Breastfeeding research hit parade – 2014

Arthur I Eidelman, MD, FABM

Shaare Zedek Medical Center
Hebrew University School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel

Dr Arthur Eidelman graduated from the Einstein College of Medicine in 1963 and trained in Pediatrics and Neonatology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Board certified in both Pediatrics and Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine he returned to Einstein in 1969 as the Director of Newborn Services and Assistant Director of Pediatrics. In 1978 he moved to Israel and established the first Department of Neonatology in Israel and served as the first President of the Israel Neonatal Society and as Founding Father of the Israel Board of Neonatology. Ultimately, Dr Eidelman became Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem and Professor of Pediatrics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, the Hebrew University School of Medicine, and Research Scientist at Yale University Child Study Center. Dr Eidelman has authored over 200 peer reviewed articles, monographs, and textbooks in the field of Pediatrics and Neonatology on issues related to infection, breastfeeding, nutrition, infant neurobehavioral development and medical ethics.

Dr Eidelman serves as the International Editor of The Journal of Perinatology, (the official Journal of the Section of Perinatal Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics), as a member of the Editorial Board of Breastfeeding Medicine and the Journal of Human Lactation, as a member of the Medical Advisory Board of La Leche League International and currently as President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. He is the lead author of the 2012 AAP Policy Statement: “Breast Feeding and the Use of Human Milk”.

Sudden unexpected postnatal collapse with STSC and breastfeedings

Susan M Ludington, RN, PhD

Case Western Reserve University

Dr Susan Ludington has been studying Kangaroo Care since 1988, conducting the first research study of the method in the United States. She has been repeatedly funded by the National Institutes of Health to conduct randomized controlled trials of Kangaroo Care and establish the evidence base for Kangaroo Care effects on infant physiology and development. Her research record has earned her inaugural membership in the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, the Audrey Hepburn Award for Global Contributions to the Health of Children from Sigma Theta Tau International and Excellence in Research from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

Dr Ludington is a founding member of the International Network for Kangaroo Mother Care that was started in 1996 and currently serves as a Steering Committee member of the international group. Dr Ludington published in 1993 “Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do For Your Preterm Infant” that is available for purchase on any e–reader. Dr Ludington is a renowned speaker and principal educator in the United States Institute for Kangaroo Care’s Certification Courses. She is currently the Margaret Davis Walters Endowed Chair of Pediatric Nursing at Case Western Reserve University’s Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland, OH. She has been a maternal-neonatal nurse since 1972 and a certified midwife since 1979.

Implications of breast surgery for nursing mothers

Shannon Tierney, MD

Swedish Cancer Institute, Seattle, Washington

Dr Shannon Tierney received her master’s degree in Health Evaluation Sciences from the University of Virginia where she is currently a research fellow in the Surgical Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory. She is a member of many medical societies including: American Society of Breast Surgeons, Association of Women Surgeons and Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has been awards the Society of Surgical Oncology Awards: NIH LRP Grant in 2005 and 2006, the Surgical Infection Society Clinical Research Grant in 2003 and 2004. In 2002 she was awarded the Dion Award for Intern of the Year from the University of Virginia and in 2001 the Harvey C. Butcher Award in General Surgery from the Washington University School of Medicine.

Human milk quality improvement in NICU

Michele Walsh, MD

Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio

Dr Michele Walsh is Chief, Division of Neonatology and Perinatal Medicine and Inaugural William and Lois Briggs Endowed Chair in Neonatology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Chief, Division of Neonatology, UH Case Medical Center. She is also Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr Walsh is board certified in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine. Her special interest is in neonatal lung disease, clinical trials and quality improvement.

Dr Walsh earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from University of California, Davis, Calif. She received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine where she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Dr. Walsh completed her residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine, both at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. She joined the UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital staff in 1988. In 2000 Dr Walsh earned a Master’s of Science in epidemiology from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; in 2007 she received a certificate from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in Leadership Development for Physicians; and in 2012 she earned a certificate from University Hospitals Leadership Academy, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University.

Dr Walsh is a dedicated researcher and has participated in a number of multi-center studies, primarily focusing on improving outcomes in neonates and premature infants. Currently she is participating in numerous studies, including serving as Principal Investigator on studies sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Ohio Children’s Hospitals’ Neonatal Research Consortium. She is a frequent invited presenter at local, national and international medical conferences, speaking on the diagnosis and management of medical problems in neonates and premature infants. She has authored or coauthored nearly 150 papers and abstracts in leading medical journals and three dozen monographs and chapters in textbooks. She is a reviewer for many prestigious pediatric journals, including Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatrics and Pediatric Research as well as American Journal of Epidemiology and Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr Walsh is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physician Executives and a member of the American Pediatric Society. She has been named numerous times to America’s Top Pediatricians by the Consumers’ Research Council of America, Washington, DC; Cleveland’s Top Doctors and Who’s Who in America.

