Our Staff

Betsy is excited to be a part of the Birth Center of Denver dream team. She found her way to midwifery after developing a passion for women’s health working as a perioperative nurse for many years. As she researched how she could serve this passion through her career, she was moved by the description of a midwife and knew this was her calling. She graduated from the University of Colorado in 2017 and joined a high-volume hospital-based practice in Aurora, where she enjoyed utilizing her robust medical background to provide midwifery care to women experiencing both high and low-risk pregnancies. She loves providing a partnership, continuity of care and witnessing the beauty of normal-yet-magnificent birth.

Betsy wants every family to feel confident and empowered throughout the many changes pregnancy and a new baby brings. She loves connecting with her clients and providing guidance and education to create an individualized experience. She believes birth is one of the most transformative and profound experiences in life and feels privileged to partner with families through each of their unique journeys to parenthood.

Betsy grew up in Texas and moved to Denver in 2013. As a dedicated life-long learner, much of her time is spent pursuing her doctorate in nursing practice at the University of Colorado. She also enjoys art, music, and exploring the beauties of Colorado with her husband and two fur babies.

Christie was born in Wyoming and was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She became a certified nurse-midwife in 1994 after receiving her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Christie gave birth to her first child and had an amazing and skillful RN who supported her and also happened to be in midwifery school. That’s when she knew she wanted to be a certified nurse-midwife. Prior to midwifery school, she became a doula where she found her love and appreciation for the birthing process.

“I want to always encourage women to advocate for the experience that they want. I love the process that families go through to become parents and anything that I can do to make that a wonderful, loving experience is alright with me.”

Christie’s interests are focused on the leadership and business of midwifery. She is also one of the founding partners of the Certified Nurse-Midwives program at Saint Joseph Hospital.

When she is not at work, Christie enjoys traveling, playing golf, and spending time with family and friends. She loves to babysit her grandson and is thankful that she gets to spend time with both her immediate and extended family. She also co-owns an antique store with one of her sisters.

Ellen was raised right here in Denver, CO. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey followed by her masters in nursing from the University of Colorado.

After the birth of her children, and her personal experiences with both obstetrics and midwifery, Ellen knew that all women deserve midwifery care as an option. Her last child was born at home with a midwife and the amazing support during that pregnancy and birth was the final push she needed to begin her journey toward becoming a midwife. Ellen is excited to be a part of a birth center model of care since it aligns with the midwifery care model.

“I strongly believe in families being able to choose the right setting for their birth and I love supporting families during this process as well as honoring natural physiologic birth.” Ellen’s areas of clinical interests include education and postpartum support.

When she is not at work, Ellen enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, hiking, and quilting.

Katy Kissler, CNM, MS became a certified nurse-midwife in 2011 graduating from Columbia University in New York City. She was drawn to midwifery after studying medical anthropology in her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. After becoming a midwife, Katy joined a home birth/birth center practice in Houston, Texas. She moved back to Colorado, where she grew up, in 2015 and joined Saint Joseph Hospital Nurse Midwives. In addition to clinical practice, Katy is a PhD student at the University of Colorado, Anschutz in nursing science. Her research interests include shared decision making during labor and biomarkers of uterine fatigue in labor toward novel techniques of caring for women with prolonged labor.

Katy has had three beautiful waterbirths and enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, quilting, and pottery. She loves walking through the experience of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting with the families she serves and sharing the joys of midwifery with her colleagues.

Jen Matera became a Certified Nurse Midwife in 2018 after graduating from Frontier Nursing University with her MSN. Midwifery is a second career for Jen, who also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Education. She began her journey to midwifery after the birth of her first daughter in 2003, beginning with becoming a doula and childbirth educator, then an EMT, RN and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Jen has worked as a women’s health nurse in the hospital for many years and also has experience working as a nurse in two freestanding birth centers in the Denver area. She is currently in the process of completing her Doctorate of Nursing Practice through FNU.

Jen is passionate about physiologic birth and believes strongly in the midwifery model of care, which supports shared decision making and the development of trusting relationships between providers and clients. She loves the birth center model because it fosters such an amazing community and complete support system for birthing families.

Jen grew up in the Northeast and lived in many different parts of the country before meeting her partner and settling down in Durango in the late nineties. She currently lives in Arvada with her husband, three children, and one tail wagger. In her spare time, Jen is an avid reader and enjoys hiking, yoga, creating art in many forms, and adventuring with her kids.

Erica Murdock, CNM, MS joined the Certified Nurse-Midwives at Saint Joseph Hospital in July 2011. She became enthralled with everything pregnancy and birth related during her first pregnancy twenty seven years ago. She was a labor and delivery nurse for ten years and continued to build her family before entering midwifery school and obtaining a master's degree in nurse-midwifery from Frontier Nursing University in 2010.

Erica loves getting to know women and families during the most important times of transition in their lives. She believes that women should be empowered to understand all options available and should take the lead in their own healthcare decisions. She knows that a woman's experience of pregnancy and birth is just as important as a healthy outcome. Her dream has always been to work in the birth center setting and Birth Center of Denver is that dream come true!

Erica is originally from Connecticut and has been in Colorado for more than 27 years. She lives in Stapleton with her husband Scott, teenage children Sam and Katie, and their dog Lance. Erica has been an avid meditator for many years. In her free time she enjoys traveling, snowboarding, camping and hiking in beautiful Colorado.

Coming from a military family, Everly moved around quite a bit growing up, but spent most of her years in Minnesota. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, followed by a master’s degree in nursing from Frontier Nursing University in Hyden, Kentucky.

She found her passion for nursing when she discovered the unique opportunity to combine kindness with book smarts in order to serve others. In her first year of nursing, she decided to become a midwife in the hope of gaining the practical skills she could take to serve women and families anywhere in the world. Everly enjoys supporting women’s mental and emotional health in a variety of ways as they experience the highs and lows of pregnancy and postpartum.

“I believe the human body, mind, and spirit are intelligently designed and powerful. As a midwife, it is my privilege is to educate and partner with women and families during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.”

When she is not at work, Everly enjoys activities such as hot yoga, baking, hiking, and hosting dinners for friends and family.