David Boyle is an internationally recognized researcher in the development and application of biomarker analysis to clinical research, in particular synovial pathology in rheumatoid arthritis. In his role as co-director of the Translational Research Technology (TRT) Division, he has guided and transformed it into a one-stop shop of flexible laboratory-based services for translational studies. Under his leadership, the TRT laboratories have provided services for over 99 biomarker projects, performed more than 18,000 biomarker assays, and processed more than 19,000 biosamples. He has been instrumental in establishing the biorepository storage for the Mommy’s Milk samples and works closely with Dr. Chambers to lead the evaluation of best practices for collection, storage and analysis of samples to inform biorepository methods for a number of similar repositories being established throughout the world.

Philip O. Anderson, Pharm.D., FCSHP, FASHP is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has lectured and published extensively on drug use during chest/breastfeeding, including original research on drug excretion into human milk. Dr. Anderson founded the LactMed® database, which is available in the National Library of Medicine’s Bookshelf. He continues to write most LactMed® records and to expand the database. He has authored the medication appendix to the popular handbook, The Nursing Mothers’ Companion. Dr. Anderson is the Pharmacology Editor and a member of the Editorial Board of the professional journal, Breastfeeding Medicine, and writes a monthly column on medication use during chest/breastfeeding for the journal. He has also been a consultant to the US Food and drug Administration on the topic of drug labeling with respect to medication use during lactation.

Dr. Brookie Best specializes in pharmacokinetics (the processes by which a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized and eliminated by the body) and pediatric clinical pharmacology research. Her research efforts have focused on studying anti-HIV drugs in infants, children, adolescents, non-pregnant adults, and pregnant adults. She also studies drugs used to treat Kawasaki disease, the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. She has specific interests and expertise in maternal-fetal clinical pharmacology, therapeutic drug monitoring of antiretrovirals, antiretroviral pharmacogenomics, and penetration of antiretrovirals into the central nervous system.

Dr. Lars Bode is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology and the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine (http://www.bodelab.com). He is also the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Endowed Chair of Collaborative Human Milk Research and founding director of both the Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (MOMI CORE) and the new UC San Diego Human Milk Institute.

Dr. Bode’s main research objectives are to elucidate (i) how milk components are synthesized in the mother’s mammary gland, (ii) how milk composition is affected by external factors such as nutrition, pathogens, or medications, (iii) how milk components affect immediate as well as long-term health and development of infants and mothers, and (iv) how they can serve as natural templates for the development of preventatives, therapeutics, and diagnostics for people of all ages.

Dr. Bode has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles on human milk oligosaccharides, including the 2012 review “Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Every Baby Needs a Sugar Mama”, which has become the most cited research article in the field of human milk oligosaccharides. In 2020, Dr. Bode ranked in the top 2% of most cited scientists in the world in the category “Nutrition and Dietetics”.

Dr. Boies is a board-certified pediatrician who has provided primary care for infants, children and adolescents through all of their developmental stages. Her areas of clinical expertise include assisting parents who are experiencing difficulties chest/breastfeeding their newborns and parental vaccine uncertainty, and her research interests include pediatric infectious diseases and premature infant nutrition. Dr. Boies established the Premature Infant Nutrition Clinic (PINC) in 2008 and continues to serve as medical director. Recently discharged premature infants and their parents seen in PINC receive help with lactation and chest/breastfeeding while assuring proper growth and nutrition.

Jae Kim is a board-certified neonatologist and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego with dual appointments in the Divisions of Neonatology and Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. His special areas of clinical and research interests include neonatal nutrition, neonatal bowel injury, bedside ultrasound and resuscitation. His current active research centers on optimizing human milk feeding for the premature infant, pioneering the use of bedside ultrasound in the NICU and innovation in resuscitation in resource limited settings. He is the Director for the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program at UC San Diego and the Nutrition Director of an innovative, nationally recognized multidisciplinary program to advance premature infant nutrition at UC San Diego called SPIN (Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition). He is the co-author of the book, Best Medicine: Human Milk in the NICU.

Dr. Nizet is Chief of the Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics, a unique Division in the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics that brings together a diverse group of scientists and physicians for interdisciplinary research on the interactions of humans and the microbial world in both health and disease. Fundamental principles of microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, the “-OMICs” (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and the human microbiome) and state-of-the-art systems biology are focused on the pathogenesis of common childhood infectious diseases and inflammatory disorders, to inspire innovative discovery programs and translational studies of new drugs and interventions that will restore optimal health in childhood and throughout life. Dr. Nizet’s interests lie in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of bacteria and the immune system, with a special focus on invasive and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Dr. Sauberan is an experienced Neonatal-Perinatal clinical pharmacist. He currently serves as Clinical Research Pharmacist with the Neonatal Research Institute at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns in San Diego, California. His main research and practice interests include drugs in human milk and pediatric infectious disease therapy, drug formulations, medication safety, and drug information. He is an assistant author of the National Library of Medicine’s LactMed database, co-editor of the AAP Nelson’s Guide to Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy, and author of the neonatal-pediatric dosing tables in the AAP Red Book. He has spoken to numerous groups locally and nationally on medication use during lactation, and is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards for MotherToBaby California and a member of the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition.

