Cat Palmer brings a decade of birthwork experience, including five years of midwifery, to her position as the Director of Midwifery at North Carolina Birth Center. She attended Elon University for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in public health. Upon graduation, Cat became part of the inaugural cohort of the Elon-Alamance Health Partnership, a public health initiative between Elon University and Cone Health. As part of her public health work, Cat was trained as a doula and began attending births. She also completed the Mary Rose Tully Training Initiative at UNC Chapel Hill during this time to become an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). While working as a doula and lactation consultant, Cat realized her interest in reproductive health expanded past the scope of either of those two roles, and decided to pursue midwifery. Cat earned both a bachelor's and master's of nursing from Emory University, which prepared her to become a certified nurse-midwife (CNM). Cat started her midwifery career in Atlanta, where she practiced in both hospital and birth center settings. 

Cat feels she found her home in community birth. She values the birth center model because it centers the knowledge, experience, and desires of the birthing person and their family. Cat believes strongly in the midwifery values of autonomy, education, and dignity, and strives to provide respectful, compassionate care to all her clients. Cat believes that healthcare is at its best when client and clinician work in partnership, valuing each other as team members and respecting each other's expertise and experiences. Cat believes that when people are supported to create the families they want in the way they want, they can also be empowered to create the communities and world they want to live in. 

When not midwifing, Cat can be found enjoying her friends and family. She enjoys hiking, yoga, cooking, baking, and scrapbooking. She is an avid consumer of stories and loves to read, listen to podcasts, and swap tales with friends. Cat lives with her husband, two daughters, and two kitties in Durham. She is in constant search of new book recommendations and anything to make her laugh.