The Milky Way: A galaxy of lactation information

Rodney has a background of over 30 years of practice in hospital and community pharmacy, much of which has been as a specialist therapeutic medicines expert. He holds postgraduate qualifications, a Monash University appointment and has extensive clinical experience in a number of medical specialties. He is a member of, and consultant to, many professional healthcare organisations and committees. As a part of his current position as senior pharmacist at the Monash Medicines Information Centre at Monash Health (Victoria), Rodney also delivers presentations to an extensive and diverse range of hospital and community groups. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2021 for his service to pharmacy, professional education and the community.

McKenna pioneered the first behavioral and electrophysiological studies documenting differences between mothers and infants sleeping together and apart and has become known worldwide for his work in promoting studies of breast feeding and mother-infant co-sleeping.

A biological anthropologist, and director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory McKenna began his career studying the social behavior and development of monkeys and apes with an emphasis on parenting behavior and ecology. He has published over 150 articles and six books including a popular parenting book Sleeping With Your baby: A Parents Guide To Co-sleeping. He has co-edited Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution, Evolutionary Medicine, and a more recent co-edited volume Evolution and Health: New Perspectives.

He won the prestigious Shannon Award (with Dr. Sarah Mosko) from the National Institutes of Child Health and Development for his SIDS research and is the nation’s foremost authority and spokesperson to the national press on issues pertaining to infant and childhood sleep problems, sleep development, and breastfeeding.

Dr Michael Abou-Dakn is head of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at St Joseph Hospital in Berlin. Michael has been an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2001. He is the past president of the UNICEF/WHO Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in Germany and the President of the certifying company of BFI. Since 2004 he has been a member of the German National Breastfeeding Committee. Michael actively supports family oriented concepts in obstetrics and his academic interest is in breastfeeding problems and the role of the father. He has published three books and over 20 peer-reviewed papers.  He has been an invited speaker to a number of national and international breastfeeding conferences including the 2007 LLL Conference in Chicago and the Australian Breastfeeding association seminars.

Liz Crowe is an experienced social worker who has spent her career in paediatric intensive care specialising in crisis, trauma and end-of-life care with children and families. In the last two years her focus has shifted to the wellbeing of health care professionals and has submitted a PhD thesis investigating the risk and protective factors for the wellbeing of health care professionals. Liz is a passionate and humorous educator who regularly speaks internationally and is an active podcaster. Liz is the successful author of The little book of loss and grief you can read while you cry.

Maureen Minchin is a medical historian and pioneer lactation consultant who has been involved globally at the highest levels with infant feeding issues since the 1970s. Her books Food for Thought (1982-1992) and Breastfeeding Matters (1985-1998) have been influential world-wide. Her latest book is Milk Matters: infant feeding and immune disorder. This multi-disciplinary text argues that a milk hypothesis encompasses the hygiene hypothesis, and documents the many risks and harms of artificial feeding, while also providing practical strategies for parents struggling with the unhappy food-hypersensitive babies common in communities where formula feeding is entrenched.