Teaching Faculty

Director

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

As a clinician International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, I have been leading the Specialist Breastfeeding Clinic which is part of the Merton Health Visiting team (Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust) for 7 consecutive years. Our service has gained GOLD accreditation (the highest level of accreditation for infant feeding and parent-infant relationships) from the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly initiative. The Clinic is for any complex breastfeeding dyads living in Merton and by GP/HV/RM/Infant Feeding Coordinator referral only. We are proud to share that our Clinic has won the 2023-2025 International Board Certified Lactation Consultant Community-Based Care Award. Our Merton Infant feeding team also won the Innovators of the Year CLCH Staff Awards 2024.

Associate Fellow

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. Finally, I’m Hearts Milk Bank donor for clinical research, including COVID-19 and breast cancer.

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.

My studies about breastfeeding began in 2006 during my second year of midwifery training in Italy. I attended the Unicef 20 hours Breastfeeding Training for the Baby-Friendly Hospital initiative and I wrote my degree dissertation on it.

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.

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.

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, 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 and soon after became part of the feeding team of the NICU.

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.