About EABM - European Association of Breastfeeding Medicine

Board of directors

EABM is led by a group of voluntary working physicians of varying specialties from different European countries. The board decides matters of policy, direction, strategy, and governance of the organization. It meets once every month online and at least once a year physically. Each board member has a specific function.

EABM President

MD, Internist

Mónica Pina
I have a passion for sharing knowledge, especially on internal medicine and breastfeeding medicine. I hope that with the EABM we can increase the dialogue among European MDs.

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I graduated from the University of Padova in 1997. I specialized in Internal Medicine, training in the Hospital Egas Moniz, Lisbon, Portugal. When I became a mother, I realized that I had too little knowledge of breastfeeding. I realized the importance of peer-to-peer support, and became a La Leche League leader, one of the few in Portugal. But being a doctor, I realized there was dire need of medical advice in breastfeeding and that made me concentrate on the medical point of view of lactation. I started training other health professionals in the Unicef breastfeeding counseling courses. I became an Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine member in 2010. I have a passion for sharing knowledge, specially on subjects that involve both my internal medicine training and breastfeeding medicine. I also have a special interest on the humanistic and social perspectives of breastfeeding. I hope that with the European Association of Breastfeeding Medicine we can increase the dialogue among European doctors, and raise the awareness that breastfeeding is indeed something that should be present in doctors’ basic knowledge.
EABM Secretary

MD, Family Doctor

Carmela Baeza
Dr Carmela is an IBCLC since 2005. With a passion for teaching, she offers training for families and health professionals. She strongly believes MDs should participate in lactation care.

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I am a family medicine MD and bachelor´s degree in Public Health Education. In 2001, after failing at breastfeeding my first child (who had a complex cardiopathy), I realized that my medical knowledge was very lacking in this field. I decided to become an IBCLC as a way of training. I have been working in Breastfeeding Medicine since 2005, in a private practice in Madrid, Spain. I also do breastfeeding training for health care professionals and breastfeeding peer counsellors, and support the Breastfeeding-Friendly Hospital Initiative of Spain as an evaluator. I strongly believe that medical doctors should participate in lactation care, that their role is a different one from lactation consultants, and that it is very necessary. With EABM I hope to help bring unique knowledge and education for European doctors.
EABM Treasurer

MD, Pediatrician

Reet Raukas
I am a member of Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 2010. I have counseled breastfeeding parents and lectured breastfeeding to health care workers.

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I graduated from the University of Tartu as a paediatrician and for more than 30 years I have worked as a neonatologist. Since the mid-1990-ies my main field of interest has been infant and young children feeding, especially breastfeeding. I am a member of Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 2010. I have counseled breastfeeding parents and lectured breastfeeding to health care workers. I have been a member of working group to compile Estonian Nutrition Recommendations. I have written several books and articles about children’s health and feeding. I am a member of the Estonian Breastfeeding Promotion Committee.
EABM Board Member

MD, Neonatologist

Lorna McKerracher
I am a Scottish-Ghanaian Mamma and I am a Consultant Neonatologist. I believe that doctors have a specific and crucial role in supporting breastfeeding within the neonatal unit and beyond.

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I am a Scottish-Ghanaian Mamma of three children and have been a Consultant Neonatologist in Dundee since 2021. I believe that doctors have a specific and crucial role in supporting breastfeeding within the neonatal unit and beyond; it is one of the ways that we can restore physiological normality and reconnection for mothers and babies whose immediate postnatal period has been disrupted. I am currently undertaking my IBCLC training and established the NHS Tayside Breastfeeding Protection Clinic. Since April 2024 it has been my privilege to volunteer with the Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance, working with our Palestinian colleagues to support as much breastmilk feeding for mothers and babies in the region as possible, according to IYCF-E principles. I am excited to be joining the EABM board to work with and learn from colleagues across Europe; helping to raise the awareness of the importance of breastfeeding medicine as a subspecialty in its own right; and working to address the systemic racial, cultural and colonial biases that continue to make breastfeeding inaccessible for too many.
EABM Board Member

MD, General Practitioner

Sarah Brennan
General practitioner (or family doctor) with special interest in women's health and breastfeeding medicine and Lecturer in University of Galway's Medical school.

