2021 Speakers & Topics

Alyssa has been helping parents and babies with breastfeeding since 2002, first as a La Leche League Leader and since 2009 as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

Alyssa works in private practice serving clients worldwide, primarily through telehealth. She is the author of Breastfeeding Without Birthing: A Breastfeeding Guide for Mothers Through Adoption, Surrogacy, and Other Special Circumstances and a professional supplement to the book, The Breastfeeding Without Birthing Professional Pack online training.

Alyssa has authored articles for The Journal of Human Lactation: The Three Step Framework for Inducing Lactation and Successful Co-Lactation by a Queer Couple: A Case Study. She has also authored articles for La Leche League’s Leader Today and Breastfeeding Today magazines, and Adoptive Families magazine. She is an international speaker on the topics of inducing lactation, relactation, and other related topics. Alyssa is the proud mother of three breastfed children, two by birth and one by adoption. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Dr. Amal Omer-Salim is the Executive Director of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). She is a nutritionist with a Ph.D. from Uppsala University, Sweden. Her areas of expertise are nutrition, breastfeeding, international health, gender, programme planning, research, and advocacy, with a special focus on Africa and Asia.

Dr. Blanca Aguilar Uscanga is a Biochemical Engineer in Food Science and has a Masters in Food Science. She graduated from the Institute Technologic of Veracruz (ITV) México. She completed her doctoral studies in the specialty of Biotechnology at the National Institute of the Sciences Appliqués of Toulouse in France.

She is currently a full-time research professor (since 2006) at the Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías (CUCEI) de la Universidad de Guadalajara. Dr. Aguilar Uscanga is adjunct professor to the Department of Pharmacobiology, where she teaches courses of Applied Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Science to undergraduate and PhD students.

She is a member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico recognized by CONACYT, with level 2. The research areas are: Food Biotechnology and Microbiology, which cover different areas of research such as: Obtaining bioactive compounds and metabolites of industrial importance through of microorganisms, production and development of functional foods, fermented beverages, probiotics, prebiotics and food safety.

She has international collaborations with the Institute Armand Frappier, Canada and the Institut sur la nutrition et les aliments fonctionnels (INAF) in Québec. Currently she is member of INRS and has an honorable mention of “Professeure associée” provided by the INRS- the Institute Armand Frappier in Laval, Canada.

Decalie is a Registered nurse/midwife with over 40 years of experience collectively working as an IBCLC in a clinical roles within Primary Care and Community Health. Currently working as a Child & Family Health Clinical Nurse Specialist 2 in busy Community of the Blue Mountains, NSW Australia. She supports health professionals and parents with education of lactation/infant feeding/settling and behavioural issues for infants and children 0 to 5 years of age as a clinical specialist. A current BFHI Assessor. Has shared her extensive clinical experience in workshops at many ILCA, LCANZ and ABA conferences over the years. Her passion in support for mothers and babies.

Decalie has volunteered for Board of Director for the Australian Lactation Consultants Association (ALCA) 7 years on the ILCA International Lactation Consultant Association, last 2 years as President. On the Inaugural World Trends Initiative WBTI AUS Core group. Advisory committee for International Childbirth Education Ass. ICEA. World Health Organisation working group for revision of BFHI Education package, WABA advisory group. ILCA Nominations committee chair, IBCLC Care award Co chair.

Enjoying the next level of parenting being Mimi to her 3 year old grandson Cole.

Johanna Sargeant is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, teacher and writer based in Zurich, Switzerland. She is passionate about utilising her background in education, biological science, psychology and language to empower parents with empathetic support and evidence-based information through her private practice, Milk and Motherhood.

Originally from Australia, Johanna provides much-needed English-speaking support to many thousands of parents throughout Switzerland and across Europe, and has recently been contracted to create the new education modules for the European Society of Paediactric Research and the European Society of Neonatology. She has taught at the University of Zurich, has spoken as a panelist for the WHO’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative congress in Geneva, has been an expert speaker and facilitator for Google, and has presented at a wide variety of international conferences. The complexities of her personal feeding experiences have led her to the establishment of the sole peer-to-peer milk-sharing network in Switzerland, and fuels her passion for providing knowledgeable, guilt-free infant feeding support globally.

