GOLD Learning Speakers

CAdrianna Ross CPM, LM Is a professional midwife in the Richmond Virginia area. She has a group practice of professional midwives and a nurse – midwife, River City Midwifery, serving people at home and a freestanding Birth Center. They serve people during pregnancy, postpartum, and provide general wellness care. She has a certificate in advanced herbal studies and completed an herbal apprenticeship in 2013.

Adrienne Guirguis, a board certified lactation consultant has over 25 years experience in helping breastfeeding infants and their families. She began her journey into the world of lactation after struggling to breastfeed her oldest son. She became an accredited La Leche League leader and was able to help babies breastfeed. Her experience with La Leche League led Adrienne to become a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She has been board certified for 20 years and has experience with a wide range of problems that may be experienced by new families. Adrienne has worked in hospital for over 10 years and then worked in community health for many years. She is a clinical practitioner, working hands on with families to improve feeding outcomes.

Adrienne continues her lactation education, constantly attending conferences and courses to stay up-to-date on the information and skills needed to benefit those who most need breastfeeding help. In 2022 Adrienne completed the Holistic Integrative/Functional Lactation course, a year long program followed by a residency. This course has increased her skills to provide the best care for the families with whom she works.

Adrienne also is an educator, working within the community to teach others the skills necessary to become lactation counselors and eventually board certified lactation consultants.

Adrienne Leeds is a Certified Professional Midwife and Clinical Herbalist. After numerous women told her she had ""midwife energy"" she heeded the calling. Adrienne has studied birth and women's health with Wise Womanhood, The Matrona, The Association of Texas Midwives' Midwifery Training Program, Ysha Oakes’ Sacred Window, and Dr. Rosita Arvigo. She is a graduate of the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies' 3-year Clinical Herbalism program. Adrienne apprenticed with two homebirth midwives and completed a month-long midwifery internship at a teaching hospital in Cusco, Peru. She is a married mother of two homebirthed children.

Prof EL-Khuffash is a Consultant Neonatologist and Paediatrician. He is a qualified International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. His two primary clinical and research areas of expertise are heart function in neonates and the promotion of breast feeding, and breast feeding support, to new mothers. He also has extensive expertise in general feeding issues encountered by babies over the first few months.

Prof EL-Khuffash sees families for prenatal breast feeding and fetal anomaly consultations and postnatal infant assessment, 2 and 6 week checks, and breastfeeding/general support including early irritability and reflux in his consultation rooms in the Rotunda Private Clinic.

Prof EL-Khuffash has considerable knowledge of breast feeding medicine and experience in providing antenatal and postnatal breast feeding advice and support to new mothers. This includes identifying and addressing challenges to breastfeeding in both the mother and the baby. He also specialises in general feeding difficulties and early feeding issues encountered by babies.

Prof EL-Khuffash graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 2002 and enrolled in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland paediatric specialist training scheme in 2005. He completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in University College, Dublin in 2008 and his neonatal specialty training in Toronto, Canada (2009-2011). Following this, he was appointed as a consultant Neonatologist and Assistant Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto in January of 2011. He obtained a diploma in clinical epidemiology during his time in Toronto. He is the recipient of several national and international research awards, with international peer reviewed publications and keynote presentations and the lead for cardiovascular research, supervising several post graduate PhD candidates.

Aiden Farrow is an IBCLC, writer, speaker, and infant feeding and health equity advocate. Parent of a child born with a cleft lip and palate, they have advocated extensively over the last 16 years in order to increase awareness of the specific challenges faced by cleft affected infants and their families and to increase adequate lactation support for this community. Based in Victoria BC, Aiden has a private practice entirely focused on babies with oral clefts, providing support internationally via telehealth. Aiden serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Human Lactation and co-authored the journal’s policy on sex and gender inclusion. Aiden works with Indigenous families as a family support worker and lactation and infant feeding consultant at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre and has a special interest in food security and food sovereignty for infants and toddlers. 

American midwife lives between Saudi Arabia and Delaware USA and who travels globally providing workshops and lectures for birth workers and trains AMANI Birth Teachers and Doulas. She is an advocate for normal physiologic birth and the rights of parents to education and preparation for birth and the responsibility of birth workers to compassionately support them. She is the International Relations Coordinator for the Saudi Midwifery Group and is supporting new midwifery curriculum development with the Saudi Ministry of Health. Additionally, she provides cultural competency for workshops. Her credits include a variety of published articles and books, many lecture topics, and conference organization. She is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) as designated by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM); has completed her of her Bachelor and Masters of Science in Midwifery and is a licensed midwife in the United States and registered as a Midwifery Specialist by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS).

