Roa Altaweli

Roa Altaweli is a registered consultant midwife from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the first midwife in the country to obtain a PhD. She is the Director of Midwifery Department at General Department of Nursing Affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Health. Most notably, she is a founding board member and the chairperson of the Saudi Midwifery Group. She is also a Board Member of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) representing the Eastern Mediterranean Region and a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Network WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery as an ICM representative. Altaweli is holding a BSc in Nursing from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and a Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery from Bahrain. Her career has developed over a couple of years as a midwife at the National Guard Hospital in Jeddah and as a Teaching Assistant at Dar Al Hekma University, Jeddah.

Later, Altaweli decided to pursue an academic career in order to spread her love of midwifery to others. She obtained a postgraduate certificate in the Advanced Practice of Midwifery from King’s College London followed by a Master’s Degree and PhD in Midwifery from City, University of London. Altaweli’s career has advanced and she worked as the Clinical Director of Nursing and Midwifery at East Jeddah Hospital. Beyond her full-time job as a Director of Midwifery Department, Altaweli is a member of the Nursing and Midwifery Professional Council of Saudi Arabia and serves in two national committees, one for Women and Child Health and one for nursing and midwifery. Her aim is to empower women to have a natural childbirth and to advance midwifery practice, education, research and leadership in Saudi Arabia.