Lactation Research Consortium

Ann Dozier, Ph.D. - Founder

Professor and Chair
Public Health Sciences, Center for Community Health and Prevention - School of Nursing

Dr. Dozier's research focus is program evaluation methods, including integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods, on maternal and child health outcomes. She has several ongoing projects at the community and statewide level to establish support systems and networks for breastfeeding mothers and infants.

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Dr. Ann Dozier's Research Profile

Bridget Young, Ph.D. - Co-Founder

Research Assistant Professor
Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Public Health Sciences

Dr. Young's research focuses on how maternal obesity and insulin resistance impacts bioactive factors in her breast milk. Her lab studies how these factors impact infant pancreatic function, intestinal maturation, and the microbiome.

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Dr. Bridget Young's Research Profile

Visit the Young Lab Website

Mary Caserta, M.D.

Professor
​Pediatrics - Infectious Disease

Dr. Caserta’s research interests focus on viral infections in children and host pathogen interactions with an emphasis on the host immune response. Additionally, factors that impact the susceptibility of the host to infectious diseases are an area of study.

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Dr. Mary Caserta's Research Profile

Steve Cook, M.D., M.P.H.

Associate Professor
Pediatrics, Center for Community Health and Prevention

Dr. Cook has a long standing history of working within the community and primary care setting to improve child health with a family centered approach. He is also a primary investigator on the “Creating Breastfeeding Friendly Communities” grant, which is an ongoing joint venture with the University of Rochester Medical Center and Monroe County Department of Health to improve breastfeeding support infrastructure through a multi-pronged approach.

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Cook Lab Website

Carl D'Angio, M.D.

Professor
Pediatrics - Neonatology, Medical Humanities and Bioethics

Dr. D'Angio's research focuses on immunizations and infections in the premature infant. He has led several large research endeavors including: The Rochester/Buffalo NICHD Neonatal Research Network Center, and several other NIH-funded grants related to infections and morbities in the premature infant.

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Dr. Carl D'Angio's Research Profile

Caitlin Dreisbach, Ph.D., R.N.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Dreisbach’s research focuses on the use of quantitative methods to make better clinical assessments during pregnancy. Her lab is interested in building tools to help clinicians make more accurate clinical assessments including the estimation of fetal weight and identification of impaired glucose tolerance during pregnancy.

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Dr. Caitlin Dreisbach's Research Profile

Steven Gill, Ph.D.

Director, Genomics Research Center; Associate Professor
Microbiology and Immunology

Dr. Gill’s research focuses on the contribution of nutrition on the infant gut microbiota and infant growth. His lab studies development of the infant gut and respiratory microbiota from birth through early life, and the impact of pre- post-natal factors on health outcomes.

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Dr. Steven Gill's Research Profile

Susan Groth, Ph.D., W.H.N.P.-B.C., F.A.A.N.P.

Associate Professor
School of Nursing, Public Health Sciences

Dr. Groth’s research is centered on obesity and obesity development in women from a biobehavioral perspective. She has a particular interest and expertise in gestational weight gain, post-pregnancy weight retention and long-term consequences of that weight on both mothers and their children.

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Dr. Susan Groth's Research Profile

Anna Jack, MD, IBCLC

Assistant Professor
Clinical Family Medicine and Pediatrics

Dr. Jack is a Family Medicine and Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine physician focused on community and implementation research to improve infrastructure and access to breastfeeding and lactation support to address lactation health inequities in our region. She is principal investigator for the development and study of a Lactation Care Manager role in primary care practices in urban Monroe County and is piloting and studying the utilization and outcomes of a Breastfeeding and Lactation Telemedicine clinic.

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Dr. Jack's, Research Profile

Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief and Founders' Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Allergy & Immunology; Associate Professor
Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Dr. Järvinen-Seppo's research program focuses on mechanisms of food allergy and development of neonatal oral tolerance to foods. Her research studies the role of breastfeeding and immunomodulatory factors in breast milk on the development of mucosal immune system and immune responses to foods in the offspring. In addition, she is interested in the role of breast milk components, such as antibodies, in protection against respiratory and diarrheal diseases in the breastfed infant.

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Dr. Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo's Research Profile

Visit the Järvinen-Seppo Lab Website

Todd Jusko, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Public Health Sciences, Environmental Medicine

Dr. Jusko’s research examines how toxicant exposure, particularly during early life, affects the immune system. As such, he is interested in breastfeeding both as a source of chemical exposure, and as a mediator of proper immune system development.