Alexandra Glass is a gynecologist/ obstetrician and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant working in Hanover, Germany, where she lives with her family. Alexandra is the Vice President of BDL Lactation Consultant Association. She speaks at Local, National and International conferences and she teaches preparatory courses for the IBCLC exam. She is the mother of two daughters, who were both breastfed.

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).

Alexia is a therapeutic coach, the author of Fearless Birthing, and the host of the award-nominated and chart-topping Fear Free Childbirth podcast. What began as a maternity leave side project is now an essential destination for women with a fear of birth with thousands of women now using Alexia’s site every month to lose The Fear. Alexia helps them to prepare for birth through her private sessions, online courses and membership community.

At the heart of Alexia’s work is a unique fear-clearance method, which women around the world are now using to help them prepare for their birth, and that she successfully uses to help women overcome tokophobia. Alexia also provides training to pregnancy and birth professionals who want to use her Fearless Birthing approach so that more women can access this level of fear-clearance support in preparing for pregnancy and birth.

Alia Macrina Heise has worked in the field of lactation since 2004. She is considered the international authority on the topic of dysphoric milk ejection reflex (D-MER). She has been the forerunner in identifying, naming and investigating the anomaly of dysphoria with milk ejection reflex since 2007. She has spoken on the subject at many notable conferences, including GOLD, has given several interviews on the subject for both print and podcasts and has been published through her work on a case study about D-MER for The International Breastfeeding Journal. In 2017 she released the first book on the subject. Alia's passion and enthusiasm for the topic of D-MER are evident in the energy that she demonstrates in her presentations and the novelty of new information on a subject that is not yet well known or understood by many makes for an engaging and interesting presentation. Alia is not only a former sufferer of the lactation anomaly herself, she is also the webmaster of d-mer.org and she works closely with mothers around the world who are suffering with the condition in order to support them and to better understand the variance of the experience. She is also in frequent contact with other professionals in order to spread awareness and to support further research and investigation into the subject. Outside of her work with D-MER, she is also in private practice as an IBCLC in the Finger Lakes region of New York. She lives in a small rural town where she enjoys country living with her three children.

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.

Alice Farrow is an IBCLC, writer, speaker, and infant feeding and health equity advocate. Parent of a child born with a cleft lip and palate, Alice has worked extensively, since 2006, with parents, parent organisations, cleft teams health providers and lactation specialists in order to increase awareness of the specific challenges faced by cleft affected infants and their families and to imprve access to adequate lactation support for this community.

Currently based in Rome, Italy, Alice advocates for, and teaches regularly on, the topic of breastfeeding/chestfeeding with an oral cleft via presentations, courses, articles, booklets and handouts and supports parents and professionals wordwide via their Cleft Lip and Palate Breastfeeding website and associated online support group, and in person and distance consultations.

Dr. Hazelbaker has been a therapist in private practice 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 Haller Method practitioner, A Pre and Perinatal Psychology Educator, a Lactation Therapist Diplomate, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association.

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.)

People recognize her as an expert on infant sucking issues caused by various structural problems like torticollis, plagiocephaly, brachycephaly and tissue shock-trauma. She invented the Hazelbaker™ FingerFeeder and the Infant Breastfeeding CranioSacral Protocol™ to assist in the resolution of this type of infant sucking dysfunction.

Allison Tolman has experience as an LPN, CLC, Certified Birth Doula, Certified Childbirth Educator, and IBCLC. She has found a passion for breast pumps and now works exclusively with mothers who are combining breastfeeding and pumping while returning to work after maternity leave. She (along with an engineer) developed a device used to test breast pumps and has enjoyed sharing her data and findings with her online community and helping mothers choose and use the best breast pump for them. Her husband is active duty military in the US Army and together they have 3 little boys. They have lived all over the US and spent 3 wonderful years in Belgium. She is also pursuing a bachelors in Maternal Child Health: Human Lactation at Union Institute & University.

Allison Walsh IBCLC LCCE FACCE is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (2006), Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (2000), and and doula (2000) in private practice in New York City. She is one of the three founders of the Lactation Learning Collective, which offers education and support to those on the pathway toward certification as International Board Certified Lactation Consultants along with families in need of lactation support. She trains childbirth educators as a Co-Director of the NYC Lamaze Childbirth Educator Program and is a past president of Lamaze. Allison has represented Lamaze International as a delegate to the United States Breastfeeding Committee since 2004, and has served in various leadership and committee roles. Allison is a member of the New York City Breastfeeding Leadership Council, the New York Lactation Consultant Association, and an active La Leche League Leader. She co-chaired the Save the Birthing Center Committee which was a group of professionals, advocates and consumers who fought valiantly but unsuccessfully to stop the closure of the Mount Sinai West (formerly Roosevelt) Birthing Center in New York City. Prior to the birth of her first child, Allison was a political consultant and community organizer. Skills from that “past life” are useful in all aspects of her work in the birth world. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and mother of three formerly breastfed children. Allison thinks that babies are the most interesting of all people and never underestimates the power of a good cup of tea, fresh air, and fresh bed linen.

