Teaching Faculty

Director

I have been involved in birth and breastfeeding support for the past two decades.

I became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2011. As a clinician IBCLC, I have been leading the Specialist Breastfeeding Clinic which is part of the Merton Health Visiting team (Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust) for 8 consecutive years. I am currently doing a PhD within the Mother and Infant Research Unit, School of Nursing and Health Sciences, at the University of Dundee. As the Director and lead Lecturer of the international Art and Science of Breastfeeding course (previously known as the Breastfeeding London Course), I have been training future IBCLCs for the past 14 years.

Associate Fellow and Tutor

I have over 15 years experience writing, producing and presenting research.

I’m also a clinician and educator. I’m an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Breastfeeding Education and Research and I have published in international peer-reviewed breastfeeding and human lactation journals. I’m also an Associate Editor with the Journal of Human Lactation. I’m a clinician in both private practice and the NHS working with the Merton Health Visiting team (Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust). I’m also an educator and part of the teaching faculty which I joined in 2022. Finally, I’m Hearts Milk Bank donor for clinical research, including COVID-19 and breast cancer. I have been an IBCLC since 2021.

Tutor

I started to think about the importance of breastfeeding support during my midwifery training. I have always been fascinated by the natural but complex way our bodies can feed another human being.

I became an IBCLC in 2011 and I joined the Art and Science Breastfeeding faculty 12 years ago where I have consolidated my passion for teaching.

Tutor

I have been a Registered General Nurse and Registered Midwife for over 35 years, working in the NHS. For the last 20 years I have been a Community Midwife at St George’s Hospital. In order to better help mothers and babies better with breastfeeding, I undertook Lactation Consultant training and became an IBCLC in 2011. In 2014, I took a Tongue-tie Division course in Frome, Somerset. I joined the Tongue-tie Clinic at King’s College Hospital shortly afterwards and have been working there ever since, as a Lactation Consultant and Tongue-tie Practitioner. In 2025 I completed the University of Wolverhampton’s Advanced Clinical Skills in Tongue Tie (Ankyloglossia) Management course —a comprehensive Masters-level course, one of only two University Tongue-tie courses in the UK. I have been an IBCLC since 2011 and teaching on and off for the Art and Science of Breastfeeding for the past 10 years.

Tutor

I am a dedicated healthcare professional specialising in lactation during neonatal care, currently practicing as a Neonatal Feeding Lead. As a Registered Nurse and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant since 2022, I bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to support new mothers and their infants, driving forward positive change to feeding practices and promoting breastfeeding in more complex situations.

Tutor

I have merged into the breastfeeding world when I started working with premies and their parents in the NICU at St Thomas Hospital, in 2016. Understanding the power of breastmilk to save lives, literally, led me to Indira Lopez-Bassols. Thanks to the Centre for Breastfeeding Education and Research, I became an IBCLC in 2000 and soon after became part of the feeding team of the NICU. I joined the teaching team 2 years ago.

I have been a midwife for 34 years. I have worked both in the NHS and independent sectors, within hospitals and the community – and even in Egypt! In my last NHS role, I also worked in Children’s centres running breastfeeding cafes. Lately, I have been working as a private midwife and IBCLC supporting women and their babies. I also co-run a free weekly postnatal group in Camberwell SE5 for mothers and their babies 0-6 months. I have been been an IBCLC since 2013 and teaching on and off for the Art and Science of Breastfeeding for the past 7 years.

Fellow and Tutor

My interest in breastfeeding started with nutrition. I have worked in public health nutrition for 12 years including: early years nutrition; as a research scientist; and as an infant feeding lead in the NHS. I saw firsthand the contribution of breastfeeding to the wider public health landscape. Access to good support, unfortunately, is often a challenge for families and I felt quite strongly that I wanted to be part of the solution.