Dr. Liz Darling is the Assistant Dean of Midwifery at McMaster University and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her qualifications include an Honours BArtsSc (McMaster), a BHSc in Midwifery (McMaster), an MSc in Health Research Methodology (McMaster), and a PhD in Population Health (Ottawa).

She holds a CIHR Early Career Investigator Award in Maternal, Reproductive, Child and Youth Health that supports a mixed methods research program investigating the impact of funding expanded midwifery care models in Ontario. Her research interests include midwifery services, health disparities, access to care, health policy, and perinatal health outcomes. She has particular expertise in the midwifery data collected in Ontario’s perinatal registry (BORN-Ontario). She is committed to building research capacity within the midwifery profession, and currently mentors undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of academic programs.

Dr. Darling practiced midwifery in Ottawa and was a part-time faculty member with the Midwifery Education Program at Laurentian University prior to joining McMaster full-time in 2017. She is also an Adjunct Scientist at ICES-McMaster, and holds an Associate appointment in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. She has represented the midwifery profession in clinical and research committees at the provincial and national level, including serving as a member of the Expert Advisory Committee for the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System.

She is the recipient of academic awards which include a CIHR Early Career Investigator Award (2019), the Association of Ontario Midwives’ Excellence in Midwifery Research Award (2019), the Joseph De Koninck Doctoral Thesis Award (2015), a CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2011), and a CIHR Health Professional Fellowship (2011 – declined).