Allyson is a physical therapist, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and co-owner of Nurture Columbus, in Columbus, Ohio. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Ohio University in 1997, and Master of Physical Therapy degree from Northwestern University in 1999. After having a child in 2007, she volunteered as a La Leche League leader. She discovered a love for supporting new parents but a gap in lactation care, which led her to become an IBCLC in 2014. Her clinical approach to identifying and overcoming feeding challenges is unique with physical therapy foundations in posture, movement and reflexive function. Through presentations she endeavors to engage IBCLCs to know more about movement as related to human lactation, and PTs to learn about breastfeeding/chestfeeding as related to human development. As past-president (2019-2021) of the Ohio Lactation Consultant Association, she also advocates for equitable access to and health plan coverage for lactation care.

Althea T. Simpson, MBA, MSW, LCSW, RPT-S, is an innovative trainer, psychotherapy private practice owner, founder and President of Unicorn Life Training and the Black Play Therapy Society, and host of the Chronicles of A Play Therapist podcast. She is the author of Hurt to Healing: Child Witnesses of Domestic Violence and Their Invisible Injuries. Althea has a diverse background including research, mental health, and organizational consulting. A Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator reinforcing a process of creative thinking and problem-solving, Althea facilitates thought-provoking and experiential skill enriching workshops for mental health professionals, corporations, and organizations throughout the United States. Althea’s passion is utilizing the healing powers of play to effect change on an individual and organizational level.

IG: @altheatsimpson

IG: @brickmagicplaytherapy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unicornlifetraining

Twitter: @altheatsimpson

TikTok: @altheatsimpson

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCexheSp4-M-A-sW5w1aU5eQ

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.

Amanda is a children's nurse, having worked on pediatric wards and in the community supporting children with complex health needs, although over ten years of her nursing career have been in neonatal care, where she is further qualified in specialty (QiS). She trained and volunteered in breastfeeding peer support two years into her nursing career, ultimately sitting the exam to become an IBCLC to ensure that the families within neonatal care had access to an infant feeding specialist familiar with their journey. Amanda has since further specialized in Neonatal Homecare, is a Nurse Practitioner in restrictive lingual frenulum, and has worked as an Infant Feeding Lead for a regional surgical NICU and SCBU, as well as a regional Infant Feeding Advisor to ten neonatal units across a regional network. She has recently been appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB), where she is the Neonatal Lead.

Amber Price, CNM, DNP is the current president of the Virginia affiliate of a CNM. She works in Richmond as the Vice President of the Women’s Hospital at Henrico Doctors’ where she has developed a collaborative model with midwives serving as laborists. She is active in clinical practice and speaks internationally on topics including respectful maternity care, obstetric violence, holistic care for people with obesity, and integration of midwifery in hospitals to promote health and improve outcomes. She recently authored a chapter in “Nobody Told Me About That”, a book that provides real and practical care tips and advice for families during the postpartum period.

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, as well as a Certified Neonatal Therapist (CNT). 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 experience with head and neck cancer patient including evaluation and treatment of swallowing difficulties, PMV use, and voice after total laryngectomy including TEP. She has provided guest lectures for the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Louisville on feeding and swallowing topics. She has presented at the hospital, local, state, national, and international levels on pediatric feeding/swallowing and breastfeeding.

Amy Barron Smolinski holds an MA from Union Institute and University, where her thesis explored re-emerging Sacred Feminine manifestations in the lives of contemporary women. She is the Executive Director of Mom2Mom Global, a network of breastfeeding peer support, education, and advocacy for military families. She works with breastfeeding dyads in a variety of settings, from inpatient postpartum and NICU to home visits, telephone, and online consulting as an Advanced Lactation Consultant and Certified Lactation Counselor. Supporting breastfeeding families has shown her how each parent’s breastfeeding journey with each of her children is a reclamation of her connection to her inner wisdom and power. Amy is an actress, director, and professional voice artist in Germany, where she resides with her husband and four sons, all of whom breastfed to self-weaning.

Professor Amy Brown is based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University in the UK. With a background in psychology, she has spent the last thirteen years exploring psychological, cultural and societal influences upon infant feeding decisions in the first year. Her research seeks to understand how we can shift our perception of how babies are fed away from an individual mothering issue to a wider public health problem – with societal level solutions. Dr Brown has published over 60 papers exploring the barriers women face in feeding their baby during the first year. She is a mother to three human children and three book babies: Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies, Why starting solids matters, and The Positive Breastfeeding Book: Everything you need to feed your baby with confidence. She is a regular blogger, aiming to change the way we think about breastfeeding, mothering and caring for our babies.

