Dr. Lisa Hanson, professor emerita in the College of Nursing, won the Dorothea M. Lang Pioneer Award from The Midwife Foundation at the annual meeting of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Hanson co-founded Marquette’s nurse midwifery program in 1993. She retired at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year after 33 years as College of Nursing faculty. Hanson is also the co-founder of the Aurora Sinai Midwifery and Wellness Center clinical practice.
In addition to her teaching, Hanson has led probiotics research teams and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health for a clinical trial of a probiotic intervention to reduce Group B Streptococcus colonization during pregnancy. She has deep experience in clinical trials and has worked with the Food and Drug Administration to investigate new drug applications.
The Dorothea M. Lang Pioneer Award is the most prestigious honor that The Midwife Foundation can bestow. It is given to certified midwives and nurse midwives who demonstrate the value of midwifery care, pioneer integration of midwifery into the healthcare system, and further the legislative agenda for full scope of midwifery practice. It also recognizes midwives who create educational pathways for students.
A midwife must be certified for at least 20 years to be eligible for consideration.