Karleen Gribble (BRurSc, PhD) is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University.

Her interests include infant and young child feeding in emergencies, marketing of breastmilk substitutes, parenting and care of maltreated children, child-caregiver and caregiver-child attachment, adoption reform, and treatment of infants and young children within the child protection, immigration detention, and criminal justice systems.

She has published research on these subjects in peer-reviewed journals, provided media commentary, contributed to government enquiries, provided expert opinion for courts, and engaged in training of health professionals, social workers, and humanitarian workers on these subjects.

Karleen is an Australian Breastfeeding Association Community Educator and Breastfeeding Counsellor. Since 2010 she has been a member of the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Core Group and has been at the forefront of the development of policy, training and research in the area of infant and young child feeding in emergencies.

Lina Mazzoni is a Lactation Consultant, IBCLC with a Bachelors Degree in Speech and Language Therapy. Since 2013 she has been working primarily with children and specialized in the treatment of sucking, swallowing and feeding disorders. In 2019 she became a Lactation Consultant to be able to work equivalent with the children and the mother. As a working mom she worked part time as a Lactation Consultant in a hospital in Hamburg, started her own privat practice in 2019 and since october 2021 she works exclusively in her private practice as a lactation consultant and SLT. She also works as an Instructor in lactation education and further education regarding feeding developement and disorders . Lina has two children and lives with them and her husband in Hamburg, Germany.

Lisa Marasco has been working with breastfeeding mothers for 35 years and has been Internationally Board Certified since 1993. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Development with specialization in Lactation Consulting and was designated a Fellow of ILCA in 2009.

Lisa is co-author of Making More Milk: The Breastfeeding Guide to Increasing Your Milk Production, a contributing author to the Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care, and a Cochrane Collaborative author. She is employed by WIC of Santa Barbara County while she continues to research, write and speak. In addition, Lisa is affiliated with La Leche League of So. Calif/Nevada, and serves on the Breastfeeding Coalition of Santa Barbara County.

Marie Zahorick, MS, APRN, FNP-C, IBCLC became a La Leche League Leader in 1999 and an IBCLC in 2005. After several years of working as a hospital-based bilingual Spanish-speaking IBCLC, she attended nursing school and eventually became a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner. In the meantime, she continued working as a hospital-based lactation consultant doing inpatient, outpatient, and Level III NICU lactation. She did not get much sleep.

After graduate school, Marie was recruited to work as a nurse practitioner in psychiatry. She was fellowship-trained to manage patients in the acute inpatient setting, partial hospitalization, outpatient office, and OB patients in the general hospital setting.

She specializes in women’s psychiatry, especially medical management of women who are pregnant or lactating. Her expertise also includes general psychopharmacology. She is experienced at diagnosing and treating mental conditions such as bipolar disorder, perinatal/postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, postpartum psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, premenstrual and perimenopausal mood disorders, and personality disorders.

She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three adult children in the transient stage of life. Her children all breastfed for at least two years but now just make faces when confronted with that fact.

Michal A. Young, M.D., FAAP, FABM is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University College of Medicine. She also serves as the Medical Director of the B.L.E.S.S. (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 completed a rotating internship in Medicine and Pediatrics at Grady Memorial and Emory Hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by a Pediatric residency in the Howard University Hospital/D.C. General Hospital Combined Program, and a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital.

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, the Diabetic Dyad and in breastfeeding education for professionals and parents.

She is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (sections on Perinatal Medicine and Breastfeeding), a Fellow and member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (Chairman of its Protocol Committee), member of the National Medical Association (a Past Chair of its Pediatric Section), Member of the Board of Directors for the D.C. Breastfeeding Coalition, Member of the Board of Directors for ROSE: Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, Inc., one of the Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinators for the D.C. Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Board Member of the Prolacta Bioscience Foundation.

Naomi Hull is a Registered Nurse, an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and has a Master of Public Health (Nutrition).

