Faculty

Philip O. Anderson, PharmD, FCSHP, FASHP

Affiliate Clinical Professor, Division of Clinical Pharmacy

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Anderson's expertise is in the use of medications during breastfeeding. Dr. Anderson developed and continues to maintain the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Breastfeeding Database, LactMed. 

Gretchen Bandoli, PhD

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Health, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Bandoli is a perinatal epidemiologist and pharmacoepidemiologist, studying maternal chronic conditions and medication use during pregnancy and lactation. Dr. Bandoli is also interested in substances used during pregnancy and lactation, particularly alcohol and cannabis.

Lars Bode, PhD

Professor, Division of Neonatology and Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics

Larsson-Rosenquist Endowed Chair of Collaborative Human Milk Research

Founding Director, Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of research Excellence (MOMI CORE)

University of California, San Diego

The Bode lab is dedicated to research on breastfeeding and human milk in general and Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) in particular. The group's main objectives are to elucidate (i) how milk components are synthesized in the mother’s mammary gland, (ii) how milk composition is affected by external factors such as nutrition, pathogens, or medications, (iii) how milk components affect immediate as well as long-term health and development of infants and mothers, and (iv) how they can serve as natural templates for the development of preventatives, therapeutics, and diagnostics for people of all ages.

Eyla Boies, MD, FAAP, FABM

Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Boies is an academic general pediatrician with an expertise in assisting mothers and their infants with breastfeeding challenges as well as teaching medical students and residents about breastfeeding and lactation. Dr. Boies started the Premature Infant Nutrition Clinic in 2008 and continues to serve as medical director. Dr. Boies is a co-author of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s protocol on Breastfeeding the Late Preterm and Early Term Infant.

Itay Budin, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Department of Bioengineering

University of California, San Diego

The Budin lab investigates lipid chemistry and membrane biophysics across a wide range of systems, including the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) that surrounds fat globules in human milk.

Carrie L. Byington, MD

Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine

University of California, San Diego & University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Byington is a pediatric infectious diseases physician with an interest in respiratory infections in infants and children. Dr. Byington is interested in better understanding the role of human milk as a protective factor for infants in situations where either no vaccine exists or in those who are too young to be immunized for specific infections.

Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH

Division Chief Environmental Science and Health, Department of Pediatrics, and Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science 

Associate Director of the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, School of Medicine

University of California, San Diego

Hiutung Chu, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology

University of California, San Diego

The Chu lab is dedicated to understanding how commensal bacteria promote immune responses in the mammalian gut. This includes the complex interactions between the microbiota, host immunity, and host-derived glycans such as human milk oligosaccharides and other bioactives in the developing infant gut.

Alan J. Daly, PhD

Professor and Director of Educational Leadership Doctoral Programs, Department of Education Studies

School of Social Sciences

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Daly's work focuses on the role of social networks in online and offline spaces and the role of those networks on consequences of interest. Dr. Daly has been using the tools of the social sciences and network analysis in social media settings to better understand the flow of information and misinformation related to human milk and lactation. In addition, Dr. Daly's work examines the role of social networks in the movement of knowledge and resources related to human milk and lactation and its impact on human milk and lactation education.

Pieter C. Dorrestein, PhD

Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Department of Pediatrics

Director, Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center

Co-Director, Institute for Metabolomics Medicine

Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

The Dorrestein lab has been pioneering the development of mass spectrometry methods to study relationships between diet and health, drugs and health, and to understand the chemical ecological crosstalk between microorganisms, including host interactions. The lab has introduced concepts such as molecular networking, microbial imaging mass spectrometry, 3D cartography, native spray metabolomics to discover metal small molecule interactions, metadata driven metabolomics, ion identity based molecular networking, and reverse metabolomics. The untargeted metabolomics knowledgebase and analysis ecosystem GNPS and its associated tools are now accessed more than 450,000 times a month. These technologies are being widely used for agricultural, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications, and are currently also applied to human milk.

