Our Research Committee

The Human Milk Foundation Research Committee represents voices from across maternal care, neonatology, psychology, epidemiology, food sciences, and most crucially, the voices of parents. Read more about them below.

Research Commitee

Professor Mary Renfrew

Chair, Professor of Midwifery

Mary Renfrew FRSE, is a British midwife and academic. She graduated in nursing from the University of Edinburgh in 1975, and in midwifery from the same institution in 1978. She obtained a PhD on breastfeeding in 1982, while at the Medical Research Council’s reproductive biology unit in Edinburgh.

Professor Amy Brown

Psychologist

A psychologist by background, Amy now works in public health research specialising in research exploring early experiences of parenthood with a focus on infant feeding, mental health and normal baby behaviour. She has published widely across these topics with my research helping to inform policy and practice in the UK and internationally.

Dr Narendra Aladangady

Neonatologist

Narendra Aladangady currently works at the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. Narendra does research in Neonatal Medicine. Their current projects are ‘Gut perfusion and injury in preterm infants’ and Parent Communication.

Dr Luisa Zuccolo

Epidemiologist

Luisa is a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology at the University of Bristol, where she teaches genomic and molecular epidemiology to Undergraduate and Postgraduate students. She leads research in population health science, researching the role of prenatal exposures on child development, mainly prenatal alcohol exposure. Luisa is an expert in quantitative analytical strategies and methods to improve our understanding of the causes of health and disease.

Dr Hamid Ghoddusi

Molecular biologist

Dr Hamid Ghoddusi is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in food science and microbiology. He is also Head of the Microbiology Research Unit (MRU) and course leader for Food Science – MSc and Food Science MRes.

Katherine Fowler

Milk donor

Dr Katherine Fowler is a Hearts Milk Bank donor and mum of 2. She donated milk whilst feeding her youngest until he was 18 months old. Katherine is also a research scientist working in the field of cancer research. As a mum who received lots of support to breastfeed, and as a researcher, Katherine is interested in the science behind human milk and how research can help mothers to breastfeed and families to access human milk.