MEET OUR OBLS TEAM
Varda5, LLC National Team
Andrea Shields, M.D., M.S.
Chief Executive Officer
ashields@varda5.com
Dr. Andrea Shields is the Chief Executive Officer of Varda 5, where she leads the national strategy, growth, and implementation of Obstetric Life Support (OBLS) across the United States. A maternal-fetal medicine specialist and healthcare innovator, she oversees curriculum development, research translation, strategic partnerships, and large-scale dissemination efforts to standardize maternal emergency preparedness across hospital and prehospital systems. Under her leadership, OBLS has expanded into a nationally recognized, evidence-based training platform focused on improving outcomes in maternal cardiac arrest and other high-acuity obstetric emergencies. She currently serves as a Professor and Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program Director for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Connecticut Health. Dr. Shields is a specialty and subspecialty Board Examiner for the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She previously served as a member of the editorial board member for Obstetrics & Gynecology, and recently completed duties as the National Fellow-at-Large on the Executive Board of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG). She serves as the Chair of the ACOG Clinical Practice Guidelines – Obstetrics and is a member of the Governance Committee for ACOG. Dr. Shields is a nationally recognized expert in maternal sepsis, cervical cerclage and simulation-based education.
Jacqueline Vidosh, M.D
Executive Director, OBLS Hospital Division
jvidosh@varda5.com
Benjamin Sutton, NRP
Executive Director, OBLS Prehospital Division
bsutton@varda5.com
Dr. Vidosh serves as the Executive Director of the OBLS Hospital Division at Varda 5, where she leads national strategy and course implementation for hospital-based OBLS. She also works as the National Lead for OBLS instructor development. She currently works as an Obstetric Hospitalist in San Antonio. She is a peer reviewer for Obstetrics & Gynecology, and was a contributing peer reviewer of the Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) course. Dr. Vidosh has been active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) leadership and has previously served as the ACOG Air Force Section Junior Fellow Vice Chair and Chair. She is the co-creator of Obstetrics Life Support, a multidisciplinary, evidence-based curriculum for healthcare providers to train on prevention and management of maternal cardiac arrest. She is passionate about improving maternal morbidity and mortality, and advocacy by using robust shared decision making between physicians and patients.
Lieutenant Benjamin Sutton serves as Executive Director of the OBLS Prehospital Division at Varda 5, where he leads national strategy, equipment solutions and course implementation for prehospital OBLS. A Fire Lieutenant and Paramedic with Bulverde Spring Branch Fire/EMS, he brings extensive frontline leadership experience in high-acuity emergency response, advanced life support, and workforce training. Lt. Sutton has served as National Faculty for OBLS, customizing prehospital curricula, and contributing to multi-site research dissemination. A former paramedic instructor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and certified in simulation debriefing through the Center for Medical Simulation at Harvard, he combines operational excellence with educational innovation. His background also includes Royal Air Force counter-terrorism service, reflecting a career defined by discipline, crisis leadership, and a commitment to advancing maternal emergency preparedness nationwide.
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Les Becker, Ph.D., MS.MEdL, NRP, CHSE
Executive Director, OBLS Instructor Development
lrbecker@varda5.com
Ava Holland, B.S.
OBLS National Program Manager
aholland@varda5.com
Dr. Les Becker serves as National Lead for OBLS Instructor Development within the Prehospital Division at Varda 5, where he oversees the training, evaluation, and advancement of the national prehospital instructor network. A Nationally Registered Paramedic since 1985 and Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE), Dr. Becker brings nearly four decades of frontline EMS experience and more than 20 years in simulation-based education. He currently holds an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and has served as a Senior Evaluation Scientist and simulation leader at MedStar Health. Through his leadership in instructor development, Dr. Becker strengthens the educational rigor, implementation science framework, and simulation excellence that underpin OBLS nationwide.
Ava Holland serves as the OBLS National Program Manager at Varda 5, where she oversees national coordination, operational execution, and strategic growth of the Obstetric Life Support (OBLS) program. In this role, she manages course logistics, instructor engagement, partnership alignment, and large-scale implementation efforts to ensure seamless delivery of OBLS across hospital and prehospital systems nationwide. She works closely with executive leadership, national faculty, simulation teams, and healthcare partners to support course expansion, annual conference planning, and research dissemination initiatives. Known for her precision, responsiveness, and commitment to excellence, Ms. Holland ensures that OBLS programs operate with consistency, professionalism, and mission alignment — advancing maternal emergency preparedness and supporting the growing national instructor network.
OBLS National Faculty
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Our OBLS national facutly form a dedicated and highly skilled team, bringing together a wealth of experience in both the development and delivery of our curriculum. They are not only experts in their respective fields but also passionate educators committed to advancing obstetric emergency care. Our faculty come from diverse backgrounds, including emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, paramedicine, nursing, military medicine, and academic research. This multidisciplinary approach ensures that our training is comprehensive, practical, and applicable across a wide range of healthcare settings. By combining real-world clinical experience with evidence-based best practices, our instructors provide learners with the knowledge and hands-on skills necessary to manage complex obstetric emergencies with confidence and competence.
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Dr. Leslie Madden Hernandez, EdD, NRP, LP, FP-C
Prehospital OBLS Instructor
Courtney Hood, MD, M.ED
Hospital-based OBLS Instructor
OBLS Development Team
Our OBLS core development form a dedicated and highly skilled team, bringing together a wealth of experience in both the development and delivery of our curriculum. Our core teams comes from diverse backgrounds, including implementation science and academic research.
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