Dr. David Hayes and Kristine Lauria, Midwife, founders of Breech Without Borders

Dr. Hayes is an OBGYN with an academic background and a passion for science and its proper application to clinical medicine. He has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and trained in critical care obstetrics. After beginning as a hospital-based obstetrician, he transitioned into a home birth practice in Asheville, NC. Physiologic breech birth and supporting the training of breech birth attendants are particular interests of his. Dr. Hayes left his home birth practice in 2019 to work full-time with Breech Without Borders.

Kristine Lauria, midwife, works for Médecins Sans Frontières and became BWB’s Global Midwifery Director in 2022. She specializes in high-risk maternity care in low-resource environments and is passionate in her support of bodily autonomy in medical decision making and is a staunch advocate for undisturbed, physiologic birth. She has attended over 5000 births in more than 25 countries around the world, among them being over 500 vaginal breech births, including sets of twins and triplets. She is the creator and instructor of BWB’s Master Class on breech & twins, as well as an instructor for the vaginal breech workshops. When she is not doing humanitarian aid, teaching or traveling, she is home in the upper peninsula of Michigan with her pug. She writes about her experiences on her blog, midwifewithoutboundaries.wordpress.com