MEET THE TEAM

Jacquelyn Benson, RN, CLC, ANLC, IBCLC

Jacquelyn is a Registered Nurse and Certified Lactation Counselor. Her work has focused on maternal/child nursing with an emphasis on the newborn nursery, OB, NICU, and pediatrics. As a hospital-based nurse, Jacquelyn has been helping mothers and babies with breastfeeding during their hospital stay. Jacquelyn currently resides in New Jersey due west of Manhattan, and works with moms and babies in the community.  She is blessed with a wonderful husband, two grown children, and a delightful granddaughter.

Anna Blair, PhD, IBCLC, CLC

Anna is the Director of Academic Programs at Healthy Children Project’s Center for Breastfeeding. As a lactation care provider, Dr. Blair works in a community-based lactation center answering a breastfeeding warmline for three counties and offering face-to-face visits. Dr. Blair spent nearly two decades in academia in addition to her work in clinical practice and research. She is the author of numerous books and research articles.

Elyse Blair, RN, BSN, ANLC, IBCLC

Elyse has worked as a Clinical Nurse Educator at a large university teaching children’s hospital in Atlanta, played an integral role in the NICU as a lactation consultant in an Atlanta hospital that delivered 17,000+ babies in 2016 and has a 100+ bed NICU. Elyse was a member of the Eisenhower Foundation Delegation on Breastfeeding and Human Lactation to Russia and Romania and has also traveled to Latvia, Egypt, and Germany, teaching and supporting new moms and their babies. She wrote the monograph A Guide to Breastfeeding Your Special Care Baby, and co-authored the 2nd edition of Maternal and Infant Assessment for Breastfeeding and Human Lactation. Elyse’s biggest pleasures are her family – husband Ken, sons Bradley and Michael, and her amazing granddaughters, Millie, Charlotte and Goldie. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Tangela L. Boyd, MA, CLC, CLE, CCCE, CPD

Tangela is a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), Certified Lactation Educator (CLE), Certified Childbirth Educator (CCCE) and Certified Postpartum Doula (CPD).  She has a passion for working with breastfeeding mothers. Tangela has a Master of Arts degree in Health and Wellness with a concentration in Human Lactation and is certified in Infant, Child, and Adult CPR as an Instructor. She has been working with breastfeeding mothers for the past 11 years. Tangela’s vision is to see breastfeeding rates and perinatal education increase in our society, especially among women of color. Tangela is a PhD candidate and hopes to see this vision come to pass.

Kajsa Brimdyr, PhD, CLC

Kajsa is an experienced ethnographer, researcher and international expert in the implementation of continuous, uninterrupted skin-to-skin in the first hour after birth. She is a published author and the award-winning director of The Magical Hour: Holding Your Baby for the First Hour After Birth and the groundbreaking DVD Skin-to-Skin in the First Hour after Birth: Practical Advice for Staff after Vaginal and Cesarean Birth. Her current research involves using video ethnography to change practice in hospital settings to improve continuous skin-to-skin for the first hour.

Karin Cadwell, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANLC, CLC, IBCLC

Karin has worked in the field of breastfeeding and human lactation for more than 50 years. Dr. Cadwell is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and counsels breastfeeding mothers at the Center for Breastfeeding, a community-based lactation clinic on Cape Cod. She is the author of numerous books and research articles.

Julie Campbell, CLC, CEIM, RYT, HBCE, CD

Julie Campbell is a mom of two little girls, whom she has been tandem nursing for three years. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communications from Bridgewater State University. Passionate about all things birth, babies, and breastfeeding, Julie is a Certified Lactation Counselor, Licensed HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator, Certified Infant Massage Instructor & Educator of Infant Massage (CEIM) through IAIM, Licensed Dancing For Birth Instructor, and a certified pre/postnatal, baby & toddler yoga teacher. She completed her birth doula training with DONA International, and is devoted to supporting families through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Julie loves living in the Northeast and enjoying all that the region has to offer. She enjoys having outdoor adventures with her family: hiking, yoga, dancing, writing, swimming, running, playing on the beach, and gardening.

Nikki Lee, RN, BSN, MS, ANLC, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI, CKC, RYT500
She/her/hers

Nikki is an author, a teacher, a holistic lactation consultant, a craniosacral therapy practitioner, a yoga instructor, and a baby body worker (teaching Infant Massage and Tummy Time!). She is also mother to 2 wonderful (breastfed for a long time) daughters, and wife to 3 interesting men, only one of whom was the right one for the past 38 years, Rafe! Her publications include the books, Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy and A Breastfeeding Owner’s Manual; the monographs, “Benefits of Breastfeeding and Their Economic Impact” and “Sexuality and Breastfeeding” and the educational pamphlet “How to help yourself through labor”. She was the reviews editor for the journal Clinical Lactation, and has worked as the lactation consultant for the division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health since 2006, and maintains a private practice in holistic lactation, integrating concepts from craniosacral therapy, infant massage, TummyTime!, homeopathy and integrative positional therapy into her work. Other interests include playing back-up rhythm guitar (Cajun and old-time styles), hiking and yoga.

