Ellen Howard has over 15 years of nursing experience and has been a certified nurse midwife with Laurel OB/GYN since 2016.

Ellen was born and raised in New Hampshire and attended the University of New Hampshire to study nursing, obtaining her B.S. in Nursing from UNH in 2004. She finished her final semester of coursework working and living on a Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, NM. 

Ellen worked for the IHS, gaining valuable clinical and social experience while also exploring the beautiful southwestern United States. While in nursing school, a friend gave her a worn copy of Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery, and this writing inspired her to pursue a career in Midwifery.

Ellen moved to Asheville in 2004 as a registered nurse practicing primarily in women’s health at Mission Hospital.  A few years later, she pursued her dream of becoming a midwife at East Carolina University, obtaining her Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in Midwifery in 2010.

Before joining the physicians at Laurel OB/GYN, Ellen practiced as a CNM at  New Dawn Midwifery in Asheville from 2011 to 2016. She has also welcomed babies as a CNM in Sylva, NC, delivering with Smoky Mountain OB/GYN at Harris Regional Hospital from 2010 to 2011. 

Ellen Howard has attended over 600 childbirth deliveries throughout her career and strives to honor each woman’s individual birth plan while providing safety for her and her baby. 

She is very knowledgeable about gynecology and contraception options (including natural family planning), and enjoys counseling women on the topic of family planning. 

Ellen has always had a passion for travel and visiting new places. While in midwifery school, Ellen studied abroad for a summer in Puebla, Mexico taking an immersion Spanish language course.  While in Mexico she was afforded the special opportunity to visit labor and delivery units and meet with local midwives working at a freestanding birth center. She has found that the ability to communicate with patients in Spanish has been invaluable while working in the medical field. 

Ellen enjoys spending time with her family, taking trips, and camping.  When Ellen isn’t at work and spending time with family, her favorite hobby is dancing.  She loves to contra, swing, and salsa, and enjoys the vibrant dance community here in Asheville.  She lives on the sest side of town with her spouse and daughter.