GOLD Learning Speakers

Jacek Debiec is a Child & Adolescent and Perinatal Psychiatrist, and a Developmental Neuroscientist. He received his MD/PhD from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland and completed his Psychiatry Residency, Fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at New York University, New York. His research interests include early life emotional learning with a special focus on infant attachment and fear learning. Dr. Debiec’s research findings have been published in top scientific journals. He received recognition especially for his work on memory reconsolidation and mother-to-infant transfer of fear and anxiety. Dr. Debiec lectures nationally and internationally and is a recipient of several awards and honors, including Fulbright Fellowship, Herder Fellowship, Neil Miller New Investigator Award from Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award from Anxiety & Depression Association of America and other.

Dr. Jacqueline Hoffman has over 37 years in the field of neonatal health care. She completed her Masters in Perinatal/Neonatal Health at the State University of StonyBrook and her DNP at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She was previously the NNP Track Coordinator and Clinical Faculty at UAB and the University of Florida. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Rush University in Chicago in the DNP-NNP track. She has a clinical practice with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and is the lead NNP at PeaceHealth Southwest in Vancouver, Washington. She precepts medical (family and pediatric residents) and NNP students in her clinical practice. She was part of the original Council for the National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NANNP), is a Member-At-Large for the Florida Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (FANNP), and is a member of the Academy of Neonatal Nurses, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Perinatal Section, American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), and member of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nursing (AWHONN). She has authored several book chapters in textbooks targeted for the NNP. She is a nationally known speaker as well as has presented several poster presentations on Case Studies.

Jacqueline Kincer is the founder of Holistic Lactation where she runs a busy practice, manufacturers herbal supplements for lactation, and supports breastfeeding families worldwide. She's also the host of the podcast Breastfeeding Talk: Milk. Mindset. Motherhood. and creator of the online breastfeeding community, The Nurture Collective. Jacqueline's passion has been to create functional breastfeeding outcomes and expand access to lactation knowledge across the globe.

Dr. Jacqueline McGrath is a Professor and Vice Dean for Faculty Excellence at the UTH San Antonio, School of Nursing. Research foci include integration of family-centered and developmentally supportive caregiving with premature infants and their families in the NICU. More specifically, her work has focused on the biobehavioral outcomes of increasing parent engagement on both parents and the infant. Increasing parent engagement is believed to be a mechanism for increasing parent self-management skills after infant discharge and ultimately enhancing infant long-term development. She has also conducted studies related to preterm infants’ oral feeding readiness and preterm infant touch and massage (parent provided). Based on her research, she developed the NICU-PLAY program for parents and their hospitalized preterm infants. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. McGrath is the Co-Editor for Advances in Neonatal Care the journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. In 2007, Dr. McGrath became a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She received her BSN from the University of Akron; MSN from Kent State University in parent-child nursing; both a post-master’s certificate as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jada Wright Nichols is an Atlanta-based women’s wellness consultant. She graduated from Tennessee State University, with a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology. She has a master’s degree in occupational therapy and has worked in a variety of rehabilitation settings, across the life-span.

Additionally, she is a massage therapist, lymphedema therapist, holistic nutritionist, birth and postpartum doula, yoga instructor, and international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). She is a lactation consultant at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the owner of Blossom Health and Maternal Wellness, and Bloom Early Intervention, which provide in-home and virtual services for new and expectant families, as they navigate various aspects of parenting, access, and equity.

Jake Marcus, J.D., is the nation’s foremost expert on breastfeeding law. Formerly Staff Attorney at a non-profit assisting survivors of domestic violence, her current private practice focuses on small businesses (including the business issues of health care practitioners such as IBCLCs and midwives) and healthcare. She was Politics Editor at Mothering magazine until it ceased publication in April of 2011. She was a member of the Legal Advisory Council to La Leche League International. She created and maintains BreastfeedingLaw.com.

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.

James G. Murphy, MD, is a private practice pediatrician specializing in Breastfeeding Medicine. He was formerly an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the F. Edward Hérbert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He served 25 years active duty as a physician with the US Navy, 12 years as a contract pediatrician with the US Navy and 6 years as a Government Service Medical Officer at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, CA. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, Vice President of the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition, a member of ILCA and, since 2009, an IBCLC. Dr Murphy began performing lingual frenulotomies in Oct 2003 and has performed over 2800 of these procedures to date including posterior sub-mucosal fibrous bands and 300 Upper Lip Tie releases.

An inspiring international teacher and published author, Jan Tedder is a nurse practitioner and lactation consultant who was honored as the NC Maternal-Child Nurse of the Year and the recipient of the American Nurses Association’s 2020 Innovative Nurse Award. Jan worked in primary care for decades and trained nurses and physician residents in well-child care and lactation support. She developed HUG Your Baby, an international education program to help parents and the professionals who serve them, understand a child’s behavior and help mothers meet their breastfeeding goals. Available in six languages, her work has been accessed by thousands of professionals around the world used in 50 countries and tribal nations.

Dr. Jane Morton has had a long, fulfilling career as a general pediatrician, She has also had a long-standing interest in breastfeeding, from understanding its clinical benefits to practical solutions for mothers having difficulty in providing breastmilk to their infants.  Over the years, she has conducted research on human milk and breastfeeding and has designed and implemented systems and policies to help breastfeeding mothers.  She produced award winning videos on this topic, including “Breastfeeding: A Guide to Getting Started”, “A Preemie Needs His Mother: Breastfeeding a Premature Baby” and “Making Enough Milk, the Key to Successful Breastfeeding”.  These have been translated and widely used in thousands of hospitals to train both staff and new mothers. As an executive board member of both the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding, she enjoyed working to enlarge the footprint of breastfeeding, both nationally and internationally.