Alessandra Franco, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, Division of Allergy Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

The Franco lab focuses on human T cell recognition with emphasis on the pathogenic role of T cells in inflammatory conditions, T cell responses to vaccines, antigen presentation to T cells and T cell-B cell cooperation. Human milk transfers to the baby not only nutrients and humoral immunity (antibodies) but also innate and adaptive immune cells. The scope of the Franco lab is to define the mother/baby immunological micro-chimera via passive transfer of T cells during lactation.

James Friend, PhD

Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering

Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine

Affiliate Professor of Bioengineering

Medically Advanced Devices Lab

Co-Director, Center for Medical Device Engineering and Biomechanics

University of California, San Diego

The Friend lab produces devices to measure infant suckling during breastfeeding targeted at the outpatient clinic. The aim is to transform this practice from a subjective experience based on indirect data such as perceived suckling on the clinician's finger and baby weight to an objective diagnosis based on suckling vacuum that is directly correlated to breastfeeding success.

Jack A. Gilbert, PhD

Professor of Pediatrics, Biology Section Head Professor Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Director of UC San Diego Microbiome Core, Director for UC San Diego Microbiome and Metagenomics Center

University of California, San Diego

The Gilbert lab works on identifying microbes and microbial metabolism that are linked to various health and disease states in animals and humans, with a focus on immunological, neurological and digestive diseases and health states. Human milk is a critical feature of human nutrition, and one as with all diets, mediated by gut microbial metabolism; understanding how this critical dietary resource influences human develop has wide reaching implications for all Dr Gilbert’s research questions.

Tara J. Glenn, MD

Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology

Co-Director of Quality, Division of Neonatology

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Glenn's focus on human milk involves quality improvement initiatives aimed at increasing provision of human milk, specifically mother's own milk, for infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. The benefits for this vulnerable population are vast and this population represents unique challenges to breastfeeding. Her previous work focused on increasing infants receiving a first feed of mother’s own milk. Currently, Dr. Glenn is working to increase human milk at discharge with a focus on establishment of supply and direct breastfeeding.

Philip Gordts, PhD

Assistant Professor, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine

University of California, San Diego

The Gordts lab is interested in evaluating the impact of nutritional components and bioactives, such as human milk oligosaccharide, on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Specifically, the lab focuses on studying the influence of dietary glycans and lipids on lipoprotein metabolism and low-grad diet-induced inflammation in the liver, adipose tissue, and heart.

Drew Hall, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Affiliate Professor, Department of Bioengineering

University of California, San Diego

The Hall lab develops biosensors that enable point-of-care, sample-to-answer quantitative measurements of human milk oligosaccharides and other human milk bioactives.

Shannon Kim, MD, MPH

Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Academic General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Kim is a general pediatrician who provides lactation support and counseling to help breastfeeding families achieve their infant and toddler feeding goals.

Rob Knight, PhD

Wolfe Family Endowed Chair in Microbiome Research

Rady Children's Hospital San Diego

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, and Computer Science and Engineering

Director, Center for Microbiome Innovation

University of California, San Diego

The Knight lab characterizes the human microbiome and the impact of human milk on its development, develops low-biomass sequencing protocols that are suitable for studying microbes in human milk and other difficult to sequence habitats.

Henry C. Lee, MD

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Lee studies of the benefits of human milk for preterm infants in the NICU across the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative, a network of more than 130 NICUs. He has worked on implementation and evaluation of quality improvement in order to improve uptake of human milk use and studies disparities in access to human milk across vulnerable populations.

Michelle Leff, MD, IBCLC, FAAP

Professor of Pediatrics

Newborn Hospitalist/General Pediatrician

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Leff works clinically in Breastfeeding Medicine and is involved with various research projects including medications effects on human milk, assessment of infant suck, and mechanisms for improving breastfeeding success.

Sandra L. Leibel, MD, MS

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Leibel's interest in human milk stem from the patient population she cares for primarily: preterm infants. Their prematurity delays breastfeeding, and they rely on a nasogastric tube for milk feeds which may impact their microbiome and metabolome. Dr. Leibel is part of a quality improvement team supporting early exposure to the breast in preterm infants (called WeeNuzzle) with the aim to increase human milk at discharge for preterm infants. Dr. Leibel also studies changes in the oral and stool microbiome and metabolome of the preterm infant along with the maternal human milk microbiome and metabolome before and after the initiation of oral feeds.

