Leadership TEam

Jalana Lazar, PhD, MPH, CNM, WHNP-BC, is a midwife with 15 years of experience facilitating groups, training other group care facilitators and trainers, and researching group care globally. In addition to Group Care Global work, she is on faculty at Georgetown University School of Nursing and an honorary lecturer at City, University of London. Jalana is part of the implementation research team carrying out the European Union-funded GC1000 initiative in 7 countries (Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 848147) and leads the GCG work to build a Group Care Community of Practice.

She is passionate about advocacy and building a strong global group care community of practice. 

Ashley Gresh is currently a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON). Ashley is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and holds an advanced practice nursing degree from JHUSON in Public Health Nursing (MSN). She is a current recipient of an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award to conduct her dissertation adapting and implementing group postpartum and well-child care in Malawi. Ashley recently completed a two-year interdisciplinary Global Women’s Health Fellowship with the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and maternal and child health NGO, Jhpiego.

Ashley holds previous degrees in International Development Studies from McGill University (BA) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (MA) in South Africa. Ashley has engaged in nursing and midwifery research and practice globally. Her current research interests include global women’s health, specifically group health care models, postpartum and well-child care. 

Deborah L. Billings, PhD, works closely with the Board of Directors to further the mission of Group Care Global. She directs GCG’s work and is part of the implementation research team carrying out the European Union-funded GC1000 initiative in 7 countries (Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 848147).  

As Faculty Affiliate and Researcher with the Institute for Families in Society (IFS) at the University of South Carolina (USA), she led the research carried out by a multidisciplinary, multilingual team for The Voices/Voces Initiative: Moving Forward through Women’s Voices to Address Pregnancy and Birth Inequities in South Carolina. In that same state, she led a multi-year implementation and process evaluation of scaling-up Group Care.

Over three decades, Deborah has collaborated with health systems throughout Africa and Latin America to shift policies and practices to address stigma, bias, and discrimination in the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services. She has worked as a researcher and consultant with global organizations including Ipas, the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Oak Foundation, UN Women, and UNFPA, as well as with national initiatives on sexual and reproductive health with the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico. At the University of South Carolina, Deborah is Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Families in Society (College of Social Work) and Women’s and Gender Studies, Faculty Mentor for the Maternal and Child Health Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Program, and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Arnold School of Public Health. She also serves as Adjunct Associate Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Deborah can be reached at:  dbillings@groupcare.global 

Rana Davis is a Certified Professional Life Coach and Sales and Marketing Real Estate Agent Strategist. Rana has worked on a South Carolina statewide contraceptive access campaign where she carried out impeccable work as the Administrative Logistics Coordinator. 

Rana comes to GCG with experience with QuickBooks and is collaborating with Cynthia Evans (Marcum Accountants and Advisors) to manage QuickBooks.  Rana will focus on QBs related to the multi-year Horizon2020 grant.  Rana also is managing timesheets and invoices as well as developing draft organizational policies for onboarding and travel. 

Margie Rickell, MA, CNM, attended Philadelphia University’s Institute of Midwifery Women and Health, graduating in early 2001. She then joined the OB/GYN faculty at VCU Health System in Richmond, VA as a Certified Nurse Midwife. In 2005, she established CenteringPregnancy at VCU and held the position of Director of CenteringPregnancy while working as a full scope CNM until August 2011. During that time she worked with the OB/GYN residency program and supported the integration of Residents and Medical Students into Centering.

Since 2006, Margie has been Consulting with the Centering Healthcare Institute and was Lead Consultant for two years. Margie started to work with Group Care Global in early 2019 when she visited Lesotho. Since 2020, she has been the GCG Co-lead consultant and part of the implementation research team carrying out the European Union-funded GC1000 initiative in 7 countries (Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 848147).  

Margie enjoys travelling both to sites around the world to help spread the Centering based model of care and to visit her scattered family and friends, primarily children and grandchildren.