For a 5 year period, she joined the neonatology clinical faculty at Stanford to develop the Breastfeeding Medicine Program.  In that position, she had the opportunity to design a nationally recognized educational program, conduct and publish original research on milk production and composition in mothers of very low birth weight infants, and publish a study with the AAP on the efficacy of a breastfeeding curriculum for physician residents in training. She was an advisor to the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative, and was a key author of the toolkit “Nutritional Support for the Very Low Birth Weight Infant”. She co-authored the book Best Medicine: Human Milk in the NICU.  She has published extensively and presented her original research and educational workshops internationally. She continues to teach at Stanford where she is an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Emerita.

Jane has worked in London, Swansea, Bahamas and Oman, as a Mental Health Nurse, Registered Nurse and Health Visitor. She retired from her last post as Senior Lecturer in Public and Mental Health, and now has honorary status. Jane was the first health visitor to be made the President of the United Kingdom Marcé Society and then the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health. She is currently on the Executive Board of the Marcé Society and is the Director of her training company in Perinatal Mental Health. Many of her courses have been accredited by the Continuing Professional Development Service. Jane is also working closely with the All Wales Perinatal Group and has been involved in many national and international groups.

Janelle has worked as a midwife for 32 years and has taught nursing and midwifery students since 1999. She is an assistant professor at Frontier Nursing University, and co-chair of ACNM BirthTOOLS subcommittee and the Right Care Alliance Women’s Council. She lives off-grid in a tiny house in the mountains of northeast Washington state.

Janice Banther has been a pioneer leader among birth professionals in advocating for pregnant women who are incarcerated. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Birth Behind Bars (BBB). BBB began providing childbirth and parenting classes and labor support services to inmates in 2001. Prior to 2001 Janice focused her childbirth work primarily with at risk mothers; homeless, addicted and abused. This body of work has earned Janice the highest certifications. She is a certified CAPPA Childbirth Educator, Labor Doula, Happiest Baby on the Block, Infant Massage Instructor, Trainer and Bereavement Counselor with RTS. BBB expanded its training of birth professionals to work with inmates in 2015 with the release of Birth Behind Bars Certification program; an online and manual based program equipping childbirth educators and birth professionals to work in a jail or prison environment in the United States and Internationally.

Janiya Mitnaul Williams, MA, IBCLC, RLC, CLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Registered Lactation Consultant, and Certified Lactation Counselor who has been supporting nursing families since 2007. She holds degrees from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Union Institute and University in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Health & Wellness with a concentration in Human Lactation respectively.

Janiya is the Program Director of the Pathway 2 Human Lactation Training Program at N.C. A&T SU (NCAT P2P). She also works for the Women’s and Children’s Center at Cone Health as the Co-Coordinator for Doula Services. In 2015 she created Mahogany Milk Support Group in order to promote, encourage, and normalize nursing for Black and Brown families. That same year, Janiya also became the first person of color and Non-Registered Nurse to be hired as a Lactation Consultant for Cone Health’s hospital system.

She is most passionate about creating diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of Lactation in order to promote better health outcomes for Black and Brown, marginalized, and underprivileged families because they have the greatest lactation barriers to overcome.

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”.

Jayashri KULKARNI commenced her appointment as Professor of Psychiatry, The Alfred and Monash University in 2002. She directs a large psychiatric research group, the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc), with approximately 150 staff and students. The Centre is dedicated to discovering new treatments, new understanding and new services for people with a range of mental illnesses.

Jayashri Kulkarni completed her MBBS degree in 1981 at Monash University and worked mainly in Emergency Medicine before deciding to specialise in Psychiatry. She became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1989 and was awarded a PhD from Monash University in 1997 for her thesis “Women and Psychosis”. Jayashri has pioneered the novel use of estrogen as a treatment for schizophrenia and is internationally acknowledged as a leader in the field of reproductive hormones and their impact on mental health. An expert in Women’s Mental Health, Jayashri was elected the President of the International Association of Women’s Mental Health, a role she commenced in 2017.

Jaye Simpson started her career in lactation in 1995, becoming a Certified Lactation Educator (CLE) through Lactation Institute. She then became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2000. In 2005, Jaye completed her training in infant massage and is a Certified Instructor of Infant Massage, tailoring her classes for parents whose babies have special needs and structural issues due to birth trauma.  Specializing in working with babies with structural issues, Jaye’s studies and research led her to develop the Structure and Function training program in 2013, teaching professionals in the birth and breastfeeding fields how to evaluate infant structure and function as it relates to breastfeeding.

Jeanette McCulloch, IBCLC, is the co-founder of BirthSwell, spreading birth (and breastfeeding and MCH) genius, changing policy, and building businesses and organizations using strategic digital communications. With more than 20 years experience in communications and women’s health advocacy, she provides consultation to local, statewide, national, and international birth and breastfeeding organizations and small businesses. She has published research and spoken at national conferences on reaching millennial parents online. She is passionate about health equity and ensuring that all families have access to high-quality, culturally sensitive birth and lactation care. Jeanette unplugs with her partner and two children while splashing around in the gorges of her hometown, Ithaca, NY.

