Ep 96 Qorinah ES Adnani on navigating a midwifery journey from rural Indonesia to being an emerging global midwifery leader

Ep 96 (http://ibit.ly/Re5V) Qorinah ES Adnani on navigating a midwifery journey from rural Indonesia to being an emerging global midwifery leader

@PhDMidwives #research #midwifery  #education #Indonesia #unpad @universitaspadjadjaran #healthinequities #publichealth

research link - t.ly/IkiuJ 

What drives someone to leave everything familiar behind to pursue education in a language they've never spoken? For Qorinah Estiningtyas Sakliah Adnani, it was a deeply personal mission born from tragedy.

When Qorinah lost her mother at just 13 months old, the experience silently shaped her childhood in rural East Java, Indonesia. Decades later, this loss would fuel her extraordinary journey to strengthen midwifery education across Indonesia's 17,000 islands and beyond.

In this powerful conversation, Qorinah reveals the remarkable path that took her from a small village to becoming the first in her family to pursue doctoral education. With stunning candor, she describes learning English from scratch, improving her IELTS score from 4 to 6.5, and relocating to New Zealand for PhD studies – all while colleagues back home mocked her ambitions as impossible.

The conversation explores Indonesia's established midwifery continuity of care model, where one midwife serves an entire village, creating intergenerational relationships rarely documented in research literature. Qorinah's groundbreaking work bringing these practices to international attention has earned her recognition among the world's top 2% of scientists.

Perhaps most inspiring is her discussion of resilience through setbacks – from language barriers and homesickness during her PhD to returning home only to face career obstacles that ultimately led to new opportunities at one of Indonesia's premier universities and as the first Asian midwife visiting scholar at Yale.

This episode isn't just about midwifery or academic achievement. It's about how determination, supportive communities, and what Qorinah calls "greed and commitment" can transform personal loss into global impact. Whether you're facing seemingly insurmountable barriers or seeking inspiration to pursue your own impossible dreams, this conversation reminds us that with persistence, even the most challenging journeys can lead to extraordinary destinations.

Chapters

• 0:53 Meeting Korina and Her Background
• 9:33 Midwifery Education and Practice in Indonesia
• 18:29 Journey to PhD and Language Barriers
• 35:05 PhD Experience and Mental Health
• 47:43 Post-PhD Challenges and New Beginnings
• 55:26 Global Impact and Future Directions