James Akre, BA, MPIA

James Akre was born in the USA where he lived until the age of 21, including four years on a Pennsylvania dairy farm which was part of the secondary school complex he attended. His international career began as an adviser to rural populations in Turkey (1966) and Cameroon (1968) in small animal husbandry and farmer cooperatives. After obtaining his master’s degree in economic and social development (University of Pittsburgh, 1972), he worked for more than 30 years with various international organizations focusing on labor and social affairs; technical and material support to the agriculture, education and public health sectors in low-income countries; and public health nutrition, with particular emphasis on feeding infants and young children. He currently serves as a member of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. Jim and his Swiss wife Pia, who is a primary-school health educator, live in Geneva, Switzerland; they have two daughters and a son, and three grandchildren. Besides writing, Jim enjoys running, sailing, photography, and singing classical and contemporary choral works as a member of the Geneva Amateur Operatic Society.

Padmini Blagopal, PhD, RD, CDE, IBCLC

Dr. Blagabopal is a Registered Dietician, Certified Diabetes Educator, and IBCLC. Her doctoral thesis was done on educational interventions to reduce the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in rural populations. As a diabetes educator and lactation consultant she has worked extensively in the US and India to better manage nutrition among at risk populations. Dr. Blagopal serves as in the Researcher position on the board.

Rachelle Lessen MS, RD, IBCLC, LDN

Rachelle is a registered dietitian and IBCLC and has a Masters of Science degree in health education. She works at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she sees families with infants in the cardiac intensive care unit and the pediatric units. She also conducts prenatal consults for families in the fetal heart program. Rachelle has an outpatient lactation center for mothers who are experiencing breastfeeding difficulties and specializes in counseling mothers of infants with food allergies. Rachelle serves as the ILCA liaison to the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition and is a board member and past-president of the Breastfeeding Resource Center, a non-profit community center. Rachelle is the co-author of the 2009 ADA Position Statement on Breastfeeding and has written chapters or articles for various publication on issues related to breastfeeding and nutrition

Rebecca Mannel, BS, IBCLC

Ms Mannel is Manager of the Lactation Center at Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City. She holds the position of Clinical Instructor in both the Pediatric and OB/Gyn Departments of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She served as president of the International Lactation Consultant Association from 2006-2008. Ms. Mannel is a member of the La Leche League International and serves on the Executive Board of the Pan American Medical Mission Foundation. In addition she has published numerous articles in The Journal of Human Lactation and other peer reviewed publications.

Wendelmoet Mulder-Baalbergen RN IBCLC

Wendelmoet Mulder is a public health nurse, specialized in infant and young child care. After being a La Leche League leader for years, she was among the very first group of lactation consultants in the Netherlands. For 5 years she has been chair of the foundation responsible for the training of lactation consultants. She developed breastfeeding training materials for health professionals and for more than 8 years she has been teaching them about breastfeeding and related issues as the WHO code. She was involved in programs about infant feeding in emergency situations. In order to keep her practical skills as a nurse and lactation consultant she returned to her primary job as public health nurse a couple of years ago.

Paula J. Oliveira, RN, BSN, IBCLC

Paula Oliveira is a registered nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.  She has an extensive background in maternal child health nursing including prenatal clinic, labor and delivery, neonatal intensive care and lactation services in hospital and in private practice.  She has experience as the WIC State Breastfeeding Coordinator and developed and implemented the peer counselor training program and remains as a consultant for the State of New Hampshire WIC Program.  She was the spearhead for the passage of the breastfeeding law in New Hampshire.  She is the Treasurer of the New Hampshire Breastfeeding Task Force and currently is working as the Nurse in Charge of Lactation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tomoko Seo, MD, IBCLC, FABM

Tomoko Seo is a pediatrician, who is working in a private maternity hospital and a pediatric clinic in Japan. She certified as IBCLC in 1999 and served as the president of Japanese Association of Lactation Consultants (JALC) from 2001 to 2003. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has translated various documents and books on breastfeeding into Japanese. She has served as Conference Chair of the annual breastfeeding seminar for physicians sponsored by JALC since 2005. She works as a lecturer at breastfeeding conferences as well as a clinician caring for mothers and babies.

Elizabeth Stehel MD, FAAP. IBCLC

Dr Stehel is a general pediatrician who works exclusively in the newborn nursery at Parkland Memorial Hospital, one of the largest single site birthing hospitals in the United Sates with ~ 15,000 deliveries annually. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, where she attended medical school. She also completed her Pediatrics Residency in Dallas at Children’s Medical Center.

Dr Stehel’s interest in breastfeeding began when she joined the faculty at UT Southwestern in 2000 and started working with mother infant couplets on a daily basis. In 2008 she received her IBCLC certification. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the Texas Breastfeeding Coalition and the Dallas Area Breastfeeding Alliance. She serves the Texas Pediatric Society on both the Parenting and Fetus and Newborn Committees, and the American Academy of Pediatrics as a Co-Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator for Texas.

Dr Stehel has been married for nine years and has two preschool aged children.

Julie K. Wood, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAFP

Julie Wood is beginning her first term on the IBLCE Board as a delegate of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) where she serves as Secretary and on the ABM Board Directors. She is a Family Physician and IBCLC.   Dr. Wood is an Associate Director of the Research Family Medicine Residency Program in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, where she is actively involved in teaching residents and medical students the role of breastfeeding as an important part in the continuum of child and women’s health.    Dr. Wood is a member of the AAFP Breastfeeding Advisory Council and the AAFP Commission of the Health of the Public and a co-author of the AAFP policy and position paper on breastfeeding.  She represents AAFP to La Leche League, the AAP Section on Breastfeeding, and the United States Breastfeeding Committee.  She is also a La Leche League Medical Associate and chairs the LLL Physician Seminar Planning Committee.  Dr. Wood particularly enjoys public speaking about breastfeeding to both healthcare professionals and the public.