Jeanette Mesite Frem, MHS, IBCLC, RLC, CCE is an experienced childbirth educator, IBCLC-lactation consultant and retired birth doula. She started her career working with families while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa in the early 90s. She loved that work so much she went on to receive a public health masters degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, focusing her studies on nutrition for maternal and child health. Her two children were breastfed for more than 2 years each and Jeanette has experience pumping at work for both children and has supported more than a thousand families with feeding and pumping over the last 20 years.

Jeanette provides prenatal childbirth and breastfeeding classes at her office in Northborough, Massachusetts, as well as providing virtual and office feeding consultations. She also enjoys leading workshops for perinatal health professionals and mentoring those who work with families. If you have questions, feel free to email [email protected].

Dr. Jeanne Ohm is. Co-owner and practicing DC in a family, wellness based practice since 1981.

She is a sought out, international lecturer on the topic "Chiropractic Care in Pregnancy and Infancy" to practicing Chiropractors and affiliated care providers and is a post graduate instructor for numerous chiropractic colleges. She has written numerous articles on pregnancy, birth, children and chiropractic and is co-author of multiple research papers published in major journals.

Dr. Ohm is the founder of Makin' Miracles...Connecting Kid's n' Chiropractic, community outreach programs and resources to educate children and adults about the life saving benefits of chiropractic. www.makinmiracles.com She is also producer of the educational video, "Birth Trauma: A Modern Epidemic"

Her professional positions include: CEO for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association: www.icpa4kids.com Executive Publisher and Editor of Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine: www.pathwaystofamilywellness.org ICPA developer and instructor of the Webster Certification. Co-developer of the ICVPA/ PBRN Research program. She is an active Board member of: The Academy of Chiropractic Family Practice: chiropracticfamilypractice.org, Life Chiropractic College West: bhttp://lifewest.edu/, Holistic Pediatric Alliance: hpakids.org and the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation: vertebralsubluxation.health.officelive.com

Dr. Ohm's professional mission is to provide birth care providers with the skills to care for more pregnant mothers and children. She is committed to educating other practitioners with the information to support natural birthing in their practices. It is her understanding that birth trauma is a public health concern, and therefore it has become her goal to eliminate its damaging effects on the newborn. She intends to accomplish this by:

• adequately training DC's in specific chiropractic techniques and care for pregnancy, birth & infancy for the promotion of natural birthing.

• forming national alliances for chiropractors with like-minded birth practitioners and attendants

• empowering mothers to make informed choices in pregnancy and birth

• offering patient educational tools which address this issue

Dr. Ohm is married to Dr. Thomas Ohm, Chiropractor. They have six children and eight grandchildren who have all received chiropractic care since conception. They were all born at home and are living the chiropractic family wellness lifestyle.

Jen McLellan is a publish author and certified childbirth educator who advocates for plus size women. She promotes positive information to empower healthy decision making during pregnancy. Within her blog, Plus Size Mommy Memoirs, she helps women navigate the world of plus size pregnancy, shares tips for embracing your body, and laughs along with the adventures of motherhood. Her work has been featured in major publications such as Yahoo Shine, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, and International Doula. Jen is also a skilled patient advocate, professional speaker, wife, and mother to a charismatic 5 year old.

Dr. Craig lives in metro Atlanta, GA., is an Associate Professor and the Department Chair of Brenau University’s School of Occupational Therapy program. She has been practicing for 35 years, received her degree in OT at the Medical College of Georgia, her MBA from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and her PhD in Infant and Childhood Disorders with emphasis in Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities from Fielding Graduate University. Jenene currently serves as the Director of Education for National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT). She is also on the executive committee of the Board of Directors for the National Perinatal Association. In addition to consulting with several local NICUs, Jenene works PRN at a regional Level III NICU. She serves as a national speaker for the care of premature infants and families embattled in the stressful environment of the NICU. Jenene’s personal passion is to support multidisciplinary work in the NICU with a focus on parent-infant outcomes.

Jeni Stevens is a PhD candidate from the University of Western Sydney. Jeni is a mum of four boys, a Registered Nurse and Midwife who has worked in Sydney Hospitals since 2007. Two years ago she became a lactation consultant, and has a passion in educating people about breastfeeding. She has previously completed research which focused on midwives and doulas perspectives of the role of a doula.

Dr. Jenna Davis is a Family Chiropractor and owns a highly successful family wellness multidisciplinary clinic, Acorn Family Health and Wellness Centre, in Oakville, Ontario. Dr. Davis has a focus on Preconception, Infertility, Pre- and Postnatal care, Pediatrics, Retained Primitive Reflexes, Infant TMJD and Women’s Health. Dr. Davis loves working with families in all stages and has a unique ability to educate her practice members so they feel heard, honoured and understand how chiropractic can improve their function and life. She has a passion for educating and is an avid lecturer both in and out of her office. Dr. Jenna Davis is a mother, author, entrepreneur, educator and is a sought after speaker internationally sharing information on many topics including the Power of Communication, Infertility, Pediatrics, Retained Primitive Reflexes, Infant TMJD, TOTs (Tethered Oral Tissues), Team Approach to Health and Wellness, and Women’s Health. Dr. Davis created a technique in 2016, the P.I.P.S. Technique (Pediatric Intraoral Palate Specific Technique) specifically to assist with Infant TMJD, Sphenoid Fault, Tongue-tie, Lip-tie, Dural Tension and Oral Motor and Oral Sensory Challenges. Dr. Davis has develooped a unique approach to combine sensory, motor, developmental and function into the care and approach to her practice members. Dr. Davis is also the creator of Baby Boom Creations, a company that develops and provides products to assist patients and practitioners in office and at home. Dr. Davis has been a featured speaker on many stages in Canada, the United States, Australia and the UK. She prides herself on her continual quest for the newest information and research and is a life long learner. Dr. Davis has done extensive postgraduate work and continues to expand and grow her knowledge base and resource team to give the best care possible to her practice members and the audiences she has the honour to present to.