Naomi is mum to two teenage young adults, a Rhodesian Ridgeback and five chickens. Since 2006 Naomi has been a volunteer Breastfeeding Counsellor (Cert IV Breastfeeding Education) with the Australian Breastfeeding Association, and she qualified as an IBCLC in 2010 and has worked in a small Private Practice in Brisbane. While completing her MPH at the University of Queensland (UQ) she focused her dissertation on a qualitative review of stakeholder’s perceptions of the implementation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (2010-2015).

Since then she has gone on to lead and coordinate a national team in the assessment of Australian breastfeeding policies and programs using the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) Assessment Tool.

Naomi is the Senior Manager for Breastfeeding Information and Research at the Australian Breastfeeding Association, where she is responsible for the provision of up to date, evidence-based information for the general community and health professionals.

Dr. Nastassia Davis is a licensed registered nurse with over 15 years’ experience in perinatal nursing and became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2009.

Nastassia serves as an assistant professor in the school of nursing at Montclair State University. Over her career Nastassia developed a passion for eliminating disparities in black infant and maternal health. In 2018, she went on to found a nonprofit, the Perinatal Health Equity Foundation where she serves as the executive director. Through the nonprofit, Nastassia established Sistahs Who Breastfeed, a breastfeeding support group for black women which operates in several NJ cities.

She is active in several committees and organizations including the Association of Women's Health Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Nastassia's research and clinical interests include implicit bias/racism in healthcare, breastfeeding in the black community, obstetrical violence, high risk OB, and reproductive justice.

Annette Leary is a registered nurse with over 33 years of experience working in Maternal Child Health. She became an IBCLC In 1995. She works as a Maternal Educator in a large tertiary care hospital (14,000 deliveries a year) that is Magnet designated, JCAHO certified, and BFHI awarded. Her responsibilities include providing outpatient lactation virtual and in-person support, staff education, and inpatient consultations. She began her Upledger Craniosacral training in 2015, taking advanced maternal and pediatric specialty classes. Her most special efforts to date include her marriage of over 33 years, four adult children and being nana to two grandchildren.

Naomi Hull as a Registered Nurse, an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and has a Master of Public Health (Nutrition). Naomi is mum to two teenage young adults, a Rhodesian Ridgeback and three chickens. Since 2006 Naomi has been a volunteer Breastfeeding Counsellor (Cert IV Breastfeeding Education) with the Australian Breastfeeding Association, and she qualified as an IBCLC in 2010 and has worked in a small Private Practice in Brisbane. While completing her MPH at the University of Queensland (UQ) she focused her dissertation on a qualitative review of stakeholder’s perceptions of the implementation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (2010-2015). Since then she has gone on to lead and coordinate a national team in the assessment of Australian breastfeeding policies and programs using the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) Assessment Tool. Naomi is the Senior Manager for Breastfeeding Information and Research at the Australian Breastfeeding Association, where she is responsible for the provision of up to date, evidence-based information for the general community and health professionals.

Maxine Scringer-Wilkes graduated with a nursing degree followed later on by her Master of Nursing in 2017 both from the University of Calgary. Maxine was a public health nurse in Calgary for 13 years, where providing face to face contacts with new families soon after discharge is a standard of care. Most families named feeding challenges as their biggest concern. In turn, Maxine developed a passion for lactation support, worked towards and attained the International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant designation, in order to assist families to reach their feeding goals. In 2016, Maxine made the transition from public health to acute care where she currently works in all areas of a large Children’s hospital to support dyads with a myriad of lactation concerns but is primarily in the NICU. Maxine’s responsibilities includes orienting new staff to teaching a provincial lactation education within a team. Maxine is passionate about sharing knowledge with aspiring LCs and is a mentor to many. Maxine participates on numerous committees to update lactation and feeding policies, procedures and documents. Furthermore, she volunteers on provincial and national breastfeeding committees.

Robin Kaplan has been an IBCLC since 2009, the same year that she opened up the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. She founded the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation in 2016, a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to reduce breastfeeding disparities among families of color and low-income families, as well as provide scholarships for women of color to become IBCLCs.