Neonatal metabolic adaptation and hypoglycaemia

Jane M Hawdon, MA, MBBS, MRCP, FRCPCH, PhD

Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK

Dr Jane Hawdon provides clinical leadership for women’s and children’s health services and is a member of the Barts Health NHS Trust executive team. She practices as consultant neonatologist on the neonatal units at Royal London Hospital and Newham Hospital in the UK. She is an experienced clinician and clinical leader, having held roles in medical leadership and clinical education both at the national level. She enjoys applying this learning and experience within and outside the NHS. She is a member of the board of trustees for the charity Bliss, and a member of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.

Cultural perspectives on breastfeeding practices

Natasha K Sriraman, MD, MPH, FAAP, IBCLC – Moderator

Dr Natasha Sriraman has always encouraged breastfeeding for mothers of her patients. However, it wasn’t until her first child was born when she became passionate about breastfeeding after her own breastfeeding struggles.

Dr Sriraman is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. She is Co-Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator and Board member of the Virginia Chapter–AAP. She was part of the strategic team who held the 1st mother-infant quality improvement summit, which focused on increasing baby-friendly hospitals within the state of Virginia.

She is the Education Chair for the Section on Breastfeeding for the National AAP. She coordinated VA constituents for Breastfeeding Advocacy Day-2010 to promote Representative Mahoney’s bill to support breastfeeding in the workplace. She received an AAP-Special Recognition award from for her Breastfeeding Advocacy. She was the recipient of the SOBr-Lectureship Grant in 2008, which has helped establish an annual breastfeeding conference within Virginia. She is the Medical Director for Business Case for Breastfeeding in Hampton Roads, which has helped over 12 (and still growing) organizations plan, promote and establish lactation rooms for nursing employees.

She is on the Executive Board of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) and is Abstract Chair. She was a member of the team that helped to get a Breastfeeding-QI project approved by the American Board of Pediatrics for Parts 2 and 4 MOC. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Advocacy and Communications Committee, where she helped to start and continues to administer the ABM Facebook site.

She teaches breastfeeding to medical students and residents and is working on a on instituting a residency curriculum which will allow pediatric residents to prep for the IBCLC exam upon graduation.

Michal Ann Young, MD – African American

Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC

Dr Michal Ann Young is an Associate Professor in Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University College of Medicine. She also serves as Medical Director of the BLESS (Breastfeeding Lactation Education Support Services) Initiative as well as Director of the NICU and Newborn Services, at Howard University Hospital. She is a graduate of Howard University College of Medicine, Class of 1979. Dr Young did a rotating internship in Medicine and Pediatrics at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Her Pediatric residency was done at Howard University and D.C. General Hospitals, followed by a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital. Much of her clinical and academic practice was at DC General Hospital where she was the Director of the NICU for the last five years prior to its closure in July 2001. Dr Young has several publications and presentations over a range of topics governing infant care. Her research interests are in developmental outcomes of the ELBW, HIV perinatal transmission, and in breastfeeding education for professionals and parents.

Dr Young speaks locally and nationally about the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding for the human infant. She is a member of the ILCA Advisory panel, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the Section on Breastfeeding in the American Academy of Pediatrics, one of the Breastfeeding Coordinators for the DC Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Vice-President of the DC Breastfeeding Coalition, and member of the Board of Directors for ROSE: Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere.

Maya Bunik, MD, MSPH, FABM, FAAP – Latina
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colorado

Dr Maya Bunik is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and medical director of primary care at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In 2006 she completed a two-year Primary Care Research Fellowship that included a Master of Science in Public Health. She has been helping mother-infant pairs with breastfeeding challenges for many years. She has developed an innovative model of care in her breastfeeding faculty practice called the ‘Trifecta Approach’ of Integrated Care that combines pediatrician, lactation consultant and psychologist to provide a comprehensive consultative visit. In terms of breastfeeding research, she led a CDC-funded RCT using telephone support and culturally enhanced scripted guidelines to support breastfeeding in low-income Latinas; completed a secondary database study of breastfeeding and enrollment in the WIC Program. She also participated in a qualitative study that explored the role of curanderos (Latino healers) in issues of overweight. Her qualitative work on combination feeding in Latinas ‘los dos’ was cited in the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Breastfeeding, January 2011. Her book Breastfeeding Telephone Triage and Advice was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a helpful resource for physician practices and anyone providing advice for breastfeeding. Currently, it is being distributed to US hospitals as part of the WHO Baby Friendly Health Initiative. She has a strong interest in culturally-sensitive and practical ways to support breastfeeding and recently spent a month in Guatemala as part of the Trifinio Project as a UC Global Health Institute adjunct faculty.