Sydney Leibel, MD, MPH

Associate Professor, Division of Allergy/Immunology, Department of Pediatrics

Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Leibel is interested in early life exposures and the development of atopic conditions particularly in vulnerable populations. Dr. Leibel is involved in research that looks at the effects of human milk on the human microbiome and metabolome during a "critical window" of immune development during infancy in preterm and term infants.

Nathan E. Lewis, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Bioengineering

University of California, San Diego

The Lewis lab deploys and develops systems biology approaches to study the synthesis and biological functions of human milk oligosaccharides and lipids.

George Y. Liu, MD, PhD

Professor and Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

The Liu lab is interested in the beneficial role of human milk on infant gut microbiome and immune development.

Christopher Longhurst, MD, MS

Clinical Professor of Pediatrics & Biomedical Informatics

Associate Dean & Chief  Medical Officer

University of California, San Diego

As a practicing pediatrician in the newborn nursery and a founding advisory board member of the UC Health Milk Bank, Dr. Longhurst's interests lie in improving operational efficiency and reducing costs of donor milk through innovation, and disseminating our learning through scholarship.

Christian M. Metallo, PhD

Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Adjunct Professor, Department of Bioengineering

University of California, San Diego

The Metallo lab is interested in understanding how amino acid and lipid diversity in human milk correlate with disease states in mother and child. The lab is also interested in elucidating the cellular functions of glycolipids abundant in human milk.

Jeremiah Momper, PharmD, PhD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

The Momper lab works on quantitative determination of drugs and metabolites in human milk using mass spectrometry as well as on pharmacokinetic modeling and simulation to predict drug exposures in breastfed infants.

Victor Nizet, MD

Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair for Basic Research, Department of Pediatrics

Distinguished Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

Amy L. Non, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology

University of California, San Diego

Research in the Non lab broadly focuses on biological pathways through which early life adversities can become embedded to affect health throughout the life course. Human milk is a key source of nutrition for infants, but also contains many understudied molecules, such as miRNAs, that shift over lactation and in response to changes in maternal and infant environments. The Non lab is interested in the dynamics of the miRNA content within milk-derived exosomes over time and in relation to maternal psychosocial factors, including stress, anxiety, and depression. The ultimate goal is to understand how these miRNAs within milk exosomes are affected by maternal health, and may send signals to the infant that can alter infant health and development.

Anthony J. O’Donoghue, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

The O'Donoghue lab uses enzyme assays, peptidomics, proteomics and imaging agents to uncover the functional role of proteases in human milk.

Pia S. Pannaraj, MD, MPH

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Pannaraj is interested in the role of human milk immune factors in the protection of infants against infectious diseases and on early life immune development.

Shika Ramanan, PhD

Assistant Professor

Salk Institute of Biological Studies

The Ramanan lab studies how the maternal immune system changes during pregnancy and lactation and affects the health of babies. The lab is particularly interested in how factors in human milk can influence offspring immunity for multiple generations.

Fabian Rivera-Chávez, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Molecular Biology
University of California, San Diego

The Rivera-Chavez lab is using animal models to examine the molecular mechanisms by which human milk components protect infants from diarrheal diseases caused by bacterial pathogens.

Piper Sandel, MD, MPH, IBCLC, FAAP

Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Academic General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Sandel is a pediatrician and IBCLC. Within her pediatric primary care practice, Dr. Sandel provides breastfeeding support through lactation visits to help breastfeeding parents meet their infant feeding goals.

Vanessa P. Scott, MD, MS

Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Scott's work focuses on producing easy-to-use, cost-effective devices that objectively measure infant suckling to help improve breastfeeding outcomes in the clinical setting.