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I qualified as Dr. in 1998 for UCD, Ireland. Since then, Sarah gained membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Irish College of General Practice. She has 5 sons who were her primary teachers in Breastfeeding Medicine and Advocacy. She practices as a family Dr who specialises in women's health and breastfeeding medicine. She also is a lecturer in University of Galways med school, where she is working towards getting Breastfeeding Medicine on the curriculum. She is co-chair of the Irish branch of IBFAN called Baby Feeding Law Group Ireland who are making great strides in helping Ireland regulate the online market of all commercial Milk formula, moving towards greater legislative enactment of the Code. She is also on the Irish Baby Friendly Initiative Oversight Committee and is active on local and regional breastfeeding committees. She is collaboratively undertaking research in the Ibfant feeding health economics, Breastfeeding education and Implicit Bias in infant feeding. She was on the Irish team who recently completed Ireland's first WBTi report. She is a Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting programme facilitator. In her spare time her, she loves cold water swimming in the wilde Atlantic of North West Ireland.
EABM Board Member ICT

Medical Student

Daniela Santos
I have a passion for communication and education, and I want to help EABM achieve its goals by introducing more medical students to Breastfeeding Medicine.

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I'm a Medical student (graduating on 2026) and I want to be a Family Medicine Doctor, while also working on Public Health. I've started working with EABM on June 2024 and since then I've created and managed all EABM's social media and websites, created the visual identity of the Conference of 2025, being part of it's committee, and created the conference website. I organize EABM's webinars and in Portugal I organize workshops with Dr Mónica Pina. I currently work with ICT and I plan to involve more students across Europe in Breastfeeding Medicine, having created the Student Committee.
EABM Board Member

MD, Family Doctor

Michal Mansovsky
I practice BF Medicine in the north district of Israel and teach breastfeeding to physicians and health care workers all over Israel.

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I graduated from BGU, Israel, in 2009, and by 2013 specialized in family medicine. I have been practicing breastfeeding medicine since 2009, and received my Fellowship in BF Medicine in 2019. I was a member of the organizing committee of ABM meetings in Europe since 2017. Since 2018, I am a founding and active board member of IABM – the Israeli Association of Breastfeeding Medicine, and currently, I am secretary of the IABM board. I practice BF Medicine in the north district of Israel and teach breastfeeding to physicians and health care workers all over Israel. I am happy to be a founding member of EABM. I hope to bring more knowledge in breastfeeding medicine to physicians, and by doing so to help provide better medical support for breastfeeding dyads across Europe.
EABM Board Member ICT

MD, Family Doctor in training

Lara Tauritz Bakker
Through EABM, I hope we can connect many more doctors who are interested in breastfeeding medicine and increase research in this fascinating field.

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I graduated from Erasmus University in Rotterdam in January 2021 and am now training to become a family physician. I was inspired to go to medical school after all, when I discovered how little scientific knowledge we have to deal with breastfeeding problems while writing as a science journalist for a major medical magazine (Medisch Contact). I became a student member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine in 2014 and helped organize the European ABM conference in 2018. My master’s thesis, published in Journal of Human Lactation in 2020, focused on the prescription of domperidone by family physicians in cases of lactation insufficiency. Through EABM, I hope we can connect many more doctors who are interested in breastfeeding medicine, empower them through knowledge dissemination and increase research in the fascinating field of breastfeeding medicine.

Committees

Research

chaired by An Eerdekens (BE)

reasearch@bfmed-europe.org

Peer Support

External Communication & Advocacy

Education

chaired by Paraskevi Thomou (GR)

education@bfmed-europe.org

Conference

chaired by Sarah Brennan (IE)

conference@bfmed-europe.org

Student

chaired by Francisco Faustino (PT)

students@bfmed-europe.org

Doctors in training. Shot of a group of doctors in a meeting at a hospital

Join our network

Once you become a member you can be part of our team! Become a member today to boost your expertise in breastfeeding medicine, connect with like-minded European physicians, and collaborate on projects focused on education, research, and policy in the field of Breastfeeding Medicine. If you want to participate actively on EABM please contact us by emailing board@bfmed-europe.org.

Become a Member

On a mission to create the best breastfeeding care

Are you unsure if you want to participate? We are an European organization of physicians on a mission to promote the attainment of international breastfeeding goals, provide optimal care in Breastfeeding Medicine for parents and their children, and take actions in support of our goals. If you want to know more about us, you can explore our page and contact us: board@bfmed-europe.org.

More about us & our vision

Board of directors

Mónica Pina

Carmela Baeza

Reet Raukas

Lorna McKerracher

Sarah Brennan

Daniela Santos

Michal Mansovsky

Lara Tauritz Bakker

Committees

Research

Peer Support

External Communication & Advocacy

Education

Conference

Student

Join our network

On a mission to create the best breastfeeding care

European Association of Breastfeeding Medicine

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