Jennie Joseph, a British-trained midwife and women’s health advocate, moved to the United States in 1989 and began a journey which has culminated in the formation of an innovative maternal child healthcare system, The JJWay®

She is the Executive Director of her own non-profit corporation Commonsense Childbirth Inc. which operates two health centers in Orlando, Florida.

Due to the poor birth outcomes experienced by low income and uninsured women she has established outreach clinics for women who are at risk of not receiving prenatal or gynecological care. Her ‘Easy Access’ Prenatal Care Clinics offer quality maternity healthcare for all, regardless of their choice of delivery site or ability to pay and have successfully reduced perinatal disparities

Jennie’s school, Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery, trains and certifies midwives, doulas and perinatal paraprofessionals emphasizing culturally competent and community focused care. Her midwifery model of care can be implemented by any willing provider.

Dr. Jennifer Barnes is the Neonatal Intensive Care Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, NC. She has over 10 years of experience within the field. Dr. Barnes received her bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech and her Doctor of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia. She completed her pharmacy practice residency at Alamance Regional Medical Center- Cone Health. Dr. Barnes is board certified in pediatric pharmacotherapy. She is also an active member of the Pediatric Pharmacy Association (PPA) and is currently serving as the neonatology committee chair. Dr. Barnes serves as a clinical assistant professor for pharmacy advanced practice rotations for University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, Wingate University and High Point University. Her current research areas of interest include the role of diuretics in bronchopulmonary dysplasia treatment and antibiotic stewardship for late-onset sepsis amongst other topics.

Jenn Bio - International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Birth Doula, Founder and Owner of Feed the Babes, LLC offers in-home and clinic-based, skilled breastfeeding support and birth doula services www.feedthebabes.com. Jennifer also serves as a Michigan Breastfeeding Network (MIBFN) Project Manager and as Co-Founder of the Southeast Michigan IBCLC's of Color. The married mother of two happy, healthy, breastfed children has made it her life mission to disrupt the broken system that plagues the families that are impacted by systemic racism. She's committed to showing up in the community, daily, and, by mentoring aspiring Black IBCLC’s, supporting equipping and empowering future trailblazers to change the world. She is a dual Canadian and American citizen, leader, public speaker, consultant, clinician, advocate, and educator. Collectively as a family, she, her husband and two children enjoy growing their own food, photography, videography and serving their community. They reside in Metro-Detroit, Michigan.

Jennifer had an epiphany in the moments following her son’s natural birth with a midwife in 2004. She said, “I want her job!” Jennifer became certified as a doula, and then a childbirth educator, and finally obtained her Certified Professional Midwife credential in 2011. She has operated her solo practice, Moxie Midwifery, in Chandler, AZ, since that time, and has gone on to obtain certification as a Hypnotherapist and Meditation Teacher. She also cofounded a mother’s empowerment group, Magical Mama Retreat, in 2013. She now spends her time serving midwifery clients, leading women’s circles and mama meditation classes, and enjoying her family, especially her 15-month-old daughter.

Jennifer Averill Moffitt, CNM, MSN, MBCPTc, is a nurse-midwife and the perinatal services manager at the Family Health Center of Worcester in Massachusetts as well as the Director of Community Partnerships and a senior faculty member at the Mindful Birthing and Parenting Foundation. Jen has been teaching the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) program since 2014, after training intensively with MBCP founder, Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA, MBCPTc.

As a Fulbright scholar and perinatal professional, Jen has dedicated her career to working with high-risk, marginalized, and underserved populations. Her passion for the intersectionality of mindfulness, birth, early parenting, and health equity – as both intervention and prevention – has led Jen to devote herself to training and mentoring perinatal and mental health professionals to facilitate the MBCP program across the globe.

The mother of two spirited teenagers and a 20+ year mindfulness practitioner, Jen also brings a wealth of personal experience, humility, and passion to her work.

Jen Kamel is a VBAC strategist, national speaker, and founder of VBAC Facts®. VBAC Facts was born out of her own frustration as a cesarean parent attempting to understand the medical literature and political barriers surrounding VBAC. Her mission is to increase VBAC access through educational programs, legislative action, and amplifying the consumer voice. She envisions a time when every pregnant person seeking VBAC has access to unbiased information, respectful providers, and community support so they can plan the joyful birth of their choosing in the setting they desire. She travels the country presenting her signature program, “The Truth About VBAC” and speaking at various regional and national conferences, including Human Rights in Childbirth, DONA International, and the Indiana Midwives Association. She has testified multiple times in front of the California Medical Board on the importance of VBAC access and is a board member for the California Association of Midwives.

