Julia Muzzy Williamson, PharmD, BCPPS, BCNSP, C-ELBW, is an assistant professor of practice at North Dakota State University and a pediatric clinical pharmacist currently practicing in the neonatal intensive care unit at Sanford Health in Fargo. At NDSU, she instructs students in the Doctor of Pharmacy program on topics including nutrition, pediatrics, and women’s health. She also mentors pharmacy students in research projects focused on breastfeeding and clinical practice in the NICU. Her practice in the NICU focuses on nutrition in the smallest patients including management of complex patients with short gut, parenteral nutrition dependence and complications, and micronutrient management. Dr. Muzzy is currently dual board certified as a Pediatric Pharmacotherapy Specialist and Nutrition Support Pharmacist.

Alissa Bobek, MS, CCC-SLP, CNT is a medical speech-language pathologist with 17 years of experience serving complex patients in the acute care and ICU settings. She earned her BS in speech-language and hearing sciences from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and her MS in speech-language pathology from Purdue University. Alissa started her career working with adult patients and quickly discovered her passion for dysphagia evaluation and treatment in the acute care setting. She later trained to transition to the neonatal ICU and has worked in the NICU since 2011. Alissa is currently a senior speech-language pathologist and certified neonatal therapist (CNT) in the Level IV NICU at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, TX. She is passionate about neuroprotective care, supporting breastfeeding in premature and medically complex infants, empowering parents and caregivers, and mentoring other SLPs.

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Kendra Shelby, IBCLC, CLC, is an early childhood educator who fell in love with the art of breastfeeding after having her first child. She was the first in three generations to breastfeed, little did she know this would change the pattern of feeding infants for generations to come. She is a proud mother of three children, who all came with a set of breastfeeding challenges. She has breastfed late preterm infants, tongue tied children, and slow weight gain children. She is a board-certified lactation consultant, childbirth educator, and certified lactation counselor, and the host of Spilling the Milk, a parenting podcast in the Chicago area that covers topics on prenatal, postpartum, lactation and much more.

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Dr. Humphries is a Board-Certified Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP). She has over 20 years of experience that includes registered nurse in the Burns and Trauma Unit and Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UAB, SICU at Walker Baptist Medical Center, and Psychiatric Unit at Montclair Baptist. She found her calling in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and furthered her career as an advanced practice nurse practitioner. She currently works at DCH Northport Medical Center in the NICU. In addition, Dr. Humphries plans to expand her career to include education and leadership. Dr. Humphries graduated from Bevill State Community College with an Associate degree in Nursing (ADN) in 2001, received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) from the University of North Alabama in 2011, her Master of Science in Nursing degree (MSN) in the NNP tract at the University of Alabama of Birmingham (UAB) in 2014 and her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) and Nursing Education Certification at UAB in 2019. She was recently awarded the Kim Noland Spirit Award from the Florida Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (FANNP). Additionally, she received two scholarships from FANNP while in graduate school. She published a literature review titled Perinatal Palliative Care in the FANNP newsletter in 2018 and a peer-reviewed article in the Alabama Nurse titled Early Placement of PICC Lines and Early Removal of UVC to Reduce CLABSIs in the NICU in 2019. She holds memberships with ASNA, FANNP, and AAP. In 2018, she served as President Elect of District 2 in the Alabama State Nurses Association (ASNA) and then President of the district in 2019-2021. Dr. Humphries currently serves as the Vice President at the state level for ASNA. Dr. Humphries is chair of the Research and Poster committee for FANNP and recently lectured on a Neonatal Pharmacology in the FANNP 2021 conference.

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Christine Perez, PhD, BSN, RN, CEIM, is an experienced clinical leader with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital healthcare industry. With over two decades in neonatal nursing, she is highly skilled in innovation development, neonatal nursing, infant massage, neonatal intensive care, and maternal-child nursing. She is a published researcher and active in public health policy with a strong emphasis on maternal child health neonatal care, holding PhD in public health specializing in community health and education.

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Kristin Horwath, PT, DPT, CNT, NTMTC, is a pediatric physical therapist, certified neonatal therapist, and Neonatal Touch and Massage certified. Kristin has worked in a variety of settings including acute care, outpatient pediatric rehabilitation, and NICU. Kristin’s work in the NICU centered around leading program development on cranial molding, advocating and educating staff on the role of rehab in the NICU from admission to discharge, and collaborating on the development of the chronic BPD unit within the NICU, advocating for the tiniest patients that lived in the NICU for weeks to months. She presented and advocated for developmentally appropriate care in the NICU, involving a multidisciplinary approach and team effort promoting more optimal developmental outcomes. Kristin specializes in treating infants and has a passion for treating babies with a proactive approach, promoting optimal gross motor skills through intentional positioning and handling and prevention and treatment of torticollis, plagiocephaly, and body compensations associated with feeding difficulties.

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Jennifer Ainsworth, OTR/L, NTMTC, is a pediatric occupational therapist and Neonatal Touch and Massage certified. Jenn has cared for patients in a variety of settings throughout her career, including outpatient pediatric rehabilitation, inpatient rehabilitation and the NICU. Jenn specializes in pre-feeding, initiating po feeds and progressing through the stages of feeding with emphasis on providing education on feeding and development to moms. She has extensive training and experience in feeding difficulties from neonates through childhood. Jenn has attended neurodevelopmental treatment courses for handling and facilitation of typical motor patterns and makes the connection as to how motor patterns relate to successful feeding experience for both mom and infants. She strongly believes in the power of intentional touch and believes that feeding is best when worked on from the foundation of movement patterns and the innate developmental sucking pattern as it relates to feeding. She is passionate about empowering and educating moms so they can enjoy each stage of motherhood!

