LILAC Faculty

Core Faculty

Casey Rosen-Carole, M.D., M.P.H., M.Ed.

Fellowship Director – Chief, Division of Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine

Dr. Rosen-Carole created the LILAC fellowship after being contacted by people around the world, hoping for a way to train in breastfeeding and lactation medicine without having to relocate to New York. During the COVID pandemic, it became even more apparent that long-term, virtual solutions to advanced training were needed. Dr. Rosen-Carole was honored to receive the Dean's Teaching Fellowship through the University of Rochester which provided the mentorship and support needed to develop the LILAC program. She has been pleased to partner with experts around the world who gave their generous time and expertise to provide the Lessons in Lactation – Advanced Curriculum. The name "LILAC" derives from the flower of the City of Rochester, NY, which blooms with abundance every spring. Thereby, it acknowledges the foundational work of Dr. Ruth Lawrence, a pioneer in the field of Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine.

Allison Buckingham, M.S., C.D.N., C.L.C.

Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine, Coordinator of Education and Program Evaluation

Allison Buckingham is a certified dietitian-nutritionist and doctoral candidate in Behavioral Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a master's degree in human nutrition, a master's in business administration, and a bachelor's degree in biology and nutrition. She is an assistant professor of public health at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she teaches in the MPH program. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and two children (both breastfed until they were 4!) Her dissertation is a program evaluation of Lessons in Lactation Advanced Curriculum. Research interests include breastfeeding in inherited metabolic disorders, social determinants of breastfeeding, and the development/impact of breastfeeding curriculum for clinicians.

Maria Jimena Paz, GP, IBCLC

Adjunct Professor of Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine, Teaching Assistant

Dr. María Jimena Paz is a family physician and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, who graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. She undertook a residency training program focused on social and perinatal health, which inspired her to pursue further qualifications in Primary Health Care and Community Health, and in Vocational Training for Trainers in Teaching and Research in Health Services. She was privileged to be part of the inaugural cohort of the University of Rochester's Lessons in Lactation Advanced Curriculum (LILAC) Fellowship, which reinforced her commitment to supporting breastfeeding and lactating families. Currently, she is the director of the interdisciplinary postgraduate courses "The First 1000 Days of Life" at the Argentinian Medical Association and a WHO collaborator for the FIDES network. The links between perinatal mental health, public health and breastfeeding and lactation medicine are of great interest to her, and she plans to pursue further education in these areas. She lives with her family in Spain and is very grateful for their ongoing and unfaltering support!

Anna Sadovnikova, Ph.D., IBCLC, M.P.H., M.A.

Adjunct Professor of Breastfeeding & Lactation Medicine, Research Curriculum Director

Dr. Sadovnikova, is a comparative mammary gland biologist, clinical lactation specialist, and NIH F30-funded medical student in the MD/PhD program at University of California, Davis School of Medicine. She has been a practicing IBCLC since 2018. For her PhD dissertation, Dr. Sadovnikova was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH NICHD) to study hormonal regulation of milk production, specifically the role of glucocorticoids in lactose synthesis, using different animal models. Her masters work was in public health nutrition (MPH) and Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies (MA) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she studied international policies and practices related to human donor breast milk donation. Her undergraduate work was completed at the University of California, Berkeley, in comparative literature and molecular and cell biology. Anna is a mama to a 4 year old boy (breastfed for 3+ years) and 1-year old girl (current breast milk monster!).

Administration

Aubrey Pusey

Administrative Coordinator

Aubrey_Pusey@URMC.Rochester.edu