2018 Speakers & Topics

Alice Farrow is an IBCLC, writer, speaker, and infant feeding and health equity advocate. Parent of a child born with a cleft lip and palate, Alice has worked extensively, since 2006, with parents, parent organisations, cleft teams health providers and lactation specialists in order to increase awareness of the specific challenges faced by cleft affected infants and their families and to imprve access to adequate lactation support for this community.

Currently based in Rome, Italy, Alice advocates for, and teaches regularly on, the topic of breastfeeding/chestfeeding with an oral cleft via presentations, courses, articles, booklets and handouts and supports parents and professionals wordwide via their Cleft Lip and Palate Breastfeeding website and associated online support group, and in person and distance consultations.

Amy Holmes has practiced as a pharmacist for 21 years with the last 9 years being focused in neonatal critical care at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC. She holds degrees in pharmacy from University of North Carolina (BS) as well as the University of Maryland at Baltimore (PharmD). Amy serves as the Residency Program Director for the acute care PGY1 program at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. She is active in state and national pharmacy organizations including the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

Christine Bishop is a neonatologist, bioethicist, medical educator, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. She founded and directs the Brenner Children’s Hospital Care Always ™ Neonatal/Perinatal Palliative Care Program that provides holistic care for infants with life-limiting and complex medical conditions. Dr. Bishop received her MD from The Ohio State University School of Medicine and Public Health and completed her pediatric residency and neonatology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio. She completed a Master of Arts in bioethics at the Wake Forest University Center for Bioethics, served as the lead clinical ethics consultant for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, chairs the Clinical Ethics Consultation Committee, and co-directs the undergraduate medical humanities course at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Franco A. Carnevale is a nurse, psychologist and clinical ethicist. He completed: an undergraduate nursing degree, three master's degrees (nursing, education, bioethics), and doctorate in counseling psychology at McGill University; a master’s degree in philosophy at Université de Sherbrooke and a second doctorate in moral philosophy at Université Laval. Dr. Carnevale is the founder and principal investigator for VOICE (Views On Interdisciplinary Childhood Ethics); a McGill University-based international initiative to advance knowledge and practices relating to ethical concerns in childhood. Current academic appointments include (McGill University): Full Professor, Ingram School of Nursing; Associate Member, Faculty of Medicine (Pediatrics); Adjunct Professor, Counselling Psychology; Affiliate Member, Biomedical Ethics Unit. Clinical appointments include: Associate Member, Pediatric Critical Care, Montreal Children's Hospital; Clinical Ethics Consultant, The Lighthouse, Children and Families (pediatric hospice and respite care); Clinical Ethicist, Child, Adolescent, and Family Services, Douglas Mental Health University Institute; Chair, Clinical Ethics Committee, Shriner's Hospitals for Children (Canada). Dr. Carnevale is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies (WFPICCS) and founding member of the Editorial Board of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

A leader in neonatal nursing, Mary Coughlin MS, NNP, RNC-E has pioneered the concept of trauma-informed care as a biologically relevant paradigm for hospitalized newborns, infants, and their families. An internationally recognized expert in the field of age-appropriate care, Ms. Coughlin has over 35 years of nursing experience beginning in the US Air Force Nurse Corp and culminating in her current role as President and Founder of Caring Essentials Collaborative. A published author of a myriad of manuscripts, chapters and textbooks, Ms. Coughlin has mentored close to 10,000 interdisciplinary NICU clinicians from over 14 countries to transform the experience of care for the hospitalized infant and family in crisis.

Dr. Narvey began his training in Pediatrics at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he completed a year of further training in Neonatology. This was followed by two years of Neonatal fellowship at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Afterwards he began his career as a Neonatologist in the same city and over the 6 years he spent there, his career included both clinical and administrative duties including 4 years as the Fellowship Program Director and two years as the Medical Director for a level II unit.

In late 2010 he accepted a position in Winnipeg to become the Section Head of Neonatology and continues to hold this post. In 2016 he took on the additional role of Medical Director of the Child Health Transport Team. In 2015 he became a member of the Canadian Pediatric Society's Fetus and Newborn Committee and in 2019 took over as Chair of the same and remained in this role until May 2024.

Robin Glass, MS, OTR, IBCLC practices occupational therapy at Seattle Children's Hospital in Seattle, WA. Her clinical specialty is the treatment of infants, both as hospital inpatients and outpatients with a strong focus on feeding issues. She is NDT trained and a Board Certified Lactation Consultant, with extensive national and international experience speaking about the infant feeding. Robin holds a clinical faculty appointment at the University of Washington in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. She has authored numerous journal articles as well as the book with her co-author Lynn Wolf, Feeding and Swallowing Disorders in Infancy: Assessment and Management. She was a recipient of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT) Pioneer Award in 2015.

Dr. Souvik Mitra is an Assistant Professor and neonatologist at the Division of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He completed his medical school and pediatric residency from Calcutta Medical College, India. Dr Mitra went on to complete his neonatal fellowship at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada and is currently pursuing his Masters in Clinical Epidemiology from the same institution. Cerebral oxygenation and cardiovascular physiology in premature infants are his primary clinical research interests. He also has extensive epidemiological research experience having published a number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. He has shared his research through webinars across Canada and the United States as well as through platform presentations at various international conferences. He has special expertise in targeted neonatal echocardiography and is a member of the Pan-American Hemodynamics (TnECHO) Collaborative.