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Maricel Maxey, MSN, APRN, NNP-BC, earned her MSN from Vanderbilt University and BSN from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. She has been practicing as a neonatal nurse practitioner for 17 + years. She is currently an Advanced Practice Team lead in the Neonatal ICU at Parkland Hospital. She also is a UT Southwestern NNP at Children's Health Level 4 NICU and Clements University Hospital. She is the pediatric residency liaison between Children's Health and Parkland Hospital. She is an active member of the NeuroNICU team, and holds house wide committee positions (Peer Review, Nurse Practice Council and Unit Based Council Collaborative) at Parkland. Maricel actively assists in neonatal research studies.

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Shannon Tinkler, MSN, CNS, RNC-NIC, is a neonatology educator for the Neonatal Special Services, at Sutter Health, California Pacific Medical Center. She has been a neonatal nurse for 18 years. Before joining the NSS, she was the Clinical Nurse Specialist and Neuro NICU educator at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, focusing on training the nursing staff in the care of the newborn brain. Shannon is passionate about delivering the highest quality of care to the tiny (and not so tiny) patients in the NICU, as well as educating nurses and practitioners on delivering evidence-based care.

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Benjamin Courchia, MD is a neonatal intensive care physician working in Miami, Florida. He is the director of neonatal innovation at Envision Health and HCA University Hospital. He is actively involved in the development and implementation of new technologies to improve the care of critically ill neonates. He is also the director of the chronic lung disease program. He is an adjunct faculty of medicine at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Courchia also co-hosts, with Dr. Daphna Yasova Barbeau, a weekly podcast focusing on neonatal care called The Incubator.

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Cheryl Bird, DNP, NNP-BC, is an experienced neonatal nurse practitioner who has been in the NICU care environment for over 15 years. In her current role, she collaborates with an interdisciplinary team to provide medical care of sick and premature infants in a 52-bed level III NICU. Her experience includes attending high-risk deliveries, providing resuscitative care to term and preterm infants, and performing a variety of skills, including endotracheal intubation; placement of central lines; needle thoracentesis; lumbar punctures; venous and arterial lab draws. She also has experience as a transport nurse, ensuring the safe transport of critically ill infants from referring facilities.

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Stephanie Abbu, DNP, RN, CNML, is Manager for Neonatal Services at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. As a second career nurse, she has 18 years of healthcare experience as a registered nurse, assistant manager, business coordinator, and manager. Dr. Abbu is a national speaker on neonatal care, nursing research, nursing practice and professionalism, mentoring, leadership, and family and patient engagement. As a member of the TN Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative for the past decade, she is a nurse leader devoted to improving the outcomes of mothers and babies.

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Michelle has been a respiratory therapist since June 2000. She started working in a Level III Neonatal ICU six months into her career. In 2005, Michelle obtained a Neonatal Pediatric Specialty certification and transferred to the Sacramento Regional Neonatal Respiratory Care Specialist. Michelle held this title for almost 17 years. In 2021 Michelle received her Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy from Boise State University. Michelle started teaching the neonatal/pediatric lecture and laboratory course at the American River Respiratory Care Program in 2017. Michelle has taught and created programs for various training centers and hospitals for the Neonatal Resuscitation Program and STABLE program for approximately 20 years. Michelle is currently working as the Respiratory Supervisor and Educator at Mercy General Hospital.

Mel Cook, MSN, RNC-NIC, C-ELBW, PHN, DNP-c, has been a registered nurse for over 9 years and most recently served in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) while obtaining a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, certifications in Neonatal Intensive Care (RNC-NIC) and extremely low birth weight (C-ELBW) infants and becoming a Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) Instructor. She is skilled at stabilizing critically ill neonates through collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, while managing all physical, psychosocial, and medicinal aspects of the neonate’s care. Additionally, she has a keen eye for process improvement and is committed to supporting interdisciplinary health care teams, enhancing the quality of care for neonates and their families in the NICU. This is augmented through pursual of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, where she is refining her ability to evaluate and disseminate solid research evidence to enhance clinical environments, therein promoting safe, cost-effective, and patient-centered care.

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Karen Pryor, PhD, PT, DPT, CH, CFPS, has a doctorate in physical therapy and has practiced for 40 years in the field. Dr. Pryor is the owner of Health Sphere Wellness Center, an integrative therapy clinic in Nashville, Tennessee. Involved with early intervention in the birth-three population for over 30 years, she has developed neuroplasticity techniques that are used in a wide variety of settings, including homes, childcare centers, and school systems, to advanced pediatric therapy programs. Dr. Pryor serves on several boards, including the Leadership Interagency Council for Early Intervention (2014-2019), a position to which she was appointed by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. In 2010, she received the President's Volunteer Service Award for her contributions to the advanced treatment of children from President Barack Obama. In addition to her work with children, Dr. Pryor has served as an adjunct professor at the Tennessee State University Occupational Therapy Assistant program. She is a clinical instructor for several universities and colleges. With her years of experience and passion for complete wellness, Dr. Pryor advances a more expansive view of how to integrate therapy throughout the lifespan by using neuroplasticity techniques.

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