Arthur I Eidelman, MD, FABM – Jewish

Shaare Zedek Medical Center
Hebrew University School of Medicine

Natasha K Sriraman, MD, MPH, FAAP, IBCLC – Islamic

Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia

Answering the Call, Continued Improvement on Breastfeeding Support in USA

Laurence Grummer-Strawn, PhD

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr Laurence Grummer-Strawn is chief of the Nutrition Branch at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Having earned his PhD from Princeton University, he has worked at CDC for over 23 years in the areas of Reproductive Health and Nutrition. He is an epidemiologist who has published over 150 scientific publications. He was the co-principal investigator of the FDA Infant Feeding Practices Study II and created the CDC Survey on Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care. He is recognized internationally for his work on vitamin and mineral deficiencies, breastfeeding policy, and development of both the CDC and the WHO Growth Charts. Dr Grummer-Strawn is widely known in the breastfeeding research and advocacy communities, serving as scientific editor of the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Breastfeeding and a liaison to the US Breastfeeding Committee. He chairs the Federal Breastfeeding Workgroup, the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, and the Iodine Global Network. He also serves on the Executive Management Team of the Flour Fortification Initiative. In 2013, Dr Grummer-Strawn was honored with the first Journal of Human Lactation Award for Evidence-Based Leadership in Breastfeeding.

Large-scale change: how one country turned around breastfeeding in 5 short years

Ann Jimerson

Alive & Thrive, The Gates Foundation

Ann Jimerson is a seasoned behavior change expert with more than 25 years in social marketing for behavior change in the US and worldwide, including extensive experience in innovative approaches that increase breastfeeding behaviors. Ms Jimerson currently serves FHI 360 as senior specialist in behavior change with the Alive & Thrive initiative, where she contributes to formative research, strategic program and communication design, and evaluation of a national mass media campaign that is improving breastfeeding practices in Vietnam. She develops a deep understanding of cultural dynamics to bring light to how to influence people’s high involvement decisions that affect their health. She has a talent for analyzing and applying consumer research to produce and evaluate programs that result in real changes in behavior.

Ms Jimerson is a sought-after trainer and designer of tools and training activities that help program planners grasp and apply behavioral science and social marketing principles. Recently, she created and co-produced a pair of e-magazines and an online, video-based series of case study kits that package and share lessons from Alive & Thrive’s field experience, reinforcing sound and practical methods for increasing recommended infant and young child feeding practices.

Using the Hazelbaker Assessment Tool for Lingual Frenulum Function

Alison Hazelbaker, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA

Spirit of Healing LLC

Dr Alison Hazelbaker has been a therapist for over 30 years. She specializes in cross-disciplinary treatment and to that end has taken training in several modalities to best assist her clients. She is a certified Craniosacral Therapist, a Lymph Drainage Therapy practitioner, a Tummy Time™ Trainer, a Rhythmic Movement practitioner and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

She earned her Master’s Degree from Pacific Oaks College (Human Development specializing in Human Lactation) and her doctorate from The Union Institute and University (Psychology, specializing in Energetic and Transformational healing.)

Her original research on tongue-tie, done in 1993, has changed clinical practice both in the USA and abroad. She authored the Assessment Tool for Lingual Frenulum Function (ATLFF) during her Master’s Degree program. She recently revised her Master’s thesis on tongue-tie into a comprehensive book on the condition: Tongue-tie: Morphogenesis, Impact, Assessment and Treatment for Aidan and Eva Press. The ATLFF remains the only research-based tongue-tie screening process in infants under 6 months.

People recognize her as an expert on infant sucking issues caused by various structural problems like torticollis, plagiocephaly, brachycephaly and tissue shock-trauma.

Cell phone support for breastfeeding: new tools to support global maternal and infant needs

Daniel Sellen, PhD

University of Toronto, Canada

Dr Daniel Sellen is a Professor of Anthropology, Nutritional Sciences and Public Health at the University of Toronto. Previously he was Canada Research Chair in Human Ecology and Public Nutrition (2004-14), assistant and associate professor at Emory University (1997-2004), honorary lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1997-9), and Leverhulme postdoctoral fellow at University College London (1995-7). He completed a PhD in theoretical ecology and international nutrition at the University of California, Davis (1995) after studying zoology and biological anthropology at the University of Oxford (BA Hons 1987) and anthropology at the University of Michigan (MA 1987). Elected a Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology (2009), he currently serves on multiple editorial boards and on the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation executive committee.

