Dr. Meghan Azad is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba, where she holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease. Her research program is focused on the role of infant nutrition and the microbiome in child growth, development and resilience. Dr. Azad co-Directs the new Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) and leads the new International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium. She serves as Deputy Director of the CHILD Cohort Study, a national pregnancy cohort following 3500 children to understand how early life experiences shape lifelong health. Research in the THRiVE Discovery Lab is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Azad serves on the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation Executive Council and the joint US/Canada Human Milk Composition Initiative. She is a Fellow of the CIFAR Humans and the Microbiome Program and an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars. Dr. Azad received the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation Erlich-Koldovsky Early Career Investigator Award (2018) and the International Human Milk Genomics Mid-Career Investigator Award (2020). She was named among the WXN Canada Top 100 Most Powerful Women (2020) and Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2021).

Maria Berruezo co-founded the femtech company LactApp, one of the main Femtech companies in Spain and also in the world, together with IBCLC Alba Padró. Since 2017, LactApp has already attended to more than 19 million consultations about breastfeeding and maternity in Spanish, English and Portuguese, being present in 89% of the countries of the world with more than 625,000 users. 

She created her own communications agency at the age of 25 after studying a Public Relations & Advertising Degree. She also has a Master Degree in knowledge management. In 2010, motherhood completely changed her interests but not her initiative. She first trained to become a breastfeeding consultant at Alba Lactancia, a non-profit organisation of which Maria soon became a member of the Board of Directors. That was the seed of what is now LactApp. 

She is a lecturer at the postgraduate course in breastfeeding at Blanquerna University and is the coordinator of the LactApp Medical Congress, an international event for maternal and child health professionals.  

She has been chosen as one of the Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise by the European EUCLID Network and the Government of Spain has included her in its guide of the Women Referents of Innovative Entrepreneurship in the country.

Dr. Simone de Carvalho is a Health Education and Maternal Empowerment professor at the University of Campinas School of Medical Sciences in Brazil. She is an expert in Early Childhood Education with qualifications in the areas of Management, Supervision and Educational Guidance, Educational Psychology, Relationships between Mothers and Pediatricians, and Health Education and Maternal Empowerment. Dr. de Carvalho has 10 years of significant experience in people management, motivation, and conduting crises and routines. She received her PhD in Science: Health Education from the State University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil. 

Dr. Chang Yen-li Chain is a physician at the Curitiba City Hall Health Department in Brazil. She serves as a medical reference for the network of protection of children and adolescents at risk for violence. Dr. Yen-li Chain is the vice president of the Brazilian Association of Women Doctors and a member of the State Committee for the Prevention of Infant Mortality (CEPMI) representing the Parana Society of Pediatrics. Dr. Yen-li Chain is also a member of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Paranaense Society of Pediatrics in Brazil and served as president of the Brazilian Association of Women Doctors – Parana Society 2008 to 2009. She earned her medical degree from the Federal University of Amazonas in Amazonas, Brazil.  

Dr. María Carmen Collado earned her PhD in Biotechnology in 2005. She currently works as a Research Scientists  at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology-Spanish National Research Council (IATA-CSIC), Valencia, Spain. 

Her research work is multidisciplinary and includes microbiology, food science and nutrition areas. Her interests are focused on probiotics, microbiota and health and nutrition during pregnancy and early life period. She has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed and indexed scientific journals on the subject of microbiota, Probiotics, diet and health. She has collaborated as an author in multiple book chapters, as well as has participated in more than 100 communications to prestigious national and international conferences. She leads various national projects as well as a Project of Excellence for young researchers of the European Research Council (ERC Starting grant), the supervision of a Marie-Curie IEF-H2020 grant. She supervised 6 PhD Theses (plus 5 ongoing) and over 10 MSc Theses and several student supervisions. She was involved in external expert working groups and also, develops activities in various national and international committees for the evaluation of research projects (BBSRC, ANRS, FWO; CNRS, DCRS, FNRS UEFISCDI, BSF, etc.) as well as in specific excellence EU calls (ERC, EUROSTARTS and COST actions). She has received research awardees as ESPGHAN Young Researcher award (2015) from the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and “Scientific Young Research in Nutrition-2021” from Fundación Jesus Serra. She is involved in the Executive Committee- International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML), Spanish Society of Microbiota, Probiotics and Prebiotics (SEMiPyP). In addition, she is member of various scientific societies (SEMiPyP, ASM, ASN, ISRHML) and she chaired and co-chaired scientific and organizing committees of congresses with international relevance (FASEB, KEYSTONE, IHMC, ISHRML) as well as a Board member of “Microbiome Virtual International Forum” (MIV-F), a monthly virtual conference.

Alejandra Gutierrez holds a degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla in Mexico. Her areas of expertise include perinatal and pediatric nutrition. As a private practitioner, she helps her clients on the journey from conception to postpartum, including nursing. She is passionate about empowering parents to make informed decisions about their eating habits, thereby creating a nourishing environment for their children. 

