IBCLC Detailed Content Outline: Physiology and Endocrinology Focused CERPs - Section II

Alex has been a lactation consultant in the Washington, DC area since 2010. In addition to running her private practice, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Lactation Consultants, Alex cares for breastfeeding moms and babies at Hirsch Pediatrics in Rockville, MD. After earning her master's in English Literature and teaching for several years, Alex met two extraordinary people that inspired her to enter the field of lactation: her daughters. Alex has worked at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital as an in-patient lactation consultant. In 2015, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Alex is committed to increasing awareness for impaired mammary organ development (IMOD) and impaired mammary organ function (IMOF).

Dr. Ilana Azulay Chertok is a Professor and Associate Director of Nursing Research and Scholarship at the Ohio University, College of Health Sciences and Professions, School of Nursing. She earned her bachelor’s in international relations and nursing, master’s in nursing, doctorate (PhD) in epidemiology, and post-doctorate in nursing research. The primary focus of her research is national and global maternal-infant health, specifically lactation and breastfeeding research. She has published and presented her work in national and international journals, conferences, and other professional forums. Dr. Chertok has served as a mentor to undergraduate students, graduate students, and health professionals of various disciplines including nursing, medicine, and public health. Currently, she is the lead PI on a study examining the differences in breastfeeding and breast milk between women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus.

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.

Amber Valentine is a Speech-Language Pathologist who graduated from the University of Kentucky with her MS in Communication Disorders. She is a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She worked for Baptist Health Systems, Inc for 8 years before moving to Florida where she worked for Wolfsons Children’s Hospital and Mayo Florida. She is now back in Kentucky working for Baptist Health Lexington. She has experience in adults and pediatrics with feeding and swallowing difficulties including: bedside swallow evaluations, Modified Barium Swallow studies, FEES, and pediatric feeding evaluations including NICU. She has provided guest lectures for the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville on feeding and swallowing topics. She has presented at the hospital level, local, state, national, and international levels on pediatric feeding/swallowing and breastfeeding.

Lillian Scott is a speech-language pathologist and certified lactation counselor employed by Baptist Health Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky. She received master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Gallaudet University. She received dual bachelor degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Special Education from the University of Kentucky. She has worked with pediatrics and adults in the areas of speech, language, and swallowing. She has NICU, Mother/baby, and outpatient clinical experience working with feeding dyads of breast and bottle feeding infants. In the area of adults and pediatrics, she has experience with clinical swallowing evaluations and Modified Barium Swallow Studies. She has experience with adult Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluations of swallowing (FEES). Her interest is in successful feeding by mouth for infants with complex medical histories and promoting breastfeeding in cultures that are not likely to receive the supports for feeding difficulties due to knowledge, costs, and/or access.

Professor Claire Meek is professor of chemical pathology and diabetes in pregnancy at the University of Leicester. She runs the diabetes in pregnancy service in University Hospitals Leicester, which supports around 10,000 deliveries per year, including many in women with diabetes. Prof Meek has recently moved to Leicester and previously worked at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge (UK) and as a principal investigator at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge. She is supported by a Diabetes UK intermediate clinical fellowship and Future Leaders' Award from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes in association with the Novo Nordisk Foundation. She has also won several national and international awards including the Young Investigator Award and Pregnancy special interest group award from the American Diabetes Association, the Young Investigator Award from the Association of Physicians (UK) and the British Medical Foundation Helen H Lawson Award.

Professor Meek runs a research team of scientists and healthcare professionals who work together to run interventional and observational clinical studies in diabetes, nutrition and obesity in pregnancy. They have recently completed a whole-diet randomised controlled trial to test a dietary intervention in gestational diabetes (DiGest trial), and the DiGest follow-up study, assessing the effect of pregnancy interventions upon maternal and offspring cardiometabolic risk postnatally. Prof Meek contributed to the CONCEPTT trial, assessing real time continuous glucose monitoring in women with type 1 diabetes in pregnancy, which led to widespread changes in clinical care internationally.

Pavel graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and Doctor of Pharmacy. He completed his general residency at Parkview Medical Center and Pediatric Residency at University of Chicago. He is a neonatal ICU (NICU) and antimicrobial stewardship program clinical pharmacist at Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) in Columbus, OH. Pavel precepts pharmacy residents and students from several colleges of pharmacy while also serving as a preceptor to international pharmacy scholars from Europe, Africa, and Middle East. He is currently involved in a multicenter study to investigate barriers, enablers and opportunities for implementing neonatal antibiotic stewardship in public and private hospitals in South Africa. He is also involved in implementation of neonatal antimicrobial stewardship programs in several hospitals in Lebanon. Pavel is the principal investigator on the study evaluating interventions to reduce antibiotic use among surgical patients in the NICU: The NO-More-AntibioticS and Resistance in Surgery (NO-MAS-R-S) Study.

Tom Johnston is unique as a midwife and lactation consultant and the father of eight breastfed children. Recently retired after 27 years in the US Army, he is now an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Methodist University where he teaches, among other things, Maternal-Child Nursing and Nutrition. You may have heard him at a number of conferences at the national level, to include the Association of Woman’s Health and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the International Lactation Consultant’s Association (ILCA), or perhaps at dozens of other conferences across the country. In his written work he routinely addresses fatherhood and the role of the father in the breastfeeding relationship and has authored a chapter on the role of the father in breastfeeding for “Breastfeeding in Combat Boots: A survival guide to breastfeeding in the military”.

Tamara Drenttel Brand holds an MA in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the American University of Beirut. She spent 10 years in the Middle East, where she worked as a public health practitioner, infant and maternal health consultant and an IBCLC. She has supported breastfeeding dyads from all over the world both in private practice and as a volunteer. In 2011, she founded and still actively facilitates “Mama 2 Mama Beirut Breastfeeding Support,” the largest breastfeeding peer support network in the Middle East (currently at 25k+ members). Additionally, she founded Galactablog, a professional group for lactation specialists and those aspiring-to-be (currently at 4.7k+ members) and has authored several articles for La Leche League’s monthly leader publications in both the Middle East and Ireland.

She is currently an international speaker on the topics dealing with breastfeeding in the Middle East, innovative lactation teaching strategies, working in resource-scarce settings, providing culturally sensitive lactation support, developing and implementing peer counselor training programs, mast cell disease and other related topics. Due to her own chronic health conditions, she has a special interest in educating others about mast cell disease and supporting those with chronic illnesses. She currently resides in a seaside village in Ireland with her family.

Megan Dunn is an experienced Lactation Consultant, infant feeding specialist, and Health Educator with nearly two decades of experience providing comprehensive lactation education and clinical care. With a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Sociology and a minor in Communication, Megan offers holistic, evidence-based care and develops innovative care plans in a Trauma-Informed environment. Megan is an award-winning breastfeeding advocate, currently serving as the President of the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, and has successfully implemented and developed clinical lactation services and Medicaid billing for Public Health lactation care.