Dr Sellen applies a broad training in human evolutionary biology, ecology, nutrition, and medical anthropology to his research and global health teaching, and emphasizes interdisciplinary (i.e. health/social / life / sciences) and “one health” perspectives on infant feeding. His research program aims to develop, pilot and test scaleable, nutrition-sensitive mHealth and small-holder agriculture innovations to enhance child nutrition and health in several low-income countries. In collaboration with Egerton University in Kenya, his team recently completed a randomized trial of cell phone based breastfeeding counselling. He currently directs a cluster-randomized trial of smart phone support of community health workers in Tanzania, and advises internationally on maternal and child nutrition intervention design and evaluation.

What obstetricians everywhere can do to promote & support breastfeeding

Susan Crowe, MD

University of Texas Medical School

Dr Susan Crowe is an OB/GYN working as a clinical associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the Director of Outpatient Breastfeeding Medicine Services at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, and she is actively involved in teaching residents how to provide breastfeeding support. She regularly lectures on breastfeeding topics including hospital support of lactation and management of lactation complications. As an obstetrician, she is working with MDs, RNs and hospital leadership at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to implement skin-to-skin routinely at deliveries. Dr Crowe is ACOG District IX’s Breastfeeding Representative, and she is a member of ACOG’s Breastfeeding Expert Workgroup. Dr Crowe is a member of the Santa Clara County Breastfeeding Coalition and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Mothers Milk Bank of San Jose, CA.

Ninth Annual Founders’ Lecture – Mother’s milk is NOT a formula!

Ardythe L Morrow, PhD

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Dr Ardythe Morrow is Professor of Pediatrics, Nutrition, and Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati; Director, Human Milk & Lactation Research Center and Interim Director for Research in Nutrition Therapy at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Dr Morrow obtained her BA in 1977 from Rice University, then her MSC (nutrition) in 1981 from the University of the West Indies, which exposed her to the Jelliffes and the international “Breast is Best” campaign. As a UWI student, she saw the impact of breastfeeding on development of malnutrition, and decided to focus her career in public health and breastfeeding. She then pursued a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas in 1991. Since that time, her career as an epidemiologist has largely focused on human milk. Her current work involves research in term and preterm infants to examine variation of human milk components (glycans, fatty acids, and other components) and its relationship the developing gut microbial community and protection against enteric diseases. She has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications relevant to human milk composition, breastfeeding, and infant and child health, spanning community based trials of peer-counseling to promote breastfeeding to the molecular biology and epidemiology of human milk in multiple global populations. Past President of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation, she has served on multiple NIH study sections and advisory committees, is currently funded by NIH, CDC, and industry, is a proud member of the Cincinnati breastfeeding coalition and the editorial board of Breastfeeding Medicine and other journals.

Human milk banking: from formal to informal

Susan Landers, MD, FABM – Moderator

Pediatrix Medical Group, Fort Worth, Texas

Dr Susan Landers practices neonatology at Seton Family of Hospitals and Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas. She works for Pediatrix Medical Group. Susan is a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and currently a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Breastfeeding, a group that writes policy for the AAP. She has served as a past chairperson of the Texas Breastfeeding Coalition.

Dr Landers is a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, and her neonatology fellowship training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Sheela Geraghty, MD, FABM

Cincinnati Children’s Center for Breastfeeding Medicine

Dr Geraghty is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and is the medical director of the Cincinnati Children’s Center for Breastfeeding Medicine. In addition to her general pediatric practice, Dr. Geraghty oversees four Breastfeeding Medicine Clinic locations and cares for breastfeeding mother-child dyads two days a week. Dr Geraghty does “hands on” breastfeeding teaching with medical students and doctors in trainings and serves as a clinical resource for regional health care providers. Dr Geraghty helped found the Cincinnati Children’s Research Human Milk Bank and created the Cincinnati Children’s Milk Donor Depot program. Dr Geraghty’s research program has always focused on the barriers to successful breastfeeding outcomes. Dr Geraghty’s current focus is on the prevalent practice of breast milk pumping and the potential implications on mothers and infants related to this practice, including breast milk sharing.

Erin Hamilton-Spence, MD

Pediatrix Medical Group, Fort Worth, Texas

Dr Hamilton Spence works full time as a private practice neonatologist in Fort Worth, Texas. She volunteers for the non-profit Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas, serving as Board President and Co-Medical Director. Additionally, Erin works as a consultant with the Texas DSHS and WIC as faculty for the Texas Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative. In her spare time, she enjoys running, and traveling with her husband and four children.

Scott A Elster, BS

Prolacta Bioscience, CEO, City of Industry, California

Scott Elster is the Chief Executive Officer of Prolacta Bioscience, an innovative company focused on the science of human milk and making a meaningful difference in the lives of premature infants. Mr Elster joined Prolacta in 2006 and has successfully led the company through the transition from a pre-revenue to a growth company.