Jenny Blyth has been supporting women & parents through natural birth for over 40 years. She is an independent birth educator, birthworker, bodyworker, Associate Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy, Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer, Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner & Trainer, & Internal Pelvic Release Work Practitioner & Trainer. Her particular focus is on body awareness & body preparation for birth & recovery, & encouraging greater self-responsibility in parents - to realise potential in birth & reduce birth trauma. She specialises in pelvic bodywork for wellbeing, balance, comfort & healing. Other birthwork interests include nourishing birthing wisdom & challenging beliefs & assumptions about birth care. Jenny regularly facilitates workshops in Australia & overseas. She is project co-ordinator for Lao Birthwork, teaching hands-on & emergency skills to health staff in remote areas of Northern Laos. She is also an author – The Down to Earth Birth Book, Birthwork - & filmmaker -The Big Stretch films & A World of Birthworkers. Jenny lives in the Australian bush with her partner, and is the mother of 3 grown children and grandmother of 3.

Jenny Blyth has been supporting women & parents through natural birth for over 40 years. She is an independent birth educator, birthworker, bodyworker, Associate Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy, Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer, Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner & Trainer, & Internal Pelvic Release Work Practitioner & Trainer. Her particular focus is on body awareness & body preparation for birth & recovery, & encouraging greater self-responsibility in parents - to realise potential in birth & reduce birth trauma. She specialises in pelvic bodywork for wellbeing, balance, comfort & healing. Other birthwork interests include nourishing birthing wisdom & challenging beliefs & assumptions about birth care. Jenny regularly facilitates workshops in Australia & overseas. She is project co-ordinator for Lao Birthwork, teaching hands-on & emergency skills to health staff in remote areas of Northern Laos. She is also an author – The Down to Earth Birth Book, Birthwork - & filmmaker -The Big Stretch films & A World of Birthworkers. Jenny lives in the Australian bush with her partner, and is the mother of 3 grown children and grandmother of 3.

Professor Emeritus Jenny Gamble’s has been a midwife since 1983. She and worked clinically for 17 years in a variety of positions and models of care, several Australian states, and overseas. She has a strong international profile in maternal and newborn research with specific expertise in perinatal mental health. She is a well known for her professional leadership with health services, the midwifery profession and collaboration with consumers.

Jenny is currently a midwifery lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Jenny’s work as a midwife since 2007, both independently and in the UK National Health Service, led to her particular interest in women’s traumatic birth experiences and midwives work-related trauma. Jenny’s PhD thesis explored Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in women post childbirth (PTSD-PC). The focus was the woman/midwife interaction, which is a significant factor in the development of PTSD-PC. Jenny deeply explored the lived experience of this interaction from the perspectives of women with PTSD-PC and midwives. The key findings highlight the risk of trauma for midwives and the impact this has on their interaction with those they provide care for. Jenny passionately believes that for optimal maternity care interactions we must first ensure midwives and other maternity care professionals are supported and empowered in their role with respect to their human needs, training requirements, and professional autonomy and respect. Jenny has disseminated her PhD findings widely at midwifery and birth trauma conferences in the UK and Europe. In 2013, Jenny completed trauma and wellness training with Capacitar International and has since offered many trauma wellbeing sessions with midwives and other healthcare professionals as well as pregnant people and parents, and now midwifery students.

Jessica Lee is a Staff Attorney at the Center for WorkLife Law, and co-founder of the Center’s Nursing Mothers Law Project. She works to advance gender equality in the workplace and in education, and is a nationally recognized expert on discrimination related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Lee has provided know-your-rights resources and training on workplace supports for breastfeeding to thousands of healthcare providers, public health practitioners, and employers. She also seeks to prevent discrimination by working with institutions to draft and implement family-responsive policies.

Lee’s writing has been featured in publications ranging from Harvard Business Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education to the journals Breastfeeding Medicine and Midwifery and Women’s Health. She is a co-author of the study, Exposed: Discrimination Against Breastfeeding Workers.

Jessica is a Clinical Psychologist and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Her research interests are in mental health in childhood and adolescence, maternal mental health, and nutrition and lifestyle in mothers and young infants. Her major research projects to date have included an investigation of the influence of parental age on mental health problems in children and adolescents, and an investigation of key predictors of mental health outcomes in a cohort of Western Australian children. She completed Master of Psychology (Clinical) and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of Western Australia in 2015. In 2011, she was named as an inaugural member of the ISSBD Jacobs Foundation Early Career Scholar Fellows. Jessica currently works at the Telethon Kids Institute developing a comprehensive lifestyle intervention program for women and their infants postpartum. In her work as a psychologist, Jess has a particular interest in working with personality disorders and mental health after traumatic life events.

Dr. Jessie Young is a Pediatric Chiropractor near Olympia Washington who works closely with other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive and collaborative care. She has specialized education in treating breastfeeding difficulties and is near completion of her IBCLC certification. As part of a family's health care team, Dr. Young helps resolve musculoskeletal issues causing breastfeeding difficulties including neck tension, TMJ dysfunction, torticollis, and painful latch. She also provides pre and post-frenotomy care for musculoskeletal issues contributing to tethered oral tissue. Providers, parents and patients rely on Dr. Young for her comprehensive diagnostic and treatment approaches, including modified chiropractic adjustments, myofascial release, therapeutic exercise, and craniosacral techniques. Dr. Young currently volunteers to promote literature contributions and advancement as the Research Chair for the American Chiropractic Association Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics.