Amy Holmes has practiced as a pharmacist for 21 years with the last 9 years being focused in neonatal critical care at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC. She holds degrees in pharmacy from University of North Carolina (BS) as well as the University of Maryland at Baltimore (PharmD). Amy serves as the Residency Program Director for the acute care PGY1 program at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. She is active in state and national pharmacy organizations including the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

Andini has bachelor and master degree in public health, majoring in hospital administration. She is an IBCLC and is currently undertaking PhD at the Australian National University. Her PhD thesis is looking at the facilitator and barrier of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative implementation and accreditation in Indonesia and Australia. One part of her PhD was measuring its social value using Social Return on Investment.

Her journey began when she was pregnant with her first child, then found and attended full series of Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers Association (AIMI)'s breastfeeding classes. She then decided to volunteered as breastfeeding counselor at AIMI.

With her work experience in hospital management consulting for 8 years and personal experience when her breastfed son undertook open heart surgery, she realized that not every hospitals provide adequate education and support for breastfeeding mother, either since pregnancy, during and after birth.

Andini was awarded Deeble Summer Research Scholarship from Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research Scholarship Program of Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) in 2020 and published a Health Policy Issues Brief titled "Improving the Uptake of the Baby Friendly Health Initiative in Australian Hospitals" as the outcome. Thanks to her supervisor, Andini involved in working group for Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Accreditation at ANU in 2018-2019 and involve in WBTi Australia since 2019. Currently living in Canberra Australia, Andini has been providing breastfeeding education and assistance for Indonesian mother-student, students' wives or any Indonesian women who live in Canberra.

Andrea Dixon is a Midwife and an Aquarian birth junky with a desire to make out of hospital birth an accepted, effective and safe option for all birthing persons. To this end, Andrea has attended more than 1200 births in numerous birth centers, home and hospital based practices. Her passion is training out of hospital practitioners in Birth Emergency Skills Training (B.E.S.T.), including CPR and NRP. To date more than 1300 practitioners have attended her traveling road show and earned B.E.S.T CEUs

Andrea Herron, is one of the first and longest continuous certified pediatric nurse practitioners in the United States. After more than 40 years working with breastfeeding mothers and their babies and teaching parenting classes, she is among one of the most experienced consultant in the field of lactation. Regardless of the issue or concern, Andrea has guided thousands of mothers to meet their breastfeeding and early parenting goals through support groups, lactation consultations, and childrearing education. After receiving a Master's in pediatric nursing from UCLA, Andrea became an early pioneer in the back-to-breastfeeding movement, and educated health professionals as an instructor in the UCLA lactation educator course, all over the United States. Her private lactation practice, Growing with Baby in San Luis Obispo, California, was used as the national model for private practices by Women Infant and Children (WIC), the federally funded health and nutrition program. One of her favorite and most popular topics she teaches through her Growing with Baby parenting groups is, Understanding Your Infant’s Temperament. This topic and many of the other topics she teaches are included in her newly released book, Suckle, Sleep, Thrive: Breastfeeding Success Through Understanding Your Baby’s Cues. Co-written with Lisa Rizzo.

Andrea has been married to Larry Herron, an orthopedic spine surgeon, for over 35 years. They are the proud parents of a grown son, two Labradors, a cat, and parrot. The couple reside in Shell Beach, California.

Dr. Andrew Berry, AM MB BS FRACP, is a Neonatal and Paediatric Retrieval Specialist. He has vast experience in neonatal and paediatric critical care transport since 1977. This includes being the head of Neonatal Intensive Care, and Director of Newborn Transport Service, both at Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney, Australia.He is currently State Director at NETS, the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service of New South Wales, Australia.

Dr. Berry is a fixed wing and rotary wing pilot. In 1989 he co-founded Child Flight Inc., and dedicated helicopter service for children.

His expertise is regularly sought on how to develop and operate emergency transport services and associated advisory programs for perinatal, neonatal and paediatric acute care in Australia, Brunei, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada, England, Scotland, Singapore, and the USA.

Dr. Andrew Dorough is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology. He then earned his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri. He later earned a post-graduate certification from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (CACCP). He is qualified to deliver highly skilled and safe treatment to pregnant and postnatal patients and to neonatal and infant patients. Dr. Dorough enjoys providing collaborative care. He currently works in a family medicine clinic which boasts a breastfeeding medicine physician IBCLC, along with other IBCLCs, two nurse practitioners and a physician assistant. He assesses and treats infants with various forms of structural issues, including but not limited to cranial bone deformation (plagiocephaly), torticollis, and tongue and neck dysfunction, as related to feeding difficulties and infant well-being.

