 |
Maria Carmen Collado, PhD
M. Carmen Collado, PhD in Biotechnology (2005, Polytechnic University of Valencia-UPV, Valencia, Spain); Adjunct Professor (2007-now) at the University of Turku, Finland and Research Scientist (2012-now) at Dept. Biotechnology, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology-Spanish National Research Council (IATA-CSIC), Valencia, Spain.
Her research work is multidisciplinary and includes microbiology, food science and nutrition areas. Her interests are focused on probiotics, microbiota and nutrition during pregnancy and early life period. Her team investigates the impact of early exposures (perinatal, environmental and genetic factors) on maternal microbiota and breast milk components (IgA, immune markers, metabolites, microbiota) and their impact on infant microbiota and health effects at short- and long-term.
|
 |
Mariana Colmenares Castaño, MD IBCLC
Mariana Colmenares Castaño was born in Mexico City, and from an early age she was fascinated by animals and nature. She studied medicine at the National University of Mexico (UNAM), and found her passion as a pediatrician doing her residency at the National Pediatric Institute. With the birth of her first child, Mariana witnessed the lack of knowledge and commitment with breastfeeding and nutrition within the medical profession. This was her impetus to specialize in breastfeeding medicine. Certified as a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2011 by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE), she is currently a member of the International Lactation Consultant Association, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and a proud founding member of the National Lactation Consultant Association of Mexico (ACCLAM), where she served on the Board of Directors as Education Coordinator (2014-2019). Regional coordinator for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine for the Región of Latinamerica (2018 to date) and board director for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine for 3 year period (2019-2022). As part of her continuing professional training she studied at the International Breastfeeding Clinic, in Toronto CA.
Mariana is a member of the team for Breastfeeding Country Index BFCI, a project from Yale University and Universidad Iberoamericana whose goal is to develop an evidence base metric that can help decision-makers to understand the current status to elevate breastfeeding programs and increase breastfeeding rates. Member of the The International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML). A frequent speaker at national and international conferences (plenary speaker at ILCA 2018), she has published numerous articles and co-authored a chapter for the National Academy of Medicine. To contribute to a medical profession better prepared to support breastfeeding, she teaches medical students at the National University of México and serves as a consultant for the National Health Institute and UNICEF.
|
 |
Larisse Melo, MSc
Larisse Melo received her Dietetics degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN – Natal, Brazil), and during four of her undergraduate years, she worked as a research assistant assessing the nutritional composition of breast milk in nursing women from Natal, Brazil. She completed her MSc degree in Human Nutrition at The University of British Columbia (UBC – Vancouver, Canada) in 2019, under the supervision of Dr. Yvonne Lamers. Her Master’s project aimed to develop and test novel food products fortified with B-vitamins to help reduce the prevalence of vitamin inadequacies in Canadians. During her MSc, she was awarded with the ISRHML Trainee Travel Fund, and received further training on the analysis of several vitamins in breast milk at Dr. Lindsay Allen’s research group at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Davis, California. Currently, Larisse is a Sessional Instructor at UBC Vancouver, where she teaches “Applied International Nutrition” and “Vitamins, Minerals and Health”, and continues to contribute to several projects in Dr. Yvonne Lamers’ research group. Larisse is currently the ISRHML Trainee Representative for the Region of the Americas and is very excited to organize the webinars for this region, as well as to increase engagement of Latin American researchers, health professionals and students with ISRHML.
|
 |
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D., is Professor of Public Health, Director of the Office of Public Health Practice, and Director of the Global Health Concentration at the Yale School of Public Health. He is the PI of the Yale-Griffin CDC Prevention Research Center (PRC). His global public health nutrition and food security research program has contributed to improvements in breastfeeding and other maternal, infant and young child nutrition outcomes, iron deficiency anemia among infants, household food security, and early child development. His health disparities research involves assessing the impact of community health workers at improving behavioral and metabolic outcomes in vulnerable communities. He has published over 240 research articles, 3 books/monographs, and numerous journal supplements, book chapters, and technical reports. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (elected in 2019) and served in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Food and Nutrition Board from 2012-18. He has been a senior advisor to maternal-child community nutrition programs as well as household food security measurement projects funded by the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the U.S. Agency for International Development, The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH),The World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Governments in Latin America & Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Europe . He obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and his MS in Food Science and his PhD in Nutrition from the University of California at Davis. His postdoctoral training at UC Davis focused on the link between nutrition and early childhood development.
|