Dr. Ashley Steiner is an assistant professor in the Department of Family, Internal, and Rural Medicine at the College of Community Health Sciences. She is also a practicing family medicine obstetrician with University Medical Center’s Demopolis, Ala., clinic. The College operates UMC.
Steiner is clinic director for UMC-Demopolis and vice chief of staff at Whitfield Regional Hospital. She was instrumental in re-establishing the hospital’s labor and delivery unit in 2022, and she successfully managed the unit by providing essential maternal and neonatal services to Marengo County and the greater Black Belt region.
In addition to patient care, Steiner precepts family medicine obstetrics fellows, medical students and residents in their obstetrics training. She facilitates a six-month Rural Community Integrated Experience for third-year medical students and directs the Demopolis Rural Family Medicine rotation for senior resident physicians. She also provides specialty training in rural medicine to nurse practitioners and midwives.
Steiner conducts research about institutional resistance to labor and delivery closers and the benefits of rural medicine immersion. She is co-leader of a five-year, federal Health Resource and Services Administration grant aimed at strengthening maternal primary care training in rural Alabama. She also co-developed and reviewed a 10-year strategic action plan for cervical cancer elimination in Alabama, and her initiatives have significantly impacted Marengo County and surrounding regions.
Active in community maternal health, Steiner works with MyCare Alabama, the Women’s Lighthouse Center and the Alabama Department of Public Health to reduce maternal disparities in the Black Belt. She volunteers her expertise in ultrasound interpretation.
Steiner earned her medical degree from Saba University School of Medicine in the Caribbean Netherlands and completed her residency at The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program, which is operated by CCHS. She also completed an obstetrics fellowship at the College.
Steiner is a native of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia and a graduate of Cape Breton University, where she was an Academic All-Canadian volleyball player. Prior to graduation, she spent seven years in the Canadian Armed Forces, where she reached the rank of Lieutenant Navy, served as executive officer for a regional section of the Canadian Cadet Movement, and trained biathletes for national competition with particular attention to the development of distinguished marksmanship.