Breastfeeding: Melding the art and the science

Amy Spangler earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Ohio State University and her master’s degree in maternal and child health from the University of Florida. She is a registered nurse as well as an IBCLC. Amy has served as president of the International Lactation Consultant Association and chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee. She is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Emory University School of Nursing and the author of numerous publications including BREASTFEEDING, A Parent’s Guide, BREASTFEEDING, Keep It Simple, BREASTFEEDING, Your guide to a healthy, happy baby, Guidelines for the Establishment of Exclusive Breastfeeding, and BREASTFEEDING, Ready, Set, Go! Amy currently serves as president of Baby Gooroo. She lectures extensively on a wide variety of maternal and child health topics. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband Dennis. They have two sons, Matthew and Adam. 

Bridget Ingle is a Lactation Consultant of 23 years working in private practice in Brisbane. She has a background in paediatric nursing, midwifery and as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor with ABA before her certification as an IBCLC in 1992. Bridget has worked continually in the field of breastfeeding, lactation support and education since then and has completed orofacial myology study. Bridget has considerable experience and special interest in all causes of suck anomalies, at-breast feeding line use, and cleft lip/palate. Bridget is co-founder of ASTLiT. 

Dennis Spangler received his bachelor’s degree Cum Laude from the University of Akron and his doctorate in medicine from The Ohio State University. Dr. Spangler completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics at the University of Florida where we was Intern of the Year, followed by a fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 

Dr. Spangler is board certified by both the American Board of Allergy and Immunology and the American Board of Pediatrics. He is a past member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and is a past president of the American Association of Certified Allergists. Dr. Spangler served as Chief Medical Officer of the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic for 16 years and has published numerous articles on the treatment of asthma, rhinitis, and ocular allergy. He has served on numerous committees for both the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Dr. Spangler served as a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Georgia for 25 years and currently serves as President of the Atlanta Challenge Chamber. Throughout his career he has been involved in multiple research projects and frequently contributes to local, regional, national, and international meetings.

Donna is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Western Australia working with the Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group. Donna has a broad range of research interests in the physiology of lactation extending from basic to applied research. In particular she utilizes her ultrasound imaging skills to assess the lactating breast (anatomy, milk ejection and blood flow) as well as the infant (suck-swallow-breathe, gastric emptying and body composition). Donna’s work has attracted international attention due to the ability to ‘see’ lactation in action. She has received the Early Career Research award from ISRHML (2008) and the Certificate of Distinction for Innovative Research from the Raine Medical Research Foundation, Perth (2008) in recognition of her contribution to scientific research.

Foteini graduated from the Aristotle University of Greece in 2005 with a B.Sc. in Biology and First Class Honours in Microbiology and Physiology. She started a PhD in Physiology at the University of Western Australia, which she completed in 2009. She then joined the Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group of the University of Western Australia conducting research into the physiology of breastfeeding and breastmilk stem cells. Foteini¹s research has a dual focus, concentrating on (a) the maternal stem cells that are present in breastmilk and their biological role for the breastfed infant and in the lactating breast. Foteini also uses these cells as models in breast cancer research to elucidate how they are subjected to malignant transformation that leads to cancer. And (b) the cellular hierarchy represented in human milk, from stem cells to differentiated lactocytes to immune cells, aiming at using them as tools of assessment of the health status and functionality of the breast.