Shari O’Brien, RNC, ANLC, IBCLC

Shari is a nurse and lactation consultant with 30+ years of experience caring for well and high-risk mothers and babies in settings ranging from a small rural community hospital to a large urban teaching hospital. She was instrumental in the implementation of several of the 10 Steps in the Boston hospital where she spent the majority of her career.

Melissa R. Reyes, CLC

Melissa is a mother of two daughters whom she breastfed, exclusively at first, and onward for a total of 4 1/2 years. She has worked for WIC as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and as Community Coordinator. She has experience with community outreach and social services. In 2019, Melissa was awarded Massachusetts WIC Peer Counselor of the Year for excellence in commitment, leadership, and participant service. Melissa was born and raised in Brazil. She has assisted individuals, nationally and internationally, achieve their breastfeeding goals. As a Certified Lactation Counselor, supporting individuals is her passion.

Carin Richter, RN, MSN, APN-BC, IBCLC, CCBE

Carin has worked with mothers and babies in the acute care setting for 27 years, including 17 as the clinical nurse specialist in charge of staff education and special projects and as maternal/child nurse/ physician liaison. Carin developed a nurse-run postpartum care follow-up clinic specializing in the assessment and support of the postpartum mother/baby couplet.  The clinic focuses on breastfeeding issues as well as screening for newborn jaundice and maternal postpartum depression. The clinic also serves as a clearinghouse for community information and education on breastfeeding. Carin coordinated her facility’s initial steps toward Baby-Friendly designation. As a member of her regional breastfeeding coalition, Carin participated in the coalition’s taskforce to contribute to the writing of the State of Illinois Blueprint for Breastfeeding.  The coalition also hosts a bi-yearly breastfeeding conference for health care professionals. On a national level, Carin has served on the ANCC panel of experts for Perinatal Care.  She has spoken nationally on various topics of women’s health, breastfeeding promotion and nursing research at AWHONN and Magnet yearly conferences. She was also selected to be a podium presenter at various national Nursing Research Symposiums. Carin serves as a frequent guest lecturer for maternal/child nursing topics at Saint Anthony College of Nursing. On the home front, Carin and her husband Charlie ​enjoy gardening, traveling, and entertaining “domestic goddess style” for friends and family.

Kristin Stewart, BS, CLC

Kristin has been teaching the art of communication for over 20 years with an expertise in non-verbal communication.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University in Political Science and has had a long and varied career involving travel, performance, and teaching. Kristin has been working with Healthy Children Project’s Center for Breastfeeding for eight years and is fascinated by the unspoken communication in the breastfeeding dyad. Recent projects include the research of popular culture surrounding birth and breastfeeding and its impact on adolescent women and discourse analysis of breastfeeding in popular culture for the past two decades.

Donna Walls, RN, BSN, ICCE, IBCLC, ANLC

Donna has been a Registered Nurse for 45 years, and for 43 years has worked with pregnant and new parents. She became a certified childbirth educator in 1984 and a certified lactation consultant in 1987. She joined Healthy Children Project’s Center for Breastfeeding in 2010 and continues to practice as a clinical lactation consultant. She was the project leader for the successful Baby-Friendly designation at Southview Hospital in 2008 and serves as the representative to the United States Breastfeeding Committee for the International Childbirth Education Association, where she serves as the Director of Lactation. She is active in her local breast cancer task foundation, developing education on breast cancer prevention. In 1997, she graduated as a master herbalist from the Australasian College with a Diploma Degree in Herbal Sciences and in 1998 became a certified aromatherapist. She published her first book “Natural Families – Healthy Homes” in 2007, and second book “Growing Green Families” in 2016, focusing on the connection between the health of the environment and personal health. At home in Dayton, Ohio, Donna enjoys time with her husband, three children, and six grandchildren.

Liz Westwater, MSM, CLC

Liz has been in the world of breastfeeding advocacy and women’s health for over thirty years. Prior to joining the Healthy Children Project’s Center for Breastfeeding, Liz was the Accreditation Director for Baby-Friendly USA. During her tenure at BFUSA, Liz worked on several nationwide programs, including the CPPW and Best-Fed Beginnings, where her work included assisting hospitals and communities to improve breastfeeding outcomes by implementing maternity care practice changes.  She has served in a variety of program management roles for private and public agencies, including the Cape Cod WIC Program and several Title X Family Planning Programs including North Shore Family Planning, Boston Family Planning Project and Cape Cod Family Planning Program. She is an active volunteer and has served as a board member and president of the Cape Cod Center for Women and on the board of the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. Liz holds her MSM in Health Systems Management from Lesley University as well as a BS in Social Work from the University of New Hampshire. Liz lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her husband and her rescue dog.

Eira N. Yates, MSSA, CLC

Eira has a rich, successful, and committed history in health, social service, and education. She has a lifelong tie and commitment towards community service, community growth, and the development and progress of vulnerable and underserved populations. Eira has over 15 years’ experience in healthcare and social services. She has served in leadership roles for The Cleveland Department of Public Health, Moms First Program in Washington, DC, Fatherhood Initiative, Invest in Children of Cuyahoga County, Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation, Ohio Guidestone Organization, and Development of Curriculums and Paternal Depression Screening. Her expertise lies in program planning/management locally and nationally, minority infant mortality education and prevention, healthy pregnancy, Maternal and Child Health, Healthy Fathering, and community-based participatory research.