Jill Bergman qualified from University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1983 with a degree and post graduate teachers diploma. She has taught in Zimbabwe and South Africa and lectured at a teachers training college.

She has supported her husband Dr Nils Bergman in Kangaroo Mother Care since he started in 1988, and in a full-time capacity since 2000. She has made 4 films and written a book- Hold Your Prem- for parents of premature babies, all making the neuroscience that Nils teaches applicable in practice and translating care into non-technical language.. She has a passion for supporting mothers in labour as a doula and as a kangaroula speaking for the needs of newborns, empowering mums and babies with early bonding and breastfeeding. She trains nursing staff and hospitals in the practicalities of skin to skin contact, and developmental care. She and Nils have three super youngsters,two just finished university.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Scholar co-supervised by Dr. Melanie Noel (Psychologist and Assistant Professor in Psychology, University of Calgary) and Dr. Nivez Rasic (Anesthesiologist and Clinical Lead of the Vi Riddell Children’s Pain & Rehabilitation Program, Alberta Children’s Hospital) in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the University of Calgary, Alberta Canada. In 2015, I completed a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Grunau (Psychologist and Professor in Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia) and Dr. Steven Miller (Head of Neurology at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Professor in Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario). I have been studying pediatric pain in both healthy and clinical populations for over a decade. I have experience and expertise in both acute and chronic pain, and the transitions in-between, from infancy through to early adulthood.

Jim Thigpen has been a pediatric clinical pharmacist for 30 years and is currently an associate professor of pharmacy at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. When he began his training at MUSC in Charleston, SC, they were investigating Survanta and he has been witness to and a participant in the evolving world of neonatology since. He has spoken at several neonatal nursing conferences over the years and enjoys helping other practitioners learn about and apply pharmacotherapy in this special population.

Jo Gilpin is a Registered Nurse, Midwife and has worked for many years as a Child Health Nurse with the Child and Family Health Service in South Australia (CaFHS). During this time she completed a Graduate Diploma in Health Counselling. She also studied Infant Mental Health at the University of South Australia. She became an IBCLC in 1996.
Her passion throughout has been educating, encouraging and supporting parents to have successful, enjoyable, breastfeeding relationships with their babies. This has been the main focus of her work.
She has worked privately as a Lactation Consultant since 2005. She has published two books, both on breastfeeding. Her most recent is 'Brilliant Breastfeeding: A Sensible Guide'. This was published in October 2018. This book aims to sensitively guide parents and future parents towards fulfilling breastfeeding relationships with up-to-date, evidence-based information. Attention is paid to the many challenges that parents face.
Jo loves what she does and never considers it 'work'. She lives with her husband on Kangaroo Island, which is just off the southern coast of South Australia. Her children and five grandchildren live in Sydney and Brisbane.

Dr. Joana Torres received her medical degree from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and completed her fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Hospital Center of Coimbra, Portugal. She spent 3 years at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, USA working on research projects in the field of IBD. She is currently working in Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, Loures, Portugal as a Gastroenterology Assistant and she is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Mount Sinai, NY. She is the President of the Scientific Committee of the Portuguese IBD Group and an active member of the European Crohn and Colitis Guideline committee (GuiCom). Her research focuses on populations at risk for developing inflammatory bowel disease with the goal of better understanding events taking place before the disease is diagnosed.

Joanna is a CPM with a practice in East Central Appalachia. She is a preceptor for NARM, and conducts workshops quarterly for midwifery students from all around the region. She is a student with Midwives College of Utah in their CPM to Bachelors program. In her spare time when she is not learning, teaching or catching babies, she loves to listen to live music and musical theater and spend time with her family.

Joanna Nawfal is a board-certified lactation consultant, a childbirth educator, a hypnobirthing instructor, and a certified baby massage instructor, with 15 years of experience in the field of maternal child health and a Masters of Science in Nursing. Joanna is passionate about helping mothers and babies in their breastfeeding journey, and was inspired to start this path after having difficulties 10 years ago, breastfeeding her first child, Adam. She loves teaching expecting parents about the beauty of birth, normal newborn behavior, and is exceptionally passionate about nutrition for mothers as she believes that we can always find cure in food.

Joanna enjoys doing home visits and clinic consultations for breastfeeding. She also offers birth preparation classes in her country, Lebanon, where she lives with her husband and two children. Her favorite activity is getting lost in Lebanon’s bountiful nature where the mountains and the sea are in close proximity. To Joanna, Lebanon, is the most beautiful country in the world.

Dr Toohill is a research fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University. Her PhD focused on a midwife psycho-education intervention for women with childbirth fear. In a randomised controlled trial she tested the efficacy of midwife counselling in women who screened high for childbirth fear. She found following midwife counselling that women’s confidence for birth had increased and childbirth fear levels decreased. She currently manages a project to translate this evidence to routine practice at the Gold Coast University Hospital. A midwife of more than 25 years, she was co-lead on the Queensland Normal Birth Clinical Guideline introduced in 2012, and is currently investigating enablers and barriers to use of this guideline. She is passionate about support for women to achieve normal birth, set up a publicly funded birth centre in 2006, the home of midwifery group practice on the Gold Coast.

