and global partnerships. Since 1992, Karline’s clinical work grew from the U.S. (urban and rural) to Canada (Ontario, remote Quebec) and then to midwifery education and leadership building in the Global South (Jamaica, Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, South Sudan). Her scholarship explores the skills and infrastructure necessary to diversify the midwifery workforce and explores strategies that facilitate equitable and inclusive work environments for midwives and vulnerable populations. Her goal is to promote resilience and sagacity in vulnerable midwifery students. To this end the MEP mentorship program was launched in December 2017, in partnership with the Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Student Collective. It is an program to improve MEP career trajectories and the quality of academic life and provide clinical for both preceptors and learners.
“The opportunity for intellectual partnerships with students excites me!”, remarks Karline. These are students motivated by curiosity to interrogate the intersections of midwifery, community service, ancestral healing traditions, spiritual wholeness and wellness, and respectful leadership. The seeds of the Canadian Midwives of Colour History Project were germinated by midwifery students of colour.
Dr. Wilson-Mitchell is currently a co-investigator and collaborator on several projects including Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health (PI - Dr. Priscilla Boakye), on African Caribbean and Black Mental Health, () and Black Health Educators’ Collaborative ( Reproductive Health Working Group, Lead ) an interdisciplinary group of clinicians that publishes, provides consultations and policy advice. In addition, she is a co-investigator with the (PI - ).
Karline’s past research projects have included partnerships with the University of West Indies School of Nursing, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica; IMPAKT Hospital for Sick Children and 91ε Faculty of Community Services; Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement [Immigration Trajectories of Immigrant Families Project (ITIF)]; Rights for Children and Youth Partnership: Strengthening Collaboration in the Americas (); MITAC multidisciplinary project ( to explore Humanized Birth and Obstetrical Violence in Brazil); partnership with Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil; and partnership with the . She has worked for as a consultant and volunteer developing Tanzanian Respectful Maternity Care and South Sudanese Leadership workshops for nurses and midwives. She serves as an editorial reviewer for several high impact, professional journals.
Connect on social media
- MWF 120: Normal Childbearing
- MWF 250: Midwifery Clinical Skills
- MWF 320: Midwifery Complications & Consultation
- MWF 344/345: Advanced Clinical Skills I, II, Emergency Skills Workshop
- MWF 370: Field Placement
- MWF 410: Clerkship
- MWF 420: Midwifery: Maternal & Newborn Pathology
- MWF 508: Black Family Health: Decolonizing Systems
- 100ABC Women Award, 2024
- Dorethea M. Lang Pioneer Award, American College of Nurse-Midwives, 2022
- Viola Desmond Award, 2019
- Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, 2019
- Carrington-Hsia-Nives Doctoral Scholarship for Midwives of Color, 2017
Research Interests:
- Global applications of Health Information Technology
- Canadian Health Disparity Research
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Research Projects:
Project |
Role |
Funding Information |
Accelerating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Policy Action in West Africa: Building Governance Capacity and a Regional Community of Practice Project (2026-) |
Co-Applicant, PI Dr. Dr Uche Ngwaba |
|
| Toward an AI-Enabled Regional Hub for Integrating Health Governance, Surveillance, and Research in West Africa. The objective is to strengthen health governance, surveillance, and research collaboration across West Africa by establishing an interoperable, federated regional Hub and AI-enabled legal epidemiology tools that integrate governance instruments and public health surveillance data. (2026)
|
Co-Applicant, PI Dr. Uche Ngwaba. Regional Health Governance Study () 91ε partners include African CDC, Sociocapital, Global Strategy Lab (York U) | MERIC (Medical Education Research and Innovation Center) |
|
Enhancing Competency-Based Healthcare Provider Clinical Education Through Generative AI. Upscaling, improving quality of care, addressing burnout and work-related stress. (2026) |
PI, Applicant, Co-Applicant Dr. Teresa Chan |
|
Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health (2025) |
Co-Investigator |
|
| The Colour of Birth Project. History of Canadian Midwives of Colour. . An interdisciplinary collaboration of historians & archivers, filmmaker, web designer, social scientists, anthropologists, midwifery and history students, Immigration & Settlement Studies alumnus., Co-I: May Friedman PhD, Megan Davies PhD, Margaret MacDonald PhD, Cyrus Sundar Singh PhD (c) (2020) | Co-PI, Co-PI: Karen Flynn PhD |
|
| Humanized Birth and Obstetrical Violence in Brazil | Co-Investigator, Co-Applicant |
|
| Rights for Children & Youth Partnership: Collaboration in the Americas. (2012) | Co-Investigator, Co-applicant, Governance Team for partners Violence against children Team |
|
| Integration Trajectories of Immigrant Families (2013) | Co Applicant, Co-Investigator |
|
| Psychosocial Factors Associated With Jamaican Adolescent Pregnancy and Suicidal Behaviour (2013) | PI (Co-PI=Dr. Joanna Bennett) |
|
| Birth Outcomes of New Immigrant and Refugee Women in the Greater Toronto Area (2012) | PI (Co-Investigator Dr. Anneke Rummens) |
|