Ms. Kennedy is a former birth doula, founding president of PALS Doulas in Seattle and the founding president of DONA International (previously known as Doulas of North America). She formerly served as the Director of the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations at Bastyr University. Her mother’s public health nursing stories of birth, the study of humanities and systems thinking fueled her interest; and the guidance of inspiring mentors and colleagues cemented it for life.  She is forever grateful for the privilege of receiving doula and midwifery care for the birth of her daughter, a privilege all people deserve.

The late Dr. Kennell was a pediatrician and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. He authored or coauthored several seminal books as well as numerous research papers, book chapters and monographs. He is best known for two research findings. The first was the importance of contact between the birthing person and their baby that was the focus of the book Bonding: Building the Foundations of a Secure Attachment and Independence, which he coauthored with Dr. Marshall Klaus. Their groundbreaking research suggested that parents should have close contact with their newborn within minutes of birth in order to form a lasting attachment. These studies led to changes in hospital procedures worldwide to allow people to have contact with their newborns immediately after birth and later opened up labor and delivery areas to fathers and families. He and Dr. Klaus also demonstrated that having a trained companion during labor and delivery greatly reduces labor time, perinatal complications, and the need for medication and cesarean delivery. He is coauthor of The Doula Book and a founder of DONA International (formerly Doulas of North America).

Ms. Klaus is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and social worker. Formerly on the faculty of the Department of Family Practice, Michigan State University, she currently teaches and practices in Berkeley and Palo Alto, California, providing psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and counseling to individuals, couples, families and groups. She has been involved with doula and perinatal research and worked with the concerns, both medical and psychosocial, of pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period for the past 35 years.  She consults nationally and internationally and is co-author of The Amazing Newborn; Mothering the Mother; Bonding; Your Amazing Newborn; The Amazing Talents of the Newborn video; The Doula Book; and When Survivors Give Birth. She is a founder of DONA International (previously known as Doulas of North America).