Alejandra assists families in the implementation of Complementary Feeding for their babies, focusing on achieving adequate nutrition for their optimal physical and cognitive development as well as the formation of healthy eating habits from an early age. Alejandra is an International Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who conducts seminars and courses to educate women and their families on the benefits of breastfeeding. She supports mothers through their pregnancy and lactation journeys by providing them with tools to optimize their breastfeeding until weaning. Alejandra has been a featured speaker at international nutrition and nursing events and has also advocated for the importance of prenatal nutrition and breastfeeding on several podcasts and television shows. 

Michelle (Shelley) McGuire, Ph.D., is Director and Professor of Nutrition in the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Idaho (USA). Dr. McGuire received her BS in biology and MS in nutritional sciences from the University of Illinois and her PhD in human nutrition from Cornell University. She has a background in human physiology and nutrition, with specific expertise in maternal/infant nutrition, human milk composition, nutritional assessment, and milk and fecal microbiomes. Dr. McGuire has conducted studies related to myriad human milk components including minerals, hormones, lipids, pesticides, allergens, bacteria, and most recently SARS-CoV-2. She has overseen a variety of projects related to human nutrition and lactation funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the US Department of Agriculture, as well as a variety of industry and commodity sources. Shelley has twice served on the executive committee of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation, including secretary and treasurer, and has served on the executive board of the American Society for Nutrition. A seasoned science writer, Dr. McGuire is author of two college-level introductory nutrition textbooks and in 2018 she received the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award from the American Society for Nutrition. 

Andrea O’Reilly, PhD, is a full professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is the founder and director of The Mother Initiative (1998 – 2019), the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative (1998 – Present), and the publisher of Demeter Press (2006 – Present). Dr. O’Reilly is the co-editor/editor of more than 25 books. She has presented her research at over 100 conferences, has been a keynote speaker for more than 30 conferences, and has authored 100 articles and chapters. Her forthcoming books (2022) include "Normative Motherhood" and "Coming into Being: Mothers on Finding and Realizing Feminism." She is currently writing the monograph “Matricritics: Reading the Maternal in Post-2010 Women’s Fiction.” As well she is currently engaged in two SSHRC funded research projects: Young Mothers in Canada and The Impact of Covid-19 on Mothers, Mothering and Families. 

In 2006, Dr. O'Reilly coined the term Motherhood Studies and is internationally recognized as the founder of this academic discipline. She also has developed a new mode of feminism: matricentric feminism, which is a feminism for and about mothers. 

Dr. Kirsty Pringle is Assistant Dean Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing and a teaching/research academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Kirsty completed her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Adelaide before joining the University of Newcastle in 2008. She is a member of CIFAL Newcastle, Deputy Director of the Mothers and Babies Research Centre and Scientific Director of the largest Indigenous pregnancy through early childhood cohort worldwide (Gomeroi Gaaynggal). Kirsty’s research focusses on the developmental origins of health and disease and she is passionate about improving outcomes for mothers and their babies. Kirsty has published >60 original research articles and attracted >$3.5M in research funding.

Bernd Stahl is Associate Professor within the Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery Group at the Department of Pharmaceutical Science at the Utrecht University, Netherlands and visiting researcher at the Department of Biochemistry, Center for Biomedical Mass Spectrometry at Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, USA. Bernd is also the R&D Director of Human Milk Research & Analytical Science at Danone Nutricia Research. 

Furthermore, Bernd Stahl is currently a visiting researcher at the Department of Biochemistry, Center for Biomedical Mass Spectrometry at Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, USA. He received his PhD  in the area of analytical glycobiology at the University of Muenster, Germany. Bernd Stahl is a recipient of the Mattauch-Herzog Award for Mass Spectrometry of the German Mass Spectrometry Society (DGMS). He has a strong background in biochemical research and has been making a significant contribution to human milk science for more than 30 years. Dr. Stahl is the author and co-author of more than 100 scientific publications, reviews, and book chapters. Currently, his research focuses on understanding factors that influence and are influenced by breastfeeding and human milk, beyond nutrition. This will pave the way for the creation of innovative, specialized nutritionally or therapeutically relevant solutions. 

Bernd Stahl is a member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), American Chemical Society (ACS), Society for Glycobiology (SFG), German Biochemical Society (GBM), European Milk Bank Association (EMBA) and the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML). 

Dr. Man Sau Wong is a professor in the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, China. Her research focuses on the use of dietary factors and Chinese medicinal herbs for improving bone health and prevention of age-related diseases as well as delineating the mechanisms involved in mediating their protective effects. She currently serves as the chairperson for the Expert Group on Maternal and Child Nutrition for the Hong Kong Nutrition Association, a member of the Higher Education Review Board for the Institute of Food Technologists, and a member of the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food for the Food and Health Bureau. She has been an Editorial Board Member of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine since 2006 and an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine since 2011. Dr. Wong received her PhD in Human Nutrition and Nutritional Biology from the University of Chicago and her Bachelor of Science in Food Science from the University of Illinois.