Baby Café USA Executive Leadership
Lisa Russell Miller, D.HSc.,IBCLC
Executive Director
Lisa Miller, D.HSc, IBCLC earned her Doctor of Health Sciences from Campbell University School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences and is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. A former WIC nutritionist and hospital-based lactation consultant, her work centers on community-based breastfeeding support, research, and systems change. Dr. Miller regularly speaks to national and international audiences about the Baby Café model and the role of community-based support in advancing equity. [email protected]
Lucia Jenkins RN, IBCLC, RLC
Founder and Chief Operations Officer
Lucia has been an IBCLC for 30 years, prior to which she practiced for six years as a home-birth midwife. She works actively as a Lactation Consultant in her private consulting practice, North Shore Lactation, which has served the Greater Boston community for the past 18 years. She is the originator of the first USA Baby Café, where she continues to support mother-baby dyads from pregnancy to weaning. She is a member of local and national lactation associations, and a voting member of the USBC. Lucia lectures at conferences and state coalitions about Baby Cafés, and the process of starting them. She delights in being the mother of five grown children and 14 grandchildren. [email protected]
Board of Directors
Katie Barnes, PhD
Board Member
Katie earned her doctorate in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. After experiencing difficulty nursing her first child, Katie sought out help from the Baby Café and went on to have a wonderful and very successful nursing relationship. Katie is now a full-time mom and lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three children.
Daniel Lieber
Board Member
Daniel is an experienced board member, entrepreneur, and technologist. He is the founder of Innovative Ideas Unlimited, Inc., a software company, and supports a variety of non-profit groups. His business acumen and detailed understanding of various industries are helpful in his role as a Baby Café USA board member. Mr. Lieber gladly devotes his time towards improving the community, including being elected to the local public school board. Daniel resides in Wakefield, Mass. with his wife, two daughters, and loving dog. Since seeing first-hand the benefits of timely professional lactation support for his wife with each daughter, he has become an advocate for educating people about this beautiful maternal capability and the need for local support.
Regina Maria Roig-Romero MRH, IBCLC
Board Member, Chair
Regina Maria Roig-Romero MPH, IBCLC, is the Program Manager of Prenatal & Lactation Services at Champions for Children, a nonprofit organization in Tampa, Florida dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Regina has been an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 1996. She spent the first 20 years of her lactation career working as an IBCLC for the WIC program in Miami, Florida. She earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Florida International University in 2013 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health. Regina has previously enjoyed serving in other leadership positions in her field. She was a member of the Breastfeeding Promotion Committee of the National WIC Association for four years and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) for six years, the latter of which included a term as Chair of the IBLCE Board.
Paige Hall Smith MSPH, PhD
Board Member
Board Member
Paige Hall Smith is a professor of Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received her MPH and doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill. She joined PHE in 1995 and is currently in phased retirement, working (mostly online) during the spring semester. She was the Linda Arnold Carlisle Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies for 2004-2006, served as director of UNCG’s Center for Women’s Health and Wellness from 2004-2020, and was the founder and director of the Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference from 2004-2019. Her research program focused on breastfeeding interventions and the links between infant feeding and gender, and various areas of gender violence including conceptualization and measurement of domestic violence (the Women’s Experience with Battering Scale), health care response to domestic violence, and prevalence and risk factors for victimization and perpetration of sexual violence, building community responses to LGBTQ partner violence. She enjoys her “retirement” times by traveling, learning Spanish, and spending more time with family, friends and her community.
Liat Shklarski, PhD, LCSW
Board Member
Board Member
Dr. Liat Shklarski is an Assistant Professor at The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, New York. Her research focuses on women's mental health during the postpartum period, aiming to improve access to mental health care for new mothers. Dr. Shklarski collaborates with a range of professionals, including doulas, lactation support providers, obstetricians, and pediatricians, to ensure comprehensive support for postpartum women. Her interdisciplinary work emphasizes a holistic approach to maternal mental health. In addition to her research, Dr. Shklarski is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in New York City.
Tom Jenkins
Treasurer
Tom is retired from his former job as senior vice president and director of a consulting engineering firm, and now fills his time as volunteer treasurer for three non-profit organizations; Wakefield Food Pantry, At Home and Afar, and Baby Cafe USA. Tom lives with his wife of 40 years, Lucia, in Wakefield, MA and enjoys cooking, hiking with their dog, , working on never ending home maintenance and escaping to the Jenkins’ family compound in Fayette, Maine. He also tries to visit and spend time with his 5 children and 14 grandchildren, all within an hour from the family homestead.