Jodi is registered nurse with a strong passion for preemies, developmental care in the NICU, parent teaching, and education. When not at the bedside, Jodi is hard at work offering support and lending a virtual hand to parents of NICU babies through her organization Peekaboo ICU. Jodi is the president/CEO as well as a Family Support Specialist that heads up the organization’s Journey Bead Program- offering a tangible way to track, document, and celebrate milestones in the NICU. Jodi attended college in Ontario Canada where she completed her nursing degree. After college, Jodi earned a number of certification in neonatal nursing including her RNC-NIC, Developmental Care Specialist certification, and an Advanced Certification in Neonatal nursing while attending BCIT’s Bachelor of Science in Neonatal Nursing degree program. Jodi is currently working towards her Masters of Science in Nursing-Care Coordination degree through Capella University.

An advocate for women, Jodi Hall has dedicated herself to understanding the impact of traumatic events on the childbearing years, and toward creating solutions designed to change lives. Jodi shares her knowledge on topics related to trauma in the lives of mothers through workshops and training sessions for healthcare professionals, counsellors and social service workers throughout the world.
Jodi has worked as a doula since 1995, and a woman’s abuse counsellor where Jodi gained experience working directly with women experiencing abuse.  It is through years of sharing spaces with women experiencing abuse, that Jodi’s much sought after way of ‘being with’ women was nurtured.

Jodi Hall holds a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Western Ontario.  Jodi has been instrumental in various research studies on marginalized women’s access to services that promote health. She resides with her family in London, Ontario, where she co-runs a private counseling practice with Amanda Saunders, MSW, RSW and Holly Gibson, MSW, RSW, who are also skilled birth workers, called Sharing Spaces.

Jodine Chase is a public relations and communications consultant specializing in issues and crisis management news analysis. Jodine is a long-time breastfeeding advocate who, as a volunteer, works for many breastfeeding related causes including advocating for the re-establishment of milk banks, amending policies and legislation to protect breastfeeding rights, and appropriate infant and young child feeding during emergencies including the Syrian refugee crisis. Jodine serves on the board of her local breastfeeding advocacy group, the Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton (BACE), which is implementing a human rights education grant project to increase the number of Breastfeeding Friendly public spaces in her city. She also volunteers with the Best for Babes Foundation, ILCA, INFACT Canada, and Friends of the WHO Code. She’s involved in many breastfeeding related events including BfB’s Miracle Milk Stroll and Quintessence’s Breastfeeding Challenge.

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 writing new education modules for the European Society of Paediatric 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 fuels her passion for providing knowledgeable, guilt-free infant feeding support globally.

John Brock Harris, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, joined Wingate University School of Pharmacy in November 2012. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering concentrating in Biosciences from North Carolina State University in 2002. After completing undergraduate work, he received his Doctorate of Pharmacy from The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy in 2007. He completed his first year post-graduate education at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina followed by second year post-graduate education specializing in pediatrics at Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Harris became Board Certified in Pharmacotherapy while completing his pediatric post-graduate work in 2009 and Board Certified in Pediatric Pharmacotherapy in 2016. Dr. Harris is an inpatient clinical practice faculty member in pediatrics at Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina where he has practiced for nearly 10 years.

Joke graduated as a Midwife in 2006 and a Master in Midwifery in 2008. She obtained the IBCLC lactation consultant degree in 2011. She graduated in specialised applied pharmacology in 2015. She has experience as midwife and lactation consultant in her own primary care practice, lecturer at the University College Brussels, head editor of the Flemish Journal of Midwifery and board member of the Flemish Organisation of midwives and ELACTA. At the moment Joke is also a researcher on COVID-19 vaccination during lactation at the University of Brussels.

Joy MacTavish, MA, IBCLC, RLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and certified Holistic Sleep Coach focusing on the intersections of infant feeding, sleep, and family well-being. Through her business, Sound Beginnings, she provides compassionate and evidence-based support to families in the greater Seattle area, and virtually everywhere else. She entered the perinatal field in 2007 as birth and postpartum doula, and childbirth and parenting educator. Joy holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies, graduate certificate in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, and two Bachelors degrees from the University of Washington. She enjoys combining her academic background, analytical skills, and passion for social justice into her personal and professional endeavors. Joy serves as an Advisory Committee Member and guest speaker for the GOLD Lactation Academy. When not working or learning, she can be found homeschooling, building LEGO with her children, or dreaming up her next big adventure.

Joy Noel-Weiss RN IBCLC is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa. Dr. Noel-Weiss researches breastfeeding and human lactation. Professor Noel-Weiss' doctoral research study was titled Relationship Between Intravenous Fluids Given to Women During Parturition and Their Breastfed Newborns' Weight Loss. Her Masters' research was a randomized controlled trial testing a prenatal breastfeeding workshop designed to increase maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy. For future research, Dr. Noel-Weiss is developing tools to measure infant feeding patterns and to measure clinicians' confidence in their ability (i.e., their self-efficacy) to support individuals who choose to breastfeed.

In addition to these quantitative studies, Dr. Noel-Weiss recently completed qualitative research about ethical dilemmas and lactation consultants and about mothers' experiences using baby scales in their homes. Currently, Dr. Noel-Weiss works with a research team as the principal investigator on a research study titled Transmasculine Individuals' Experiences with Pregnancy, Birthing and Feeding Their Newborns. The study is funded with an operating grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Gender and Health.

Dr. Noel-Weiss chairs the International Lactation Consultants Association's Ethics and International Code Committee and co-chairs the uOttawa School of Nursing's working group for joint appointees and adjuncts. She has a cross appointment to the Ottawa Hospital and is a member of The Ottawa Hospital Nursing Research Work Group. Recently, Dr. Noel-Weiss became a member of the Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program's Breastfeeding Promotion Committee.

