Silliman alumna among AWHONN emerging leaders for 2025–2026
November 17-21, 2025
Rovianne Caturay, a Silliman University nursing graduate and seasoned obstetrics nurse leader, has been named one of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) Emerging Leaders for 2025–2026.
AWHONN’s Emerging Leaders Program in the U.S. engages experienced nurse leaders in advanced leadership development and aims to build the association’s leadership capacity at the local, regional, and national levels.
As part of the 2025–2026 cohort, Caturay will be participating in a series of workshops, national conventions, conference calls, leadership immersion events, and a leadership project presentation at the 2026 AWHONN National Convention in Orlando, Florida.
As an Emerging Leader, Caturay has proposed a project focused on implementing and sustaining Team Birth, an evidence-based communication and teamwork process designed to improve collaboration among health care providers and enhance shared decision-making during labor and delivery. She aims to integrate the use of huddle boards and structured care “huddles” in her unit, targeting at least 70% implementation among labor and delivery patients by the last quarter of 2025.
In her project rationale, Caturay underscores the importance of strengthening communication between providers and ensuring meaningful involvement of patients and families in the birthing process. She emphasizes that Team Birth aligns with AWHONN’s strategic goals—particularly in promoting safety, equity, dignity, and evidence-based care for all birthing individuals regardless of background or socioeconomic status.
Caturay, who completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Silliman University in 1997 before migrating to the United States in the early 2000s, currently serves as the Family Birth Center Director of a critical access hospital in the Pacific Northwest. Over her 29-year career in obstetrics, she has worked in both small community hospitals delivering 200 babies annually and a large regional facility with nearly 3,000 births a year. She holds a Master’s Degree in Nursing Leadership and is certified in Electronic Fetal Monitoring (C-EFM) and Inpatient Obstetrics (RNC-OB). She also serves as a Neonatal Resuscitation Program Instructor.
According to its website, AWHONN, a U.S.-based professional organization, is “dedicated to the nurses who strive to provide cultural humility and gender inclusive care for all women, transgender people, non-binary people, birthing people, and newborns regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, language, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, carceral state, dis/ability, citizenship, immigration status, income, or health insurance status.”