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Dr. Todd Jusko's Research Profile

B. Paige Lawrence, Ph.D.

Chair, Department of Environmental Medicine; Director, Environmental Health Science Center
Environmental Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology

Dr. Lawrence's research focus includes how the early life environment shapes the development and function of the immune system, including how substances in breast milk influence the health of the offspring.

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Dr. B. Paige Lawrence's Research Profile

Ruth Lawrence, M.D.

Professor Emerita
Pediatrics, Northumberland Trust Professorship in Pediatrics

Dr Lawrence has been educating medical professionals about providing care to breastfeeding mothers and infants for decades, and is author of the textbook: "Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession" (now in its 8th edition, 2016). Her research interests also involve providing human milk for premature infants, and she has been involved with multiple endeavors and milk banks that meet this need for NICU's across the country.

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Dr. Ruth Lawrence's Research Profile

Camille Martina, Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor
Environmental Medicine, Public Health Sciences

Dr. Martina is interested in the implications of endocrine disrupting compounds such as Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates in breast milk, and resulting impacts on the recipient infant.

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Dr. Camille Martina's Research Profile

Jeff Meyers, M.D.

Associate Professor
Pediatrics - Neonatology

Dr. Meyers is particularly interested in optimizing infant growth, studying the impact of varying growth patterns on neurodevelopmental outcomes in premature infants, and implementing evidence-based nutritional practices to improve the health of neonates.

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Dr. Jeff Meyers' Research Profile

Gloria Pryhuber, M.D.

Professor
Pediatrics - Neonatology, Environmental Medicine

Dr. Gloria Pryhuber co-led the Prematurity and Respiratory Outcomes of Program (PROP) for the University of Rochester and University at Buffalo Divisions of Neonatology from 2010 - 2015. She conducts the UR Respiratory Pathogens Research Center Prematurity, Respiratory Outcomes, Immune System and Microbiome (PRISM) study and she now leads the extension, to subject age 10 years, of the PROP and RPRC-PRISM studies as the University of Rochester Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes: Developmental Impact of NICU Exposures (ECHO DINE) cohort. She is an integral part of a national network of neonatologists, pulmonologists, epidemiologists, immunologists and molecular biologists focused to the lung health of premature infants.

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Dr. Gloria Pryhuber's Research Profile

Casey Rosen-Carole, M.D., M.P.H., M.Ed.

Assistant Professor
Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Rosen-Carole’s research focus has been in systems change for breastfeeding education and support of breastfeeding parents. Current research is in design interventions to improve the experience of lactating parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the impact of these on parental and infant stress, quality and quantity of breast milk.

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Dr. Casey Rosen-Carole's Research Profile

Kristin Scheible, M.D.

Assistant Professor
Pediatrics - Neonatology

Dr. Kristin Scheible is a clinical Neonatologist with a research program focusing on mechanisms whereby premature birth disrupts normal immune development.​ She collaborates on several large, NIH-sponsored translational studies examining how normal and abnormal T cell maturation in human infants impacts important health outcomes such as neuro- and respiratory development. Her interest in breastfeeding relates to how components of breastmilk modify infant T cell populations and effector responses.

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Dr. Kristin Scheible's Research Profile

Loralei Thornburg, M.D.

Professor
Obstetrics and Gynecology - Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Dr. Thornburg's research interest includes obesity and impact on ultrasound visualization, accuracy and birth weight prediction. Addition areas of interest include maternal diabetes, especially in the obese patient and teaching optimal care for pregnant women with critical events.

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Dr. Loralei Thornburg's Research Profile

Jin Xiao, D.D.S., Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Dentistry (SMD)

Dr. Xiao has a background of oral microbiology and translational research. Her research focuses on innovative strategies targeting treating biofilm-related infection disease. She has published eighteen peer-reviewed articles in top-tier microbiology, oral biology and dental research journals. Additionally, she won first place in the American Association for Dental Research Hatton-Competition Award, which is the most prestigious-competitive award for young investigators conducting dental/oral research in the US/Canada. She is currently interested in investigating the virulence and three-dimensional structure of oral and peri-implant multispecies biofilms.

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Dr. Jin Xiao's Research Profile