GOLD Learning Speakers
Ruth Lawrence, MD, FABM
- Speaker Type: ABM Conference 2016
- Country: USA
Biography:
Dr. Lawrence is a magna cum laude graduate of Antioch College with a B.S. in biology. She graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. She did her Pediatric Residency at Yale University at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She trained with Dr. Edith Jackson in the original Rooming-In Unit, made house calls on newborns, and learned about breastfeeding. In 1958 she assumed the medical directorship of the Finger Lakes Regional Poison Center, the second oldest center in the United States and the first to take calls from the public. It was closed by then Governor Patterson in 2010. She continues to head the Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study Center and the Pediatric Environmental Safety Center. Dr. Lawrence has been on the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology as a neonatologist and clinical toxicologist since returning to the University of Rochester. She is currently a Distinguished Alumna Professor and is the first holder of the Northumberland Trust Endowed Chair in Pediatrics. She is the author of “Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession” now in its eighth edition. She is a founder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, past president and board member. She was on the original AAP committee that resulted in the section on breastfeeding and has been its chair. She is a founding member of the group that became the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) and served on the board and as Secretary-Treasurer. She has received many national and international awards for her work in clinical toxicology, breastfeeding and human lactation. St. Bernard’s Institute of Theology awarded Dr. Lawrence an honorary doctorate in theology, D.D. in 2009.