Mr Elster has over 28 years of experience in the biosciences and financial sectors. His experience encompasses general management, planning, finance, strategic planning, supply
chain, and operations. Prior to joining Prolacta, Mr Elster was the Director of Operations and Supply Chain at Clinical Micro Sensors, a Motorola Company. In this role, he successfully prepared operations for the company’s first commercial launch, including FDA approval of the GMP manufacturing facility. He led the quality control function, the manufacturing team and operational strategy development. His team was also responsible for materials and inventory management, as well as distribution and warehousing.

Previously, Mr Elster worked at Baxter, a global health care company, for over 13 years where he specialized in plasma products. His roles included management positions in strategic planning, business development, finance and strategy, and Director of Global Supply Chain. Mr Elster began his career at Deloitte and Touche as a financial statement auditor.

Mr Elster received his Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Northridge, and his Master of Business Administration degree from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently a board member and is a past chairman of the Board of Directors for Monrovia Growers, one of the world’s largest producers of container grown plants.

Neonatal microbiome effects on subsequent health and disease

Josef Neu, MD

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Dr Josef Neu did his medical school training at the University of Wisconsin, was a pediatric resident at Johns Hopkins and a postdoctoral neonatology fellow at Stanford University. He came to the University of Florida as an associate professor in 1984 to continue his research in developmental gastroenterology and neonatal biochemical nutrition. In 1987 he pursued additional research training at the University of Bern (Switzerland) on basic mechanisms affecting intracellular processing of lactase in the intestinal epithelium. He is internationally recognized for his research in developmental gastroenterology and nutrition and has most recently focused his research efforts on the developing intestinal microbiome and host interactions. He is currently NIH RO-1 funded to study the developing microbiome and to discover biomarkers in babies at risk for developing necrotizing enterocolitis. This involves a multicenter evaluation of intestinal microbiota using novel non-culture based technologies. Another project involves evaluation of a novel dipeptide on the prevention of retinopathy of prematurity and oxygen induced injury to the intestine, lung and brain. He has several patents and patents pending in the area of nutritional supplementation for low birthweight infants.

Dr Neu maintains an active interest in residency and fellowship training. He has served as director of the neonatology fellowship training program at UF since 1986 and on the Council for the Organization of Neonatal Training Program Directors (ONTPD) for the past three years and is past Chair of the ONTPD. He is on the editorial board of 7 journals, has served on numerous NIH study sections and is also active in international education; as a member of International Postgraduate Organization for Knowledge Transfer Research and Teaching Excellent Students (IPOKRaTES), he has organized seminars in neonatal gastroenterology and nutrition in Turkey, Italy, Poland, Georgia, Latvia, Slovenia, Portugal, Mexico United Arab Emirates, and Brazil. He has also lectured in various countries in Europe, China, Japan, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Venezuela. He was the first US pediatrician involved as an external examiner for medical students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr Neu has been involved in the mentorship of over 20 postdoctoral MD neonatology fellows, a pediatric gastroenterology fellow, approximately 15 visiting international scholars, 2 PhD postdoctoral fellows, over 20 undergraduate independent study students (the majority of whom have gone on to medical, veterinary or graduate school in the sciences). He has also
mentored 15 high school students in his laboratory.

Project BreastFeeding: “A father’s role”

Hector Cruz

Photojournalist, Clarksville, Tennessee

Project: BreastFeeding began when one dad was not allowed to attend breastfeeding classes with his wife in preparation for the birth of their daughter. Hector Cruz, like all great dads, wanted to be involved in all aspects of his daughter’s life. He also wanted to be able to support, help and comfort his wife during her breastfeeding journey – and yet the information to do this wasn’t available to him. So he did what any determined person would do – he went online and he began reading and chatting to breastfeeding women and families.

In his own words -“I started to educate myself in every way I knew possible and really began to see the importance of breastfeeding. My wife’s breasts went from being a sexual object to something far more beautiful; her breasts became a natural extension of herself to give my daughter the life-sustaining nutrients that she needed. My eyes were opened and I saw breasts as what they really are, not the over-sexualized objects that we as a society have created.”

As a photographer, Mr Cruz turned his camera in to a voice for breastfeeding families. He captured breastfeeding mothers from all walks of life and captured stunning portrayals of normal, yet often criticized choices, such as extended nursing, tandem nursing and wet nursing.

