The Accidental Midwife

Lisa Peberdy's life did not go to plan, mostly because she never had one. Much of Lisa's four-decade career in health care unfolded far from metropolitan comfort zones. Working in remote Australia and resource-poor nations such as Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and Western Samoa, she has found herself in unbelievable situations and roles she could never have imagined. Somewhere along the way, she even found herself assisting a birth in a dinghy and working as a midwife in a refugee camp on a Greek Island - who would have thought?As well as helping women and midwives across the globe, Lisa's passion for cervical cancer prevention has led to national leadership roles and shaping a screening program that affected tens of thousands of women.
Not bad for someone who didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up! Along the way, she learned that careers don't have to be linear and that some of the most meaningful work happens when you step well outside the boundaries of convention. In writing The Accidental Midwife, Lisa's hope is simple: to offer a glimpse of what might be possible when you're willing to take a chance and give it a go.
If this account inspires you to think differently, act boldly or to stretch for something that feels just out of reach, then it will have done its job.