Dr. Kotaska is an Obstetrician & Gynecologist in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where he lives with his wife and two boys. He received his medical degree from U.B.C. in 1992 and worked as a GP-surgeon in northern British Columbia before returning to complete a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2006. He has academic appointments with the Universities of British Columbia, Manitoba, and Toronto. He is regularly active in midwifery and obstetrical education. Dr. Kotaska’s academic interests centre on preserving physiological birth while avoiding unnecessary obstetrical intervention; the overestimation of risk in obstetrics; and the ethics of informed consent and refusal. His latest research interests focus on safe vaginal breech birth, the effect of epidural analgesia on labour, spontaneous two-step delivery, and the shortcomings of guidelines. 

Angel Montfort, Psy.D., PMH-C is a licensed clinical psychologist, mother of four, and the founder of the Center for Maternal Mental Health, a therapy practice dedicated to serving women throughout all stages of motherhood. She has always gravitated toward treating women and became passionate about perinatal mental health while working in a Women's Clinic within a hospital setting. At first it was a way to meet the needs of her patients and it quickly led to an understanding of her own postpartum experiences, which deepened her connection to this work.

In her practice, Dr. Montfort addresses concerns such as postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, birth trauma, perinatal loss, infertility, and adjustment to motherhood.

Dr. Montfort shares educational information on her Instagram account (@drangelmontfort) and her website (www.cfmmh.com) in an effort to validate and uplift moms who are struggling through a time that is expected to be the most joyous. Her expertise in perinatal mental health has been featured in a number of media outlets including Forbes, Healthline, and ScaryMommy. She believes that if we make space for both the highs and lows of motherhood, we set new moms up for a more balanced experience.

Dr. Bond is a trained laboratory and social scientist currently studying the social and public health impacts of shared human milk. Specific areas of interest include development of the microbiome of the infant, immunological responses from the parent and infant, impacts of non-parental human milk on development of the immune response and microbiome, and risk abatement practices by participants in private arrangement milk sharing. She has been specifically trained in health disparities sciences and engages in research with a perspective on social justice, gender equity, and health equity. As a Hawaiian and Cherokee heritage scholar, she has a particular passion for colonial impacts on infant care and feeding practices.

Angela Gooden, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with dual certification and expertise in pediatric cardiology, is the Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Texas Children's Hospital. Ms. Gooden has a special interest in reducing morbidity and mortality for infants born with complex congenital heart defects who require staged palliative surgical interventions. Additionally, in her leadership role, Ms. Gooden is focused on promoting the advanced practice role through advocacy, organizational engagement, professional development, and mentorship. She currently serves as a legislative ambassador for the Texas Nurse Practitioners organization.

Angela Lober has been an educator and clinician for over 19 years. She has been an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2005 providing evidence-based care within an academic medical center and within her community. Angela is the Director of the Arizona State University Lactation Education Programs offering on-line and academic elective on breastfeeding and lactation. She completed her PhD at Arizona State University's College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation focused on the breastfeeding complexities of late preterm infants.

Dr Reitter is a fetal maternal medicine specialist working at present as the lead consultant at the Obstetrics and prenatal medicine department at Sachsenhausen Teaching Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. One of her main research interest focuses on upright birth. She is lead author in major work regarding upright breech delivery and provides opportunities for pregnant women. She is actively engaged in national and international teaching programs related to breech.

She finished her medical training in Germany, started her career in UK, has worked in India, the US and recently in Sydney/Australia.

Dr. Ankita Shah is a leading Airway Focused Dentist. She is also the President of the India Airway Co-LAB Chapter initiated by AAPMD, New York & The Breathe Institute, Los Angeles. Dr. Ankita is also the only Indian Ambassador to be trained by the renowned ENT & Sleep Surgeon Dr. Soroush Zaghi. The Tongue Tie & Sleep Institute headed by her focuses on providing a comprehensive, holistic and multidisciplinary approach to all problems Tongue Tie, Airway & TMJ. She wishes to change the way in which medicine has approached problems in the past and provide patients with a redefined experience to dentistry.

Ann Douglas sparks conversations that matter about parenting and mental health. She is the creator of Canada's bestselling series of pregnancy and parenting books, The Mother of All books series, and the author of two critically acclaimed parenting guides: Happy Parents, Happy Kids and Parenting Through the Storm. Her most recent book is Navigating The Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women.

If you've already met Ann via one her books, you know what you can expect from one of her presentations: to be inspired, informed, and entertained. Not only will she shift your thinking about what the challenges that parents and children are facing in 2023: she'll move you to action as well. By the end of Ann's presentation, you'll be eager to embrace the important role that you have to play in supporting parents: in helping them to feel confident and capable as opposed to anxious, guilty, or overwhelmed.