Resources and strategies to train others

Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

The Florida State University College of Medicine

Dr Joan Younger Meek earned her Bachelor of Science, Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition, and Doctor of Medicine Degrees, with High Distinction, from the University of Kentucky. She completed Pediatric Residency Training at Duke University Medical Center. She was the Academic Chair and Pediatric Residency Director at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida from 2004 until 2012. In 2012, Dr. Meek was appointed as the Associate Dean, Graduate Medical Education, at the Florida State University College of Medicine, where she is a Professor of Clinical Sciences and is the Pediatric Clerkship Director for the Orlando Regional Campus. Dr. Meek is a Board Certified Pediatrician, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has been a Registered Dietitian since 1979 and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 1995.

Dr Meek previously chaired the United States Breastfeeding Committee and is a previous Board Member and Past President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has chaired the Education Committee for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and developed and serves as the Program Chair for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Course “What Every Physician Needs to Know about Breastfeeding.” Dr. Meek has served on the Board of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. She is a founding member and immediate Past President of the Florida Breastfeeding Coalition. Dr. Meek was elected to the Executive Committee of the Section on Breastfeeding of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2012. She is the editor-in-chief of the American Academy of Pediatrics New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding (2002, Revised Second Edition 2011).

Why breastfeed? Risks of not breastfeeding

Miriam H Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, FABM, IBCLC

Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr Miriam Labbok previously served as the Sr Advisor for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care, UNICEF HQ. In this post, she supported international consideration of infant feeding approaches, weaning foods and young child feeding. In her section, she oversaw all related issues, including breastfeeding support in hospitals, in the community, and through support of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent WHA resolutions, a code designed to reduce false and misleading marketing practices of the
commercial infant formula industry. Prior to this posting, she served as Chief, Maternal Health and Nutrition at USAID and as Director of Breastfeeding at the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University. There, she developed and led the WHO Centre of Excellence in breastfeeding and she served as Technical Secretariat for the Innocenti Meeting, where the Innocenti Declaration was developed. Recently, she co-authored articles on international women’s and children’s rights, achieving exclusive breastfeeding in the US, and a systematic review of community-based breastfeeding support in developing countries. She also has written extensively on the issues of breastfeeding and family planning, guilt, maternal health outcomes, hospital practices, and support in child care.

A pediatric epidemiologist, she has served as an expert and/or consultant for the US and NC Institutes of Medicine, the World Bank, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO expert committees related to MCHN/FP, and currently serves on the US Secretary of Health’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, as well as NIH and CDC invited committees. Her research, teaching and service are dedicated to operational research and translation of research evidence into well evaluated service and social change activities have resulted in more than 100 articles in refereed journals, more than 40 chapters and edited books, dozens of monographs, and hundreds of scientific presentations. She has been honored for her work by USAID, LLLI, ILCA, all of her schools of higher learning, and other organizations.

The process of breastfeeding: anatomy & physiology

Natasha K Sriraman, MD, MPH

Eastern Virginia Medical School

Dr Natasha Sriraman has always encouraged breastfeeding for mothers of her patients. However, it wasn’t until her first child was born when she became passionate about breastfeeding after her own breastfeeding struggles.

Dr Sriraman is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CHKD/EVMS and School of Public Health. She is Co-Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator and Board member of the Virginia Chapter–AAP. She will also become the Education chair of the Section on Breastfeeding-AAP. She coordinated VA constituents for Breastfeeding Advocacy Day-2010 to promote the bill to support breastfeeding in the workplace. She received an AAP-Special Recognition award for her Breastfeeding Advocacy. She was the recipient of the SOBr-Lectureship Grant in 2008, which has helped establish an annual breastfeeding conference within Virginia, for which she has been codirector for the past 3 years-and will continue in this role as interest in breastfeeding continues to grow! As Medical Director for Business Case for Breastfeeding in Hampton Roads, she helped over 12 (and still growing) organizations plan, promote and establish lactation rooms for nursing employees.

She was part of the strategic team to get a Breastfeeding-QI project approved by the American Board of Pediatrics for Parts 2 and 4 MOC. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Advocacy and Communications Committee, where she helped to start and continues to administer the ABM Facebook site. She lectures state-wide on obesity and breastfeeding, cultural differences in breastfeeding, jaundice in the breastfeeding newborn, breastfeeding as public-health intervention and Business Case for Breastfeeding.

The sacred hour: importance of uninterrupted skin-to-skin in the firsthour after birth

Raylene M Phillips, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital

After raising three children as a stay-at-home mother, Dr Raylene Phillips received a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology, became NIDCAP certified as an Infant Developmental Specialist, and then attended medical school at University of California, Davis, graduating in 2004. She completed her pediatric residency and neonatology fellowship at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in Loma Linda, CA and is currently an attending neonatologist in the NICU at LLUCH as well as Director of Nursery/Neonatology at LLUMC-Murrieta.

