McLaren Health Care in Grand Blanc has added to its women’s health clinical leadership to further enhance the quality and safety of birthing mothers with the establishment of the position of Director of Corporate OB Women’s Health Service Line.
Laura Taylor has joined McLaren to assume this new role in which she will work closely with the system’s chief medical director of women’s health, Dr. Brian Tesler, and Jennifer Montgomery, McLaren’s chief nursing officer.
Supporting obstetric services throughout the McLaren system, Taylor is expected to advance the program’s growth and development through innovative approaches and continuous improvement. She will collaborate with McLaren hospitals’ administrative and clinical leaders, including obstetric, gynecologic, neonatology, and newborn clinicians, along with nursing leaders to ensure programs align with the goals set by the McLaren Maternal & Neonatal Health Steering Committee.
In addition to those responsibilities, Taylor will pilot a perinatal mental health program, an initiative to address the mental health needs of pregnant and postpartum women.
“Ensuring the wellbeing of mothers and their newborns is of critical importance, and it is a top priority for McLaren and our labor and delivery care teams to provide families with an experience established in quality and safety,” Montgomery says. “With her impressive and diverse experiences, Laura has the leadership ability to effectively collaborate with those care teams throughout our system and align them in best practices to foster a culture where the standard is exceptional, patient-centric care.”
After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Michigan State University, Taylor joined the United States Navy. She served as a maternal-child unit nurse and nursing manager while stationed at several military medical facilities throughout the country and around the world. She would ultimately earn several distinctions for advancing military care within the communities she was stationed, including being awarded with the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
While serving, Taylor earned a Master of Science with a concentration on Nurse-Midwife from Georgetown University, ultimately becoming certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board. Following her discharge, she continued in her education, earning a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and a Post-Master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree, both from Michigan State University. Having become active in community volunteerism while in the Navy, she continued to give back upon her return to Michigan, founding the Perinatal Support Group of Northern Michigan in 2023, through which she has reached more than 1,500 people in rural northern Michigan providing valuable resources, education, and support for perinatal mental health, and serves as a board member of women’s advocacy group Zonta Club of Petoskey since 2018.
In addition to her certification in midwifery, Taylor has earned certifications in Perinatal Mental Health (Postpartum Support International) and as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-BC (American Nurses Credentialing Center).
