Iris Bicksler, CHW, PSS, Doula

Iris Bicksler became a full-spectrum doula in 1996 and received her BA in women’s studies from the University of Oregon in 2000.  Her professional career is rooted in health equity and access.  Iris co-founded Doulas Supporting Teens in 2004 and provided doula care in her community for more than 20 years.  Iris also worked in a school-based health center and managed on-site health-related services in affordable housing.  Over the past 10 years, she has been the doula representative on the Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) Traditional Health Worker (THW) Commission, co-chaired the THW Commission’s Payment Model Subcommittee, been a regional representative for the Oregon Community Health Worker Association, board president of Daisy Chain, and co-chaired the Lane Equity Coalition.  Currently, Iris is the senior THW liaison for PacificSource Health Plans, a non-profit health insurance company serving four states in the Pacific Northwest.  She is also the active policy chair for the Oregon Doula Association.  She is certified through the OHA as a community health worker, peer support specialist, and birth doula.  As a lifelong Oregonian, she lives in Eugene with her husband and rescue dog, Charlie Brown, and has two grown children.