Dr Joyce Cowan, of Auckland, ONZM, for services to midwifery
Dr Joyce Cowan registered as a midwife in the 1970s and has provided community and hospital-based care throughout South Auckland. She is a leading expert in pre-eclampsia, a condition that threatens the health and life of mothers and babies. She co-founded the charity New Zealand Action on Pre-eclampsia (NZ APEC), which has contributed to New Zealand’s low perinatal mortality associated with pre-eclampsia. She introduced and currently leads the Growth Assessment Programme (GAP), which has resulted in improved detection of smaller babies during pregnancy and a reduction in stillbirths. While a Senior Lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology Midwifery Department, she published her doctoral thesis on the effect of implementation of GAP in Counties Manukau on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Dr Cowan has presented her research findings at several conferences.