About Me: Dr Sally Pairman is Chief Executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), a role she took in late January 2017 after more than 30 years of work in midwifery practice, education, and regulation in her home country of New Zealand.

Previously, Sally was Professor of Midwifery and Director of Learning and Teaching at Otago Polytechnic, where she was also previously the Head of Midwifery.

She has held several national and international midwifery leadership roles, including a five-year term as President of New Zealand College of Midwives and a nine-year term as the first chairperson of the inaugural Midwifery Council of New Zealand. Sally has co-chaired ICM’s Regulation Standing Committee since 2008 and been a member of ICM’s Scientific Professional Programme Committee since 2011.

Sally has contributed to the midwifery academic field with numerous publications, including ‘Midwifery Partnership: a model for practice” and “Women’s Business: the history of the New Zealand College of Midwives 1986-2010” (co-authored with Karen Guilliland). She is co-editor for the Australasian Midwifery textbook, “Midwifery: Preparation for Practice”, now in development for its 4th edition.

Throughout her career, Sally has maintained her commitment to promoting midwifery as a strong, autonomous profession and to maintaining choices for women in childbirth services as evidenced through her political and professional activities and through her research and publications. Her services to midwifery were recognised in 2008 when she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.