Anna Axelin’s academic career has included conducting quantitative and qualitative research on maternity and neonatal care in multidisciplinary and international research groups. In the Academic year 2011-2012, she joined the faculty of Department of Family Health Care Nursing in University of California San Francisco for her post-doctoral research. Since 2018, she was appointed as an associated researcher in the Department of International Maternal and Child Health at University of Uppsala in Sweden. In addition to the academic career, she has ten-year working experience as a NICU nurse.
She is leading the Health in Early Life and Parenthood (HELP) research group which aims to promote health and welfare in the early stages of life. Her special research interest is how to keep parents and sick newborns together throughout the infant hospital stay and strengthen their relationship already during pregnancy. Anna Axelin’s other research interests include pain and sleep in neonates, and the implementation of evidence-based practice in maternity and neonatal care with the help information technology.

Anna is an IBCLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They started their work in the lactation field as a La Leche League Leader in 2015 and achieved board certification in 2018. Her three years with La Leche League included a two-year position as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Administrator of LLL of Minnesota and Dakotas. Anna has worked with the Twin Cities' Queer Birth Project and currently serves as IBCLC for St. Paul- Ramsey County WIC and Baby Cafe. She holds a BA in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies from the University of Minnesota, and works to break down barriers to lactation support and create space in the intersections of gender, sexuality, anti-racism, self healing, social and environmental justice, and natural infant feeding. She has presented for the Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference, iLactation, La Leche League, the Twin Cities Birth and Baby Expo, and the Minnesota Department of Health. Anna holds down a homestead where she raises two kids and a bunch of animals and makes art. Find her at annabrauchlactationsupport.weebly.com.

Anna has been working as a midwife since 2009. From the very beginning of her studies she has been fascinated with breastfeeding. During her studies for her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Midwifery, her main area of interest was promotion and support for breastfeeding among women. Anna's interest in breastfeeding turned into a passion that led her to pursue the Polish Certification of Lactation Consultant and she is working toward certification as an IBCLC. She opened a private practice and a support group for local women in Krakow (cracko). Anna’s Interest and passion for lactation and breastfeeding have deepened during her current PhD studies. She is a PhD candidate in 2018 at University Medical College and is the coordinator of the Krakow Human Milk Bank.
Her scientific area of expertise: change in milk composition (macronutrients), human microbiota during pregnancy, lactation as well as tandem breastfeeding. Her research is carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology. Anna is the author of many lectures and workshops for students of midwifery and medicine in area of breastfeeding, lactation and the variation of composition of human milk. Since 2016 she has been popularizing the science of human lactation in Poland and she is always finding new ways to promote and support breastfeeding women. In her spare time she practices meditation, yin yoga and is learning how to dance rock and roll.

Anna Le Grange is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Registered Pediatric Nurse, Mindfulness teacher and Author. She has worked with new families for over 20 years in a variety of clinical roles. Anna brings her passion for psychology, neuroscience and mindfulness into her lactation support work and facilitates other professionals to incorporate emotional well-being tools into their own lactation practice. Mother to 3 children, Anna breastfed her 3rd child following breast reduction surgery and experienced first-hand, the emotional challenges that so often relate to infant feeding complexities. She used her personal experiences alongside mindfulness and lactation knowledge, to create a toolbox of techniques for breastfeeding families, which she includes in her courses and book, The Mindful Breastfeeding Book. Anna believes whole-heartedly in prioritizing calm and connection within our breastfeeding support practices, both for our clients and ourselves. Anna is currently studying for a MSc in Positive Psychology at Buckingham New University and has spoken at various events including the Gold Lactation, ILactation Conference and Nurturing The Future.

Anna Reyner, MA, ATR, LMFT, is the founder of CreativePlayLA a training & consulting business that uses art-based approaches to positively impact children and families. She has successfully merged the principles of art therapy into early childhood education, and specializes in helping teachers add trauma informed art into their classrooms. Anna is the author of two awarding winning books, Smart Art and Smart Art 2, and has presented over 800 trainings at state, national and international conferences in her 40 years as a teacher, art therapist and mental health advocate. Her new and groundbreaking book "Trauma-Informed Art Activities for Early Childhood: Using Process Art to Repair Trauma & Help Children Thrive: is now available on Amazon for pre-purchase.