Dr Phillips is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and is President of the National Perinatal Association. Her primary areas of interest are mother-infant attachment, breastfeeding education and support, and family-centered neuroprotective care of premature infants in the NICU.

How babies learn to breastfeed

Christina M Smillie, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

Breastfeeding Resources

Dr Christina Smillie is an American pediatrician who founded in 1996 the first private medical practice in the USA devoted to the specialty of breastfeeding medicine. Board certified by both the American Board of Pediatrics in 1983 and by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners in 1995, she values what she has learned both from other professionals as well as from so many breastfeeding babies and their mothers.

Dr Smillie’s been a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 1996, and an ABM Fellow since 2002. She serves as an advisor to the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding and on La Leche League International’s Health Advisory Council.

Dr Smillie speaks nationally and internationally about the clinical management of a wide variety of breastfeeding issues, always stressing the role of the motherbaby as a single psychoneurobiological system, and emphasizing the innate instincts underlying both maternal and infant competence.

Normal management of breastfeeding

Kinga Szucs, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

Indiana University School of Medicine

Dr Kinga Szucs is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine. She is the medical director of the newborn nursery at Wishard Health Services. In this role she sees breastfeeding dyads and teaches residents and medical students on a daily basis. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) and is a Fellow of ABM.

Dr Szucs is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Breastfeeding Executive Committee and is the AAP Indiana Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator. She is a founding board member of the Indiana Mothers’ Milk Bank. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and is a member of the International Lactation Consultant Association. Dr. Szucs is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Review Committee. Dr. Szucs has published in Pediatrics, in Breastfeeding Medicine and in the Journal of Human Lactation. She also has written an AAP Pedialink Hot Topics Breastfeeding on-line CME course. She participated in the creation of the AAP Breastfeeding Residency Curriculum, which is available on-line. In recognition of her breastfeeding promotion work, Dr Szucs received the Spirit of Service Advocacy Award from Indiana Perinatal Network, Academic Honors from the IUPUI Chancellor, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics Special Achievement Award.

The ten steps to exclusive breastfeeding

Ann L Kellams, MD, IBCLC, FABM

Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr Ann Kellams is an Associate Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Virginia. She is the Director Well Newborn and Breastfeeding Medicine Services. She serves
as the co-Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator for the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a member of the Section on Breastfeeding and is Vice Chair of the Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator Steering Committee. Dr Kellams serves on the Virginia Department of Health State Breastfeeding Advisory Committee. Her research interests are in the area of prenatal education related to infant feeding, hospital breastfeeding support, and safe sleep.

Dr Kellams has served as conference co-Chair for the Virginia Chapter annual conference on breastfeeding and care of the newborn, and is on the scientific panel for the www.bfconsortium.org website which provides free breastfeeding CME and provides ABP MOC certified Part 2 and Part 4 activities.

Breastfeeding the late preterm infant

Eyla G Boies, MD, FAAP, FABM

UC San Diego School of Medicine

Dr Eyla Boies is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Academic General Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego where she teaches medical students and residents in the UCSD the pediatric clinic. She devotes much of her clinical effort to helping solve breastfeeding challenges in the outpatient setting. She founded and is medical director of the Premature Infant Nutrition Clinic (PINC). PINC opened in August 2008 and meets one half day each week to help mothers and recently discharged breast milk and or breastfeeding premature infants and their mothers with lactation and breastfeeding problems. Over 400 infants have been seen in PINC since opening.

Dr Boies moved to San Diego from St Louis in 1992 where she practiced general pediatrics for nine years. She graduated from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1978 and then completed a pediatric internship, residency and fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at St Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr Boies is immediate past president of the San Diego Breastfeeding Coalition, fellow in the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the AAP Section on Breastfeeding. She was named to the list of Top Docs in San Diego in 2010 and 2011.

Managing maternal complications of breastfeeding

Lauren Hanley, MD, IBCLC, FACOG

Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr Lauren Hanley graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine and went on to do her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Brown University/Women and Infants’ Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. She has been working as an Attending Obstetrician and Gynecologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts since August of 2000. She is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at the Harvard Medical School. She also lectures to the Harvard Medical Students and OB/GYN residents on topics related to Lactation Her field of interest is Lactation Medicine. She completed a scholarship through the OB/GYN department at MGH which enabled her to become certified as an IBCLC in October of 2012.

Dr Hanley is running a lactation clinic at the hospital where she sees patients with complicated breastfeeding issues. She has lectured extensively across the state of Massachusetts on the importance of Breastfeeding and how practitioners can support mothers before, during and after birth. She has also lectured on the topic of how birth interventions affect breastfeeding and does clinical research in this area. She has been a member of the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition since 2005 and has served as the Massachusetts representative to the US Breastfeeding Committee and is now the ACOG delegate to the USBC since 2012. She is also a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and has lectured at that annual meeting during the preconference on Maternal Complications of Breastfeeding since 2011.