Dr. Stellwagen is a pediatrician, neonatal hospitalist, and the Medical Director of the Newborn Service at UC San Diego Health. Her clinical areas of interest are infant nutrition, human milk feeding, and common medical issues in the newborn period, and her research interests include human milk quality and storage, maternal milk production, and promoting human milk feeding in both term and pre-term infants to improve infant outcomes.

Dr. Stellwagen led the team that resulted in UC San Diego Health’s Baby Friendly Certification in 2006 and recertification in 2011, and she continues to work on quality improvement in the chest/breastfeeding program. Dr. Stellwagen and colleagues also started the UC San Diego SPIN (Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition) Program in 2008, which brings together the lactation service, dietary service, occupational and physical therapy, NICU nurses and physicians in a multidisciplinary team to improve neonatal nutrition and human milk feeding in the NICU setting. In 2017, Dr. Stellwagen and fellow Mommy’s Milk Steering Committee member Dr. Jae Kim launched the development of the San Diego Mother’s Milk Bank, which aims to improve the provision of donor milk in Southern California.

Kerri Bertrand oversees the day-to-day operations of the Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository . She is responsible for the recruitment and enrollment of people who are breast/chestfeeding, collection of biospecimens, preparation of human milk samples for freezing, data entry, review of medical records, and the supervision of staff who conduct these activities. She also works with Dr. Chambers and Mommy’s Milk investigators on the preparation of grant proposals, provision of data sets, statistical analyses and interpretation, and the dissemination of study results. Kerri graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2010 and received a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from San Diego State University in 2013.

Brittany is a Research and Recruitment Assistant with the Human Milk Biorepository. She is a Lactation Educator-Counselor and Perinatal Educator. Her primary role at Mommy’s Milk consists of administering screening protocols, interviewing research participants, collecting samples, recording accurate data, and engaging with the community. Before joining the Mommy’s Milk team, she had the privilege to educate and counsel over 30,000 pregnant and lactating families across San Diego County. Continuing her strong advocacy for the advancement of infant and maternal health, Brittany is thankful to be working in human milk research.

Alex is the assistant clinical research coordinator for Mommy’s Milk Human Research Biorepository. Previously, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she first became interested in public health research. Alex joined Mommy’s Milk as a student research assistant in 2022. She is thrilled to be able to continue working in the field of maternal and child health. Alex completed her undergraduate degree in Biology from Lewis & Clark College in 2018 and received a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from UCSD in 2023.

Kelli Faiai is a Lab Assistant for Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository. She graduated from Concordia University Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Kelli is responsible for lab operations, collecting/processing biospecimens, processing/storing samples, and entering/maintaining biospecimen data. She enjoys contributing to the accessibility of human milk samples for future research and learning more every day about the importance of human milk and its role in the health and development of children.

Ofri Avgil is a research assistant and recruiter for the Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository. She is responsible for conducting screening procedures/phone interviews with research participants, collecting/processing milk samples and recording all data. Ofri is a pre-medical student with a plan to attend medical school in the near future. She graduated from UC Riverside in June 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Ofri enjoys contributing to human milk research and is fascinated by all the things she has learned thus far. 

Marla Stockley is a research assistant for the Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository. In this role, she is responsible for data collection, data entry, information verification and study follow-up including requests for medical records. She graduated from UC San Diego in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development, and in 2009 she received a Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of San Diego. Marla has been working for the Center for Better Beginnings for 10+ years. A native of Chula Vista, CA, she is married and a mother to identical twin girls who keep her very busy. As a mother, she appreciates the importance of our research and is dedicated to contributing to improving the health and lives of all families in the future.

Kelly is the Program Manager of the Developmental Follow-Up Program at the UC San Diego Center for Better Beginnings, where she oversees the team of psychometrists that conducts developmental assessments for the Center’s research programs, including Mommy’s Milk. She has been with Division of Environmental Science & Health since 1993. Kelly obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the UC San Diego with minors in Biology and Spanish Literature. She became interested in prenatal environmental exposures that cause birth defects and long-term developmental effects when she took a Sociology of Law course that examined the death penalty case of a man who was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). She actively demonstrates her dedication to educating the community about prenatal environmental exposures through her outreach activities, lectures, and research projects.

Violet Webb is a Psychometrist and Research Associate at the UC San Diego Center for Better Beginnings. In this role, she conducts standardized assessments with both maternal and child participants for the Center’s research programs, including Mommy’s Milk. She also coordinates the collection of and scores maternal well-being and infant development questionnaires. She attended San Francisco State University where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. In 2017, she went on to receive her Masters of Science and Advanced Certificate in Educational Psychology from CUNY Brooklyn. Violet is passionate about working with children and contributing to the research that will provide insight about child development. Her goal is to provide assessments that are both fun and comfortable for parent and child.

Haley Henry is a psychometrist for the Developmental Follow-Up Program at the UC San Diego Center for Better Beginnings. In this role, she conducts standardized assessments with both maternal and child participants for the Center’s research programs, including Mommy’s Milk. She also coordinates the collection of and scores maternal well-being and infant development questionnaires. Previously, she served as a Clinical Research Specialist at the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development. She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh where she also worked as a research assistant. Haley plans to continue contributing to research that seeks to improve the developmental outcomes of children.

Hanah Riedy