After a long, cold winter, St. Louis, MO is preparing for spring’s cherry blossoms, Cardinals baseball, and USLCA inaugural conference Gateway to Excellence!
USLCA has put together a fabulous line up of speakers including inspiring veterans and innovative newcomers for this May 3-5 event at the historic Union Station Hotel. With seven plenary sessions and seven different tracks for concurrent sessions, there is something for every lactation professional. The greatest challenge will be deciding which sessions to attend, so I suggest coming with friends and sharing what you learn over refreshments in one of the many local establishments.
For example…
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC will warm the crowd with the opening plenary session “The State of Breastfeeding in the US: We’ve Come a Long Way with ‘Miles To Go Before We Sleep.’” Marsha, an internationally acclaimed speaker and author, sits on the Board of Directors of USLCA, Baby Friendly USA, Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, and Best for Babes. She represents USLCA to the US Department of Agriculture’s Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium and represents NABA to the US Breastfeeding Committee. She is the co-chair of the Ban the Bags campaign, a national effort to eliminate the hospital distribution of formula company discharge bags.
Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC, will be speaking on Reflux, GERD, and Breastfeeding.
Cathy has been in private practice in New York City since 1992, and currently addresses health care professionals all over the world on her specialty area helping medically challenged mothers and babies to breastfeed. Her lively presentations are enhanced by her widely published clinical photographs. Cathy has authored numerous publications and also serves as Associate Editor for the United States Lactation Consultant Association journal Clinical Lactation.
Thomas Hale, PhD, one of the world’s leading authorities in the use of medications in breastfeeding women, will enlighten the crowd with “How to Evaluate Drug Usage in Breastfeeding Mothers.”
Tom is the founder and director of the Infant Risk Center, a national call center for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. He is a well known international lecturer in the pharmacology of lactation and is the author of five books including: Medications and Mothers’ Milk, the top-selling drug reference manual.
Elizabeth Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA, will draw from her legal background with her boundless energy and humor to bring us the timely, “Who’s Your Daddy…Mommy, Surrogate or Donor? Modern Families and Lactation.”
With plain language and humor, Liz helps keep us honest as she offers explains pragmatic tips and ethical perspectives that can immediately be used in daily practice.
Liz is the President of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), and works with breastfeeding families both in private practice and the hospital setting.
Sound interesting? There are still more plenary sessions from the National Breastfeeding Center’s Dr. Todd Wolynn, infant oral motor specialists Robin Glass & Lynn Wolf, and The Joint Commission’s Celeste Milton.
The plenary sessions are compelling enough to click the registration tab right now, but wait! There is more! The concurrent session tracks have something for everyone. Is your hospital pursuing Baby-Friendly status? Got it! Finding exclusive breastfeeding elusive? Got a track on that, too. Advocacy, community, preterm infants, and WIC, check, check, check, and check. There is also the Mosaic- the assortment pack of timely topics.
Gateway to Excellence will let you network with speakers, authors, and peers, learn cutting edge skills, see what new tools and texts exhibitors have to offer, and come away refreshed and energized with knowledge you can immediately put into action.
So what do you do now? REGISTER, of course. Bring friends. Click here for more information and to register. See you in St. Louis!
