Samara Oscroft

I’ve been fascinated with pregnancy and babies since I was a child and eventually found my way to doula work. During that time, I worked in homes, birth centers and hospitals with some incredible midwives whose expertise and demeanour awed me. Eventually I knew that was the role I wanted to have. As I learned more about the provision of perinatal care, I was also becoming more involved in the queer community and seeing members of my community struggling to access safe, affirming and equitable reproductive care. I wanted to be able to provide that care.

There were many factors that played into my decision to choose UBC for my midwifery education, but what really solidified it was the program’s staff and faculty. When researching different schools, the student services manager at UBC gave me excellent advice and helped me get here. While writing papers in my gender studies classes, I was finding research by midwives involved with UBC’s midwifery program that inspired me. I didn’t apply anywhere else – I knew this was where I wanted to be.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work as a research assistant with UBC’s Birth Place Lab. Under the leadership of Dr. Saraswathi Vedam, the lab is currently analyzing the data from the RESPCCT Study, which looks at how people experience care during pregnancy and childbirth across Canada. Specifically, I am examining the experiences within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and of people who have experienced incarceration. I have also been supporting the “Birth Includes Us” study, which looks at queer and trans peoples’ experiences accessing reproductive healthcare in the U.S. and Canada.

I’m dying to travel to Hornby Island. My friends describe it as idyllic, with warmer waters than you’ll find anywhere else in the Gulf Islands. I don’t know if that’s fully true, but I’m the kind of person who likes to find things out for herself. Hopefully, I’ll make my way there after next summer’s interprofessional placement.