Richard Silva, MD

Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Academic General Pediatrics, Newborn Medicine, Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

As a doctor caring for newborns and their families, one of the most important jobs Dr. Silva does is to make sure infants receive proper nutrition, which when possible consists of human milk. In addition, one of Dr. Silva's passions is to increase opportunities to those underrepresented in medicine, which includes both the health care provider as well as the patients we care for.

Lisa Stellwagen, MD, FAAP

Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

Executive Director, University of California Health Milk Bank

Dr. Lisa Stellwagen is a pediatrician who has been interested in breastfeeding and human milk for many years. At UC San Diego Health she led the team that resulted in the 2006 Baby Friendly Hospital certification and in 2009; worked on the development of the Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition (SPIN) program. In 2020, Dr. Stellwagen launched the UC Health Milk Bank and serves as the Executive and Medical Director.

Dr. Stellwagen's dream is that we help every family meet their breastmilk feeding goals, and that we achieve universal access to high quality pasteurized donor human milk in the NICU.

Adriana Tremoulet, MD, MAS

Professor of Pediatrics

Associate Director, Kawasaki Disease Research Center

University of California, San Diego

Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego

Dr. Tremoulet is the contact PI for UC San Diego’s Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Center of Excellence. This project, entitled “Optimization of Antibiotics in Mothers and Their Breastfed Infants Using Pharmacomicrobiomic and Metabolomic Analyses” brings together a team of highly experienced and proven collaborative investigators with leadership roles in maternal and pediatric clinical pharmacology, fundamental research methods and technologies.

Shirley M. Tsunoda, PharmD

Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California, San Diego

The Tsunoda group focuses on factors influencing the variability of drug metabolism including pharmacomicrobiomics – the intersection of the gut microbiome with drug biotransformation. The group utilizes untargeted and targeted metabolomics and microbiome analysis to investigate how drugs move from mother to infant including through human milk and skin-to-skin contact and the impact on the development of the infant microbiome. The group is also interested in understanding how drugs impact the composition of human milk and ultimately how this may affect infant development.

Robert H. Tukey, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology

Director, UC San Diego Superfund Research Center

University of California, San Diego

The Tukey group has been interested in the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the early signs of Pediatric NAFLD. Along with nutritional imbalance, they have discovered and are continuing to investigate that selective ubiquitous environmental toxicants such as triclosan and arsenic can accumulate in human milk and be delivered through lactation to newborns. During early development and rapid growth, lactational delivery of toxicants can directly induce early signs of Pediatric NAFLD. The underlying mechanisms leading to NAFLD/NASH are being investigated. In addition, the Tukey lab has developed novel animal models that develop severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in neonates. These mice are being studied to examine the importance of human milk and elevated serum bilirubinemia levels to key in on mechanisms that lead to necrotizing enterocolitis.

Yvonne E. Vaucher, MD, MPH

Clinical Professor, Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego

As a neonatologist, Dr. Voucher's interest is the effect of preterm infant human milk intake on neonatal disease and longterm neurodevelopmental outcome.

Erin Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP, IBCLC, BCS-S

Speech-language pathologist, Infant feeding disorders specialist, Board certified swallowing disorders specialist

Center for Voice and Swallowing, Department of Otolaryngology

University of California, San Diego

The multidisciplinary team of feeding therapists, physicians and engineers is addressing an unmet clinical need for widespread low-cost infant sucking quantification to improve breastfeeding medicine intervention accuracy and efficiency. The group seeks to ease latching and milk transfer difficulty within the initial month of life as a means of preserving long-term breastfeeding.

Alison Wolf, CPNP-PC, IBCLC

Associate Director of the UC Health Milk Bank

Nurse Practitioner for UC San Diego Health Newborn Service team

Executive Board Member of the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition (SDCBC)

Alison Wolf is passionate about creating a strong, healthy, equitable community that encourages human milk feeds for all babies and supports parents through their human milk journey in whatever form it takes. Her positions at the UC Health Milk Bank, Newborn Service team, and SDCBC foster a relationship with parents and the community and her 25 years nursing experience and board certification as a Lactation Consultant help her reach these goals.

Karsten Zengler, PhD

Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

University of California, San Diego