Lactation & Breastfeeding Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

JAMES MCKENNA (B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., San Diego State University; Ph.D., University of Oregon) Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Professor of Anthropology

McKenna pioneered the first behavioral and electro-physiological studies documenting differences between mothers and infants sleeping together and apart and has become known worldwide for his work in promoting studies of breast feeding and mother-infant cosleeping. A biological anthropologist, and Director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory McKenna began his career studying the social behavior and development of monkeys and apes with an emphasis on parenting behavior and ecology. He has published over 150 articles and six books including a popular parenting book Sleeping With Your baby: A Parents Guide To Co-sleeping. He has coedited Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution, Evolutionary Medicine, and a more recent co-edited volume Evolution and Health: New Perspectives (Oxford University Press. He won the prestigious Shannon Award (with Dr. Sarah Mosko) from the National Institutes of Child Health and Development for his SIDS research and is the nation's foremost authority and spokesperson to the national press on issues pertaining to infant and childhood sleep problems, sleep development, and breastfeeding.

Alice Callahan completed her PhD in Nutritional Biology at UC Davis in 2008, followed by a postdoc in fetal physiology at the University of Arizona. She left the academic track in 2011 to pursue a dual career in college teaching and science writing. Her book, The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby’s First Year, about the science of raising a baby, was published in 2015 by Johns Hopkins University Press and was named one of the best science books of the year by Science News. As a freelance writer, Callahan covers health and nutrition topics – often focusing on pregnancy, infancy, and childhood – for many publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and Lifehacker. She and her family live in Eugene, Oregon, where she also teaches nutrition and physiology at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College.

Evelyne Ruf is a family physician from France, and an International Board Lactation Consultant (since 1993). More than 25 years ago, she shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), working for the Ministry of Health, in Sharjah MCH Center. She opened there the first Lactation Clinic in the UAE, with the support of volunteers from Breastfeeding Friends (BFF), which she had co-founded. Five years ago, the Lactation Clinic has been shifted to the Family Health Promotion Center, where it continues to offer, to a very cosmopolitan population, skilled lactation support as well as assessment and release of tethered oral tissues.

A member of the National Breastfeeding Committee, Evelyne has been involved in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative as a lecturer, trainer, adviser and assessor. Her workplace became the first Baby-Friendly Health Center in the UAE and received the IBCLC Care Award (community category) in 2015.

She has also been actively involved in the Sharjah Baby-Friendly Emirate Campaign, a multi-sectorial initiative launched in 2012, and presented its achievements during Gold Lactation 4 years ago.

With her husband of 34 years, she is the proud and grateful mother of 5 grown-up breastfed children and the grandmother of 4 breastfed little ones.

Michelle has been a pediatric neurodevelopmental Occupational therapist specializing in precrawling infants for over 26 years. She has specialty certifications and training in lactation, manual therapy, and pre and peri natal psychology. Michelle has specialized in optimal cranial nerve function and oral restrictions, with an emphasis on infant movement, innate biological imperatives and human potential, providing novel curriculums, support and resources for both professionals and parents. She enjoys collaborating and working in teams for babies and families going through the tethered oral tissues release process.

Naida Hawkins is a Registered Nurse and Lactation consultant in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. She is a passionate registered nurse who has cared for breastfeeding families for 14 years.

Almereau Prollius is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist in Saskatoon, SK. Together with Naida they have a special interest in strategies to promote successful breast feeding and are advocates of prenatal hand expression. They work as part of an interdisciplinary team supporting families to have an easier time starting and continuing breastfeeding.

More Milk Sooner is their program which supports and promotes hand expression in the antenatal and early postpartum period. Based out of Saskatoon and North Battleford in Saskatchewan, they hope to empower patients and care providers to increase successful breastfeeding. They are delighted to be sharing their journey with you. They are actively involved in research reviewing the outcomes of the implementation of the prenatal hand expression education strategy.

Mother of 6 breastfed children, Tytina is a Certified Lactation Counselor, La Leche League International Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Program Administrator. Tytina is a Loving Support WIC Peer Counselor and Rush University Medical Center Mother’s Milk Club peer counselor. She is an International Center for Traditional Childbearing provisional Doula. She has 15 years of community-level maternal child health. Her affiliations include Chicago Region Breastfeeding Taskforce, March of Dimes, National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color, Breastfeed Chicago, the United States Breastfeeding Committee, and GOLD Learning Professional Advisory Committee.

Starting in 1971 as a LPN, Nikki has worked in clinics, homes, city and county health departments, hospitals, intensive care units, medical schools, and universities. Her focus shifted from intensive care to breastfeeding and public health in 1975. She has worked in person and virtually. She is a nurse, a lactation consultant, a bodyworker, an infant massage instructor, a public speaker, the author of two books and a teacher. Her favorite things now are being a grandmother, learning to grow vegetables, playing old-time and cajun guitar, and walking in beautiful places.

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.

Kathryn is mum to 4 boys, twins and 2 subsequent singletons. She trained as a breastfeeding peer supporter and volunteered in the groups for years in and around Harrow, NW London, UK.

Kathryn caught the breastfeeding support bug and decided to further her knowledge training as a Breastfeeding Counsellor with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers and then qualifying as an IBCLC 3 years ago.

Kathryn started Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets Facebook group almost 6 years ago and it now has over 6500 members. It has recently been made into a UK charity. Kathryn is passionate about delivering high quality breastfeeding support to as many twin and triplet families as possible, creating resources and educating health care professionals and breastfeeding supporters. She runs a small private practice and continues to teach music part time, her original career path.

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.

Divya Sinha Parikh MD, IBCLC, FAAP is a board certified pediatrician practicing in Columbus, OH. She received her medical training at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency in general pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at Case Western Reserve University. She formerly served on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Committee at MetroHealth Hospital Systems in Cleveland, OH and created a breastfeeding medicine clinical rotation during residency. Her work has been presented in local and national meetings.

Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Psychological Trauma and was Founding Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Lactation, a position she held for 11 years. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology, Past President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology, and a member of APA’s Publications and Communications Board.