After working in the UK and France, lecturing and then in film and TV production, Annabelle became a breastfeeding support volunteer in France 10 years ago, after the birth of her first child. She then worked in lactation support in the UK NHS in London, whilst also volunteering for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). Since 2016, she was the Infant Feeding Coordinator at Suffolk County Council Health and Children’s Centres, and had a small private practice. In her county council role, Annabelle took the Health and Children’s Centre staff through Stage 1 of UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation, and left the department well prepared for Stage 2. Whilst there, she oversaw an increase in breastfeeding rates, and contributed to Public Health initiatives to promote breastfeeding, including help to improve breastfeeding knowledge amongst doctors. Annabelle qualified as an IBCLC, lactation consultant in 2017. In October 2018, Annabelle took up her current post as lactation consultant for the 48th medical group at RAF/USAF Lakenheath.

Anne M. Estes, MS, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences in Towson University. Her research focuses on how microbes and their animal hosts work together throughout host development. With the birth of her first daughter and the sequenced genome of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis in 2008, Anne became interested in the human microbiome and evidence-based parenting. She founded her blog Mostly Microbes to provide a reputable voice on human microbiome research. Anne enjoys creating and finding interactive approaches to make science interesting and understandable to people of all ages and backgrounds. Anne is also a contributing blogger to the Lamaze International blog, Science and Sensibility, and MicroBE.net, an academic blog about the microbiome of built environments.

Annet Mulder became interested in breastfeeding when she became a mother in 2000. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer at the Dutch breastfeeding organisation. In 2008 she passed her exam and started working as an IBCLC in a BFHI hospital in the Netherlands. In 2011 she started her private practice. Annet has spoken on several symposia and conferences. Teaches different subjects to lactation consultants in training and is vice president at the Dutch Association of IBCLC’s. (NVL)

Annette Leary is a registered nurse with over 33 years of experience working in Maternal Child Health (pediatrics, postpartum, home health care and level 2 NICU). She became an IBCLC in 1995. She owns a private practice providing office, in home, and virtual visits at Orlando Lactation and Wellness. In 2022 she formed a collaborative company Baby B.L.I.S.S. : Central Florida Feeding Collaborative where she and her business partners help families prenatally, antepartum and post partum navigate the growth, development and feeding journey of their children. She began her craniosacral therapy training through the Upledger Institute in 2015, taking advanced maternal and pediatric specialty classes. Annette has found great improvement incorporating craniosacral therapy techniques with lactation consulting. Helping Families Latch onto Parenting has always been her mantra.

Annie Frisbie has been an IBCLC in private practice since 2011. Her background is in media, where she worked very closely with producers, content developers, and tech thought leaders on business strategy, content development, contracts, legal clearances, and more. She has also produced training for professional media software solutions as well as created and managed print and video content for media professionals.
In 2018 she was honored with the US Lactation Consultant Association's President's Award, "awarding those that demonstrate extraordinary service to the association and profession."
She is a produced screenwriter and proud member of the Writers Guild of America, East. She have a BA from Franklin and Marshall College, and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University. In a previous life I was a film critic. I live with my husband and our two children in Queens, New York.

Anya Kleinman is a general pediatrician who works at Akron Children's Hospital in Akron, Ohio caring for the range of patients from birth to late adolescence. She uses her IBCLC expertise to counsel new parents and promote breastfeeding in the ER.

Dr Aruna Savur lives and works in Bengaluru, India as a pediatrician, IBCLC and certified infant massage instructor in private practice. She graduated MBBS from Mysore Medical College and Research Institute in 1990. She certified the Diplomate National Board exam in Pediatrics in 1997 from Father Muller's Medical College, Mangalore. She subsequently worked in private pediatric practice. In 2015 she trained in Neonatal Intensive Care from Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru. In 2018 she qualified as an IBCLC. In 2020 she certified from IAIM ( International Association of Infant Massage) as a infant massage instructor. She worked in various hospitals in Bengaluru as a pediatrician and IBCLC. She has been working on educating herself by delving deeper into various lactation education certifications. She is currently training in craniosacral therapy for babies.

Doctor Asma'a Kurdi , Syrian family physician MRCGP member certified since October 2013, was the first lactation consultant doctor in Ajman certified on October 2008 ,recertified October 2013. worked as a GP in UAE , Ajman PHC since 02/2006 till 08/ 2016, with big efforts to enhance breastfeeding practice among colleagues and patients, was an active member in the breastfeeding support group ,she presented many lectures in the basic 20 hours breastfeeding training courses for health workers in Ajman .a mother of 4 children , 3 of them are PKU , with her knowledge and faith in breastfeeding she managed to breastfed them for more than 2 years and kept them healthy and normal children. She had special interest in PKU researches and but huge efforts to initiate a PKU family association in UAE . an active member in Arabic PKU mothers what's up support group ,and low protein recipes instagram page .