A Canadian living in France for more than 25 years, Juanita discovered breastfeeding with her three children and has never looked back.
She became a La Leche League Leader in 1997, and served on the boards of LLL France 2004-2008 and LLL Europe 2011-2018. She has been the regional representative of LLL Europe to WABA since 2007. Juanita became a lactation consultant in 2003 (IBCLC), recertifying in 2008 and 2013.
Juanita was the coordinator for the Journée Internationale de l’Allaitement (‘JIA’ – International Breastfeeding Conference for health professionals organized by LLL France) in 2003 and 2008. She helped create and implement the Peer Counsellor Programme in France (Programme relais allaitement- Prall).
The WHO Code is one of her passions! She has spoken on the Code at conferences around the world. Member of the Coordination française pour l’allaitement maternel (CoFam) since 2007, she was head of the Task Force on the Code and ethical questions. As a member of IBFAN *and GIFA, she was given the opportunity to participate in international meetings of the Codex Alimentarius and the OECD in Paris, as well as in week-long IBFAN conferences in Montecatini, Italy in 2007, and in Geneva in 2008. She also attended the Committee on the Convention on Rights of the Child in Geneva for IBFAN and helped prepare a country report on France underlining the importance of breastfeeding and the need to apply the Code (2009). She is an active member of IBFAN’s Global Working Group on Contaminants in Breastmilk. In 2018, she represented LLLI at the second NetCode meeting in Geneva.

Judy Terwilliger is a Clinical RN Therapist with Pediatric experience for over 30 years. As lead therapist, researcher and educator in her proprietary form of functional mobility therapy (Functional Bowen™), she works with allied health care providers in the resolve of hidden structural barrier challenges for infants and children. Her collaborative, integrative team care approach sees many successes. She is committed to equipping families with the tools necessary in support of breastfeeding and enabling parents to participate in the resolve of their children’s structural challenges. She is a member of the National Society of Pediatric Nurses and was a nominee in the 2013 Clinical Excellence in Practice Award. She has been a speaker at the Northern California Placer County Breastfeeding Coalition, Imperial Valley Breastfeeding Summit and presented at the 2016 California Breastfeeding Coalition. Her professional memberships include: ABM Network, International Pediatric Integrative Medicine Network, IATP, and Breastfeeding USA. Judy is a licensed continuing education provider for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, California Board of Registered Nurses, The California Physical Therapy Association, and the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.

Julie Matheney knew when she was ten years old that she wanted to feed babies for a living. She earned her Masters in speech-language pathology and has worked with feeding and swallowing disorders for over a decade. While most people assume speech therapists teach children who stutter or work on ""r's and s's"", the bulk of her job is feeding and swallowing as part of a hospital based, rehabilitation team. The same things you speak with, you eat with! Over the past decade working in the NICU, she discovered her passion for working with breastfeeding families and became an IBCLC in 2018.

She transitioned out of the hospital in July 2021 and currently works full time in private practice as a lactation consultant in Los Angeles. She enjoys helping the whole family in the feeding process to meet their goals.

Her loving husband is always supportive of her in her vocational passions and was instrumental in launching her private practice. She has two young daughters, both of whom were exclusively breastfed until two years old.

Raised with her Penobscot culture and Native American spiritual practices, Dr. Jus Crea realized the healing powers of nature at a young age. Rich with ancestral knowledge of healing, medicine, and midwifery, Dr. Jus Crea received a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Bridgeport and a BS in Ethnobotany and Holistic Health from UMass, Amherst. She has also been trained as an auricular acupuncture detox specialist at Lincoln Hospital, WTS therapy for restorative healing as well as Indigenous Midwifery with Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming. She is also a Certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor. Dr. Jus Crea has lectured extensively on herbal medicine, ethnobotany, midwifery, naturopathic medicine, environmental medicine, and cultural history and traditions of Wabanaki people. She was previously an adjunct professor of Nutrition at Springfield College and Pathology at STCC as well as a primary care physician in Brattleboro VT. Dr. Jus Crea has been practicing Naturopathic Family Medicine at The Integrative Health Group in Springfield MA since 2005.

Justin is a Consultant Paediatrician who has worked in both the UK and Ireland. He has had an interest in Tongue Ties for over 15 years and has created multi-disciplinary pathways of care. He is Medical Director of the National Tongue Tie Centre in County Tipperary, Ireland which he established with Kate Roche, a Chartered Physiotherapist, in 2017. There he and the team provide comprehensive care for infants, children and adults with tethered oral tissues.

Dr Justine Leach is an advocate for trauma-informed care in the perinatal period and co-founder of Resilient Birth, a company which trains healthcare providers and other perinatal professionals in supporting survivors giving birth. She also helps expectant parents with histories of trauma prepare for childbirth through trauma-informed childbirth education classes and birth support planning. Dr Leach became a B.A.C.E. certified childbirth educator and advocate after the birth of her two children revealed the impact of trauma experiences on childbirth. She has a Ph.D. on representations of sexual consent in narratives of rape and sexual trauma, and facilitates the Trauma-Informed Perinatal Professionals facebook group. Justine speaks about the experience of giving birth as a survivor of rape and the important role healthcare providers and perinatal professionals play in a birth giver’s experience of trauma or healing.