GOLD Speakers

Karen Lasby, RN MN CNeo(N)

Noriko Woods, RN, BN, IBCLC

• Country: Canada

Biography:

Karen Lasby leads a specialized nursing team in post-discharge follow-up of extremely premature infants and their families in Alberta, Canada. She has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on the topics of premature babies, neonatal oral feeding, and NICU-to-home transition, including the 2019 and 2022 GOLD Neonatal Conferences. She has been the co-investigator in several research studies examining outcomes for very low birth weight infants and has published articles on maternal work in the NICU, neonatal transition, and gastroesophageal reflux. An educator for nearly thirty years, Karen has taught, written instructional material, and produced online neonatal nursing courses. Formerly the president of the Canadian Association of Neonatal Nurses, she served on this national board for twelve years, and on the board of the Council for International Neonatal Nurses for three years. Karen’s work has been recognized by the Canadian Institute of Child Health and College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta. Karen is the co-author for the parent book, "Preemie Care: A guide to navigate the first year with your premature baby".

Noriko Woods is a member of a specialized nursing team in post-discharge follow-up of extremely premature infants and their families in Alberta, Canada. She started her Level 4 NICU RN career in Kanagawa, Japan, trained and worked for 5 years before moving to Canada. She worked 5 years as a Level 4 NICU RN in Calgary Alberta before she started her current position at Postpartum Community Health Services, as a public health nurse. She became passionate about breastfeeding with her own experience with her first child in 2009 and obtained the IBCLC in 2011. She has been working with early postpartum mothers and babies to reach their breastfeeding goals as a Lactation Consultant in her community. She is passionate about supporting families to achieve positive feeding experience with a bottle and at breasts. She has been participating with various committees such as Calgary NICU LC group to revise the breastfeeding guidebook for NICU parents, Calgary Breastfeeding Matters Group annual conference committee, GOLD Neonatal Professional Advisory Committee.