About GFH
Kristen, Suby and Pip met in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2018. They connected over their experiences of working in women and children's health overseas. As they chatted more they began to see how their combined skills could bring about an opportunity to support women and their families. Pip and Kristen trained with CAPPA India to become Childbirth Educators and in 2020 wrote the evidence based classes that now form the prenatal education they offer today. Kristen's experience of supporting ex-pat moms in Lucknow during their births led her to The Doula Collective and training to become a Doula. Pip's personal experiences after having her 3 children led her to 4th Trimester Fitness® Method and becoming their first instructor in India. So GFH was born. Providing services that support moms and their growing families during pregnancy, birth, postpartum and on into the future. GFH exists to support moms like you.
Read on to hear more about each of the team........
Kristen Friesen is passionate about pregnancy health education and is a director of Growing Family Health. She enjoys helping families thrive during and beyond pregnancy, aiming to provide evidence-based education that empowers families to make well-informed health decisions. When she's not working, Kristen enjoys gardening, singing, and experimenting with new recipes (she is known to make a tasty biryani).
Kristen Friesen
MScN, CCCE
Kristen has a background in labour and delivery nursing near her hometown in Canada, before earning her Master of Nursing and becoming a Certified Nurse-Midwife in the United States. She has worked in various clinical, hospital, and birth center settings across North America and has also experienced births in different regions here in South Asia. Since moving to India in 2018, Kristen continues to enjoy learning from and with ladies in the community.
Suby Varghese
BSc, MFSc, Ph.D
Suby Jo Varghese is a director of Growing Family Health. She has diverse interests and did her BSc in Zoology and her masters in Mariculture (a branch of Fisheries Science dealing with culture of marine fish). She did her Ph.D in Biotechnology at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre For Biotechnology and later pursued her post doctorate at Karolinska University, Sweden. She has more than twelve years research experience working in the field of cancer, stem cells, and women’s reproductive health specifically in the area of uterine fibroids (leiomyomas) and endometriosis. She is passionate about writing and communicating scientific information, women’s health, and empowering families through women.
She is married with two lovely children and hence has a burden for families and the challenges faced by them in today’s world. She also volunteers with other organisations for social causes and is active in her local community.
Pip Wilson
BSc, DPSN, PDTN, CCCE
Pip Wilson is a director of Growing Family Health. She is a CAPPA Certified Childbirth Educator and a 4th Trimester Fitness® Method Instructor (4TFM®). She trained as a Paediatric Nurse in Manchester, UK, where she worked for six years with children 0-18 years. She holds a Diploma in Tropical Nursing from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and has a BSc Degree in Medical Biochemistry. She is married and a mom to three kids, together they spend most of their year in India where they moved in 2015.
Her passion and motivation for starting Growing Family Health stems from her desire to give new families access to the most up to date and relevant research and advice. She loves to see families making informed decisions that help them remain physically and emotionally healthy throughout pregnancy, birth and into the future. She knows from firsthand experience as a nurse and a mom that as your family grows, challenges will come. Supporting and caring for other families going through those times is really important to her.