Robin was the founding host of the Boob Group podcast and published her first book, Latch: a Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage in 2018. Robin’s center has been a clinical training site for the UCSD Lactation Consultant program since 2015.

In 2019/2020, Robin helped write the curriculum for the University of California San Diego Lactation Educator Counselor program and was the Program Manager for the UCSD Curriculum Development Team for the Pathway 1&2 Lactation Consultant program. Robin has a BA from Washington University in St Louis and Masters in Education from University of California Los Angeles. Robin is currently attending the Functional Nutrition Alliance to become a Functional Nutrition Counselor.

Sejal is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice and an infant massage educator in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA. She combines her professional expertise with her personal instincts as a mother and a supportive team member.
She holds a Bachelors in Microbiology and Clinical Laboratory Science.
She also brings with her the following comprehensive toolkit: Certified Educator of Infant Massage, Formerly Certified in skin-to-skin care for full term infants from the United States Institute of Kangaroo Care Certified Provider of Innate Postpartum Care.
She has presented nationally and internationally for GOLD lactation, ILCA, community colleges, local lactation organizations.
As a lactation consultant, she believes that every individual needs to be educated about breast health, optimal infant feeding and how breastfeeding support is a basic human right and can impact world health globally.
She strives to help each family by continuing to learn all she can about breast health, breastfeeding ecology, breastfeeding movement and parent-infant connection using the neurobiological and infant mental health lens.
When she’s not with her clients, you can find her at home in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA, listening to bollywood music, hanging out with friends and spending time with her family.

As a Pediatrician and an IBCLC, Shacchee is attracted to ways of promoting health and well-being for families. She transitioned to lactation support 14 years ago after her first daughter was born, realising the felt need for skilled Lactation Support in her community.

She works at a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India, and heads a Lactation team, supporting families in their antenatal, intra-natal and postnatal periods. She also trains medical and paramedical staff in skilled lactation support.

She is the current President and Executive Team member of ALPI (Association of Lactation Professionals India). She works as a clinical instructor, helping train future lactation professionals in various aspects of Skills, Ethics, Scope of Practise and Communication. She co-ordinates between Public and Private healthcare bodies to provide equitable lactation support across her community.

She is an advocate of teamwork in supporting dyads with special lactation challenges (oral restrictions/ NICU babies etc) and has been working to bring experts from different fields together for comprehensive lactation support. Working with different teams locally and nationally allowed her to achieve the goal of making, "skilled lactation support a reality in India."

Married to Vipul, they have two super girls Navya (14) and Ayana(11).

Dr. Smaranda Nay is a Family Doctor, an IBCLC, a Personal Development Counselor and a mother. She has been studying Transactional Analysis psychotherapy since 2007 and is now in her second year of training to become a Somatic Experience therapist. She uses her knowledge to teach parents how to connect with their children and how to attune to their babies’ needs, both through individual counselling sessions and in classes. She is part of the Romanian Lactation Consultants Association and holds lactation education courses for future IBCLCs. She gives lactation counselling consults and holds breastfeeding and childcare courses.

She also holds personal development workshops for teenagers and adults, collaborating with non-formal education organizations and schools. She is particularly curious about the development of an attuned relationship between people and building intimacy and trust. Working with babies, she observes the parent-child connection and explores its potential in healing and growth, and how it impacts the future development of the individual. Working with teenagers and adults, she facilitates ways in which childhood disruptions can be healed in the present.

Wendy is a breast biologist at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research explores the biology of how the breast develops and functions to better understand how disease states occur, including lactation mastitis and breast cancer.

After postdoctoral research as an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, USA, Wendy returned to Adelaide in 2005 and established the Breast Biology and Cancer Unit at the University of Adelaide. In 2011 she was appointed a National Breast Cancer Foundation Fellow and also The Hospital Research Foundation Associate Professor of Breast Cancer Research, which is her current appointment.

In 2016 Wendy won the Award for Excellence in Reproductive Biology Research from the Society for Reproductive Biology. Wendy’s research challenges old paradigms and explores new concepts in how the breast develops and functions to improve breast health across the life course.