Breastfeeding and maternal medications

Amy E Evans, MD, FABM, FAAP

Peachwood Pediatrics
UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program

Dr Amy Evans is originally from Rochester, New York where she received her medical degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She then went on to do her pediatric residency at Strong Memorial Hospital through the University of Rochester’s Department of Pediatrics. Thereafter she was in a private group practice for 12 years in suburban Rochester, New York. In 2002, she relocated to Fresno, CA and joined the UCSFFresno Department of Pediatrics and teaches General Academic Pediatrics and Breastfeeding Medicine. She is the Director for the Center for Breastfeeding Medicine within her department, is the Medical Director for the Mother’s Resource Center at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno and holds the title of Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and has publications in the area of Breastfeeding Medicine including ABM Protocol (Revision) #2 and several smaller articles and letters in other journals and websites. Most recently she has joined a private practice where she does primary care pediatrics with an emphasis on good breastfeeding management but ontinues with her academic affiliations, research and subspecialty duties associated with that position as well. In 2010 she was also the co-chair for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s Annual International Conference in San Francisco. In 2012 she began a research project exploring exclusive breastfeeding practices in breastfeeding dyads who successfully made it to the 6 month mark. Along with the above work she continues to lecture locally as well as all over the USA. She is married and has two children.

Management infant complications

Nancy N Wight, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

>h4>San Diego Neonatology Inc
Sharp HealthCare Lactation Service
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns

Dr Nancy Wight is attending Neonatologist at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, and Medical Director at Sharp HealthCare Lactation Services. She is Breastfeeding Coordinator for AAP District IX, Chapter 3 and a LLLI Medical Associate. She sits on the ILCA Advisory Board, the HMBANA Advisory Council and founding member, secretary/treasurer and web editor of the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition. She is a past president of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She is the first author of “Best medicine: Human milk in the NICU”. She is also wife of architect/lawyer, mother of one (formerly breastfed) 24 year old son, four golden retreivers and one cat.

Resources and strategies to train others

Pamela Berens, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FACO

University of Texas Medical School

Dr Pamrla Berens is a generalist OB/GYN working as a Professor at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, USA. Her interest in lactation began at the birth of Her first child as a chief resident. At that time the paucity of Dr Beren’s education in the field of lactation became apparent. Though she was educated in basic benefits of lactation for the child, the practicalities of breastfeeding and more detailed knowledge in the field had been completely absent during her formal medical education. Since that time she has become a proponent of education regarding lactation. She now lectures for the Department of Health in Texas, USA regarding breastfeeding with a focus predominately on; breast complications arising during lactation, maternal medical complications and their impact on lactation and clinic and hospital policies and their impact on lactation. These lectures provide background information for health care professionals in lactation.

Dr Berens has also been involved with the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has completed 6 years serving on the board of directors in 2010 and is currently serving as the Chairperson of the liaison committee. She has written review articles regarding breast engorgement, evaluation of breast masses during lactation and supportive physician practices encouraging lactation. She had the pleasure of working with Dr Thomas Hale on the text, Clinical Therapy in Breastfeeding Mothers: reviewing common illnesses and the optimal choices for therapy in breastfeeding mothers. She has also been involved in clinical research in breastfeeding mothers involving galactogogues, mastitis and milk composition.

Linda J Smith, MPH, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA

Linda Smith is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, author, and internationally-known consultant on breastfeeding and birthing issues. Linda is ILCA’s liaison to the World Health Organization’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and consultant to INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America. As a former La Leche League Leader and Lamaze-certified Childbirth Educator, she provided education and support to diverse families over 35 years in 9 cities in the USA and Canada. Linda has worked in a 3-hospital system in Texas, a public health agency in Virginia, and served as Breastfeeding coordinator for the Ohio Department of Health.

Linda was a founder of IBLCE, founder and past board member of ILCA, and is a delegate to the United States Breastfeeding Committee from the American Breastfeeding Institute. Linda earned a Master Degree in Public Health through the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in 2011. She owns the Bright Future Lactation Resource Center which is on the internet at www.BFLRC.com, whose mission is “Supporting the People who Support Breastfeeding” with lactation education programs, consulting services, and educational resources.

Why the International Code still matters – a LOT

This presentation will start with a brief history of the Code, but will quickly focus on the Code today. How is the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and Subsequent World Health Assembly Resolutions (Code/Resolutions) relevant to the contemporary breastfeeding situation? We will examine current marketing strategies and discuss ways the code can help us limit these strategies and protect mothers and babies.