The Hearts Milk Bank is proud to be supported by a host of leading professionals from a range of different backgrounds. These experts lend their knowledge and guidance pro bono, and we are incredibly grateful for their support.
Microbiology and Donor Screening
Dr Jim Gray has been a Consultant Microbiologist at Birmingham Children’s and Women’s Hospitals in England since 1995. Since then he has maintained research and clinical interests in the prevention and management of obstetric and neonatal infections. Jim has worked on several programmes with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); he is currently a standing member of a Rapid Clinical Guideline Updates Committee and the Diagnostic Assessment Panel, but his introduction to working with NICE was as a member of the Donor milk banks: service operation Guideline Development Group. Jim is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Hospital Infection (the official journal of the Healthcare Infection Society) and has editorial responsibilities with a number of other academic journals.
Social Enterprise and Governance
Mark Goodson has been a business advisor with Cambridge Social Ventures (part of the University of Cambridge) since its inception in 2014. During that time, he has worked with over 100 social ventures, supporting their growth and helping them make a positive impact in the world. Prior to this he spent over 30 years in technology, co-founding venture capital funded start-ups, taking on senior positions at companies such as Cambridge Silicon Radio and acting as a consultant to technology companies. He has founded a number of ventures, both commercial and social, and is also a post-graduate qualified coach and mentor.
Pharmacology
Wendy Jones was a community pharmacist and also worked in GP surgeries supporting cost effective, evidence-based prescribing. She qualified as a pharmacist prescriber. Wendy left work in 2011 to work on writing her book Breastfeeding and Medication (Routledge 2013), developing information and training material on drugs in breast milk. She also recently published Breastfeeding for Dads and Grandmas (Praeclarus Press) and Why Mothers Medication Matters (Pinter and Martin). Wendy runs a helpline service on the use of medication in breastfeeding mothers for a UK charity, responding to healthcare professionals and mothers. She has been a breastfeeding supporter for 30 years. Wendy is passionate that breastfeeding should be valued by all and that medication should not be a barrier. The importance of breast milk for vulnerable preterm infants whose mothers are unable to breastfeed, for a variety of reasons, is an extension of this. Wendy has three daughters, all breastfed and as passionate about breastfeeding as her, and three grandchildren who seem just as keen!
Neonatology
Dr Merran Thomson.