Asti Praborini, MD, Pediatrician, IBCLC has 25 years of experience as a pediatrician, which has convinced her that nothing is more important and valuable than breastfeeding for both mother and baby. As a national speaker, she continues the campaign promoting the benefits of breastfeeding, despite formula marketing that is pervasive in the country. She established the first hospital-based lactation team in Indonesia that works ultimately to help mothers breastfeed their babies, and now leads three lactation teams in different hospitals. She is practicing frenotomy for anterior as well as posterior tongue tie and lip tie, established her own method for hospitalization of nipple confusion, supplementation, adoptive nursing, and many others. She also devoted her time to give pro bono service to the poor in the pediatric clinic of LKC Dompet Dhuafa and received the LKC award in 2011. She is now the chairwoman of the Indonesian International Lactation Consultant Association.

Augustine is an internationally recognized midwifery educator, experienced business executive, and veteran midwife with a heart focused on the underserved, marginalized, and under-resourced. She respects the importance of being empowered and undisturbed during labor, and balances this attention to the sacred with 20+ years experience attending births in hospitals, birth centers, and homes in rural, urban and suburban environments in the US and abroad. Augustine’s focus is finely attuned to the process of letting go and opening to the unknown in labor and in life. Additionally, Augustine has a master’s degree from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA where she majored in Maternal/Child Health Systems.

Her life's mission is to mainstream midwifery and deconstruct the culture of fear and misinformation that surrounds the maternity world globally. To that end, Augustine 'midwife's the midwife' through her many education programs, consulting services, product development, podcasts and video production, business site visits, and with private coaching services for midwives, students, maternity practice owners, & birth center administrators through her consulting firm, The Midwifery Wisdom Collective. It is her profound honor to illuminate the sacred path to joyful and sustainable midwifery practice. She lives and works in India.

Aunchalee Palmquist is a medical anthropologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She completed postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health and in the Global Health Initiative at Yale University. Palmquist is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies at Elon University. Her recent research focuses on critical biocultural contexts of breastfeeding, human milk sharing, and infant and young child feeding in emergencies. She blogs at anthrolactology.com.

Autumn R. Henning, MS, CCC-SLP, is a certified and licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky with her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Communication Disorders. Autumn is a recognized provider by Ankyloglossia Bodyworkers, has been a guest presenter for Creating a Care Plan for Tongue Ties and delivered a webinar through Innara Health entitled Tethered Oral Tissues: What’s a Therapist to do?. She has served on local breastfeeding professional panels and delivered numerous presentations to parents and medical professionals. Autumn has completed specialty continuing education including Beckman Oral Motor, Vital Stim, and Foundations in Myofascial Release for Neck, Voice, and Swallowing as well more than a dozen professional courses on pediatric feeding and related topics. She is pursuing further education in the areas of lactation and orofacial myology. Autumn has experience working in the school system, early intervention, an ABA center and outpatient clinics including a nationally award-winning intensive feeding program. Autumn currently specializes in pediatric feeding at a non-profit outpatient clinic in Greenville, SC and serves on the board. She recently founded a continuing education company, Chrysalis Feeding, LLC. The flagship course is TOTS: Tethered Oral Tissues Specialty Training that launched this Fall.

Avril is the founder and creatrix of the Midwife Method, a midwife-led, supportive and educational online program dedicated to empowering all birthing people with the skills, knowledge and tools they need to thrive through pregnancy, birth and beyond. She believes that maternal and neonatal outcomes can be improved when all obstetrical providers (doctors and midwives alike) collaborate and practice the Midwifery Model of Care and when all pregnant women have access to this kind of care. Until there is a midwife available for every women, the Midwife Method provides birthing people with all the elements of midwifery care that can be delivered in the online format; comprehensive and holistic education, compassionate and consistent support and expert guidance designed to inform, complement and enhance the medical care women receive in their home communities.

For the past three years, she has loved being the office manager and instructor with Birth Emergency Skills Training® (B.E.S.T.) workshops, as well as co-developer of the Online and Hybrid programs. She has been involved with birth since 1998 as a childbirth educator, doula and then midwife (CPM) and has served birthing families in the home and birth center settings since 2003. Together with her partner, she has home-birthed, home-schooled and raised 3 incredible human beings (17, 23 and 25)!

With an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and desire to support a broader population in attaining their health goals, she returned to school, completing a Bachelor of Science and became a Registered Nurse in 2016. Continuing on with this goal, she pursued a Family Nurse Practitioner degree at Georgetown University which she was unable to complete due to unforeseen circumstances.

Following a devastating motorcycle accident, she put to use her diverse education in herbal medicine, alternative therapies, nutrition, body movement and mechanics, medical training and personal growth and transformation strategies to well surpass her expected recovery, fully heal from the severe injuries sustained and become the healed healer that she is today. B.E.S.T CEUs