Administrative and Clinical Director 

Virtua Midwifery Birth and Wellness Center

Karen McEvoy Shields, CNM, MSN, FACNM has practiced midwifery for over 25 years and has a passion for providing a space for all persons to feel heard, valued and cared for. She is committed to working to bridge the gap in birth equity and advancing quality of care for all birthing persons and children in New Jersey. Karen has shown a lifelong commitment to advancing midwifery in the state of New Jersey and improving the health and wellbeing of all birthing families.

She is a Board member of the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative and an officer of Family Health Initiatives. Karen’s midwifery career has taken her from a solo, midwife owned, full scope practice, to developing a midwifery led practice of 5 midwives specializing in physiologic and water birth to now the Director of the recently opened Midwifery Birth & Wellness Center at Virtua Health. Karen was recruited and charged with developing, designing and opening a free-standing birth center as well as starting a full scope midwifery-led practice. She is the Lead Provider of Virtua Midwifery with 3 locations Voorhees, Sicklerville and Camden City, offering both hospital and birth center births.