Meet The Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers Instructors
Carolyn L. Gegor, CNM, MS, FACNM
Carolyn L. Gegor, CNM, MS, FACNM, has had an extensive career in obstetric and gynecologic ultrasound. Carolyn is currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.
Carolyn Gegor began her career in ultrasound as an RN in 1972. She learned ultrasound from a physician on-the-job, as no courses were available that early in the development of ultrasound as a diagnostic test. Ms. Gegor then established several courses for new providers to be able to learn the new skills. Carolyn was one of the founders of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS) and executed the first nation-wide exams in 1975.
She established the first affiliate of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in Washington, DC and Maryland. For several years, she worked full time in ultrasound, the went back to her love of labor & birth, while continuing to teach ultrasound skills in obstetrics and gynecology.
Once she became a CNM, Carolyn was very active teaching nurses and midwives to do the Biophysical Profile, and full scope scanning. During that time, she was the Clinical Director of Fetal Assessment at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital. She lectured on ultrasound topics at the ACNM annual meeting for many years during her 25 years of clinical practice and as midwifery academic faculty.
Currently, Carolyn is a member of the ACNM Ultrasound Education Subcommittee. She also represents ACNM as a member of the Midwife Exam Group for the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers. “In 2021, Carolyn earned the Midwife Sonography Certificate from the ARDMS.
After retiring from clinical practice, Ms. Gegor created Ultrasound for Midwives, now Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers, to be able to offer highly sought-after hands-on scanning and the necessary background knowledge for doing OB/Gyn Point of Care ultrasound. Now, there is an online course that shares basic information on clinical OB/Gyn ultrasound as well as Physics of ultrasound and varied business topics including practice development, billing and coding, documentation, and liability. She travels to individual practice sites to conduct hands-on scanning education for groups of 4 or more providers.
Kristen M. Ostrem-Niemcewicz DNP, MSN, CNM, FNP-BC, FACNM
(Associate Professor-Clinician Educator. HSC IPE Champion. University of New Mexico College of Nursing
Ostrem-Niemcewicz earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from New Mexico State University, a Post Masters Certificate and Master of Science in Nursing with concentrations in family nurse practitioner and nurse-midwifery from the University of New Mexico and earned her BSN from Dominican University of San Rafael. In 2019 she completed all exam requirements and was awarded a midwife sonography certificate from the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers. Kristen is chair of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Ultrasound Education Subcommittee. She represents ACNM as a member of the Midwife Exam Group and the Simulation Task Force for the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine writing team, which published an OB Practice Parameters and Training Guidelines for advanced clinical providers in 2018. Kristen is a volunteer and associate program manager for RAD-AID International, assisting with a global midwife ultrasound curriculum, hands-on education and certification pathways. Kristen is also currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.
Cynthia Gay Hull MSN, WHNP, RDMS
Gay Hull was born and raised in Texas where she began an extended career in Ob/Gyn nursing and ultrasound. She attained her BSN from the University of Texas and her MSN as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner from the University of Colorado Health Science.
Early in Gay’s career she became engaged in learning Ob/Gyn ultrasound with the goal to provide women with the best experience possible in the practice setting.
Gay attended Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia for ultrasound education and became a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer in Ob/Gyn. Gay participated as a practice reviewer for Ob/Gyn and MFM practices for AIUM.
In her early career, Gay practiced nursing and ultrasound with a private Ob/Gyn practice in Texas where she developed an ultrasound program for the practice. After relocating to Denver, CO, Gay transitioned to Maternal Fetal Medicine using her ultrasound experience to increase skills in fetal diagnostics. Gay worked principally as a WHNP and Sonographer in MFM practices in Colorado, New Mexico, and South Carolina.
In her spare time Gay enjoys traveling and the outdoors with her husband, Jerry and her two young Labs, Bevo and Zuzu. She also relaxes with needle crafts and sewing quilts for donation to kids and families.
Gay is also currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.
Nora Elizalde, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC
Nora first obtained her ADN form the Oklahoma State University and her BSN from the Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Later she attended Georgetown University in D.C. for her Certified Nurse-Midwifery, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
She first worked in rural health offering prenatal care and later moved to DFW where she worked in a private OB/GYN practice increasing her skills to include C/S first assist, limited OB/GYN ultrasounds, care for high risk OB, and basic infertility evaluation and treatment. She then moved back to rural health in southwest Kansas to help build a more relevant and renowned women’s health and obstetrical program. She is currently working at Ulysses Family Physicians as a DNP, CNM offering prenatal care to all of the surrounding communities including of southwest Kansas, Oklahoma Panhandle, and southeast Colorado. Her work is aimed at increasing prenatal care opportunities in areas that are underserved and lacking resources.
She has been happily married for 26 years and has two handsome sons, two beautiful grandsons, and a wonderful daughter-in-law.
Nora is also currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.
Meredith Fresquez BSN, RDMS
Meredith started her nursing career at LAC/USC School of Nursing in Los Angeles California where she received a diploma in Nursing. Followed by a BSN from California State University in Fullerton CA. She spent 20 years as a Labor and Delivery nurse, High-Risk Clinician and Fetal Monitoring instructor while also achieving a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer certificate. She has taught Midwives, Nurses and Physicians Ultrasound basics and Point of Care Ultrasound and developed learning programs for several University Programs. She is an active member of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and served as an officer in the Sonography Community at AIUM. She has also served on the Education Committee at the Society for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. She is a current member of the ARDMS Midwife Sonography Assessment Item Workshop.
Meredith is currently the Supervisor of Perinatal Ultrasound at Vanderbilt University.
Meredith is also currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.
Michele A. Zahn, RDMS
Michele's passion for teaching health providers for over 25 years at prominent United States academic maternal-fetal medicine departments, with heavy emphasis on cutting-edge technologies in the medical imaging field, makes her experience an asset for point-of-care ultrasound certification.
As a holistic individual who birthed her first child naturally over 36 years ago, she has a special interest in holistic medicine and unique personal experience with both natural as well as emergent cesarean section delivery with her second delivery. She can share all the innate knowledge both personally and as an expert imaging health professional in the wondrous medical imaging field.
Michelle is also currently an ultrasound instructor at Ultrasound for Women’s Health Providers.