Mentor & Mentee Bios
Meet the members of Midwives Encircled!
Mentors
My name is Lois Acheampong and I am a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health NP. I am originally from Ghana in West Africa and was born in Italy. Outside of midwifery, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, singing, and caring for my 4-year-old Yorkie.
My path into nursing and midwifery was unexpected. My true passion growing up was music, and I once planned to pursue singing. During nursing school, I struggled to connect with my clinical experiences—until my maternity rotation, where everything changed. That experience sparked a deep passion for supporting women and families during one of the most transformative times in their lives.
I currently work at a community health center serving a diverse and underserved population, including Spanish-, Haitian Creole-, Portuguese-, Dari-, and Pashto-speaking communities. This work has deeply shaped my commitment to culturally responsive, compassionate care.
I truly love what I do and the people I serve. I am honored and excited to support, uplift, and speak life into the next generation of midwives as they step into this meaningful and impactful work.
Lois Osei-Poku Acheampong (Dwira)
I grew up in Arlington, MA and enjoy spending time outdoors. I love trying out new restaurants and playing board games, too! I have always known I would work in public health, but when I took an anthropology of reproduction class and learned about midwives, I felt that I had found my calling. To me, being a midwife brings together the things I am passionate about -- the perfect blend of education, preventative health, and direct care. I graduated from Vanderbilt's program in 2025.
Nicole Haas-Loomis
My passion has always been nursing. I emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 8 as a Cambodian refugee. I have 3 kids (2 girls & a boy) that are really young adults now. All delivered by midwives, my last was delivered at CHA birth center, water birth. I have been a midwife since 2002. I have worked all types of nursing and midwifery, 3 years at SSH & Crown, and CHA/birth center since 2005. I spend my days at the gym, walk on the beach & play w/my dogs & dog sit other people’s dogs.
Phary Her
My name is Triska Bature, and I am a registered nurse with a deep passion for women’s health and midwifery. I was born in Georgetown, Guyana, and moved to Massachusetts in 2012, which has really shaped how I approach care, especially the importance of being culturally sensitive and compassionate. I earned my ADN in 2022 and will be walking in May 2026 for my BSN, all while working as a telemetry nurse.
My journey to midwifery is both personal and purposeful. It was shaped not only by my experiences in obstetrics, but also by the care I received during my own births and throughout my own healthcare experiences. Those moments stayed with me and confirmed my desire to be that kind of support for other women during such an important time in their lives. As a mother of four, I bring both lived experience and my nursing background into this path.
Outside of nursing, I enjoy traveling, trying new foods, and spending quality time with my family. I am really looking forward to learning, growing, and building meaningful connections through mentorship as I continue on my journey to becoming a nurse-midwife.
Triska-Tushanna Bature
Meet Yuleissy (JEW-Lay-See) Ramírez !
She was born in the Dominican Republic and now practices Capoeira (a Brazilian mixed-martial art), and both influence her Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese language skills. She started her journey in birth work during her high school senior project at Milton Academy, where she had the opportunity to shadow OBs. Thinking she would go to medical school, she followed the pre-med track during her four years at Harvard University, graduating with a Concentration in Human Evolutionary Biology and a Secondary in Romance Languages. During her senior year she became a doula where she discovered Midwifery and decided to modify her career path. She then went back to school for a second bachelor's in nursing from Northeastern University and worked as a labor and delivery nurse at MGH while completing her Midwifery studies at Frontier Nursing University.
Currently, Yules work as a midwife at BMC practicing in labor and delivery and postpartum inpatient as well as serving the outpatient community in the prenatal and postpartum care at Shapiro Clinic and specialty adolescent clinic. Yuleissy is passionate about culturally safe and competent care.
Outside of Midwifery, Yuleissy practices Capoeira and is known as “Aidê” in the capoeira world. She received the “Professora” title in 2023, becoming the first and only woman in her group to receive this high ranking and being the second highest rank overall, not including the Capoeira Master. She now teaches Martial Arts to other women at Wellesley University.