IYCF Symposium Bios
Bethann Cottrell, Ph.D
Director Child Health and Nutrition, CARE USA
As the Director of the Child Health and Nutrition Team at CARE USA, Dr. Cottrell leads a portfolio of
USAID Child Survival projects, the CORE Group Polio Partners Partnership, the USAID Infant and Young
Child Nutrition Project, and the privately funded Window of Opportunity Program. Dr. Cottrell has a doctoral
degree in international nutrition from Michigan State University and has over 25 years of experience in
international community-based public health.
Email: bcottrell@care.org
Helene Gayle, MD, MPH
President and CEO, CARE USA
As President and CEO of CARE USA, Dr. Gayle is responsible for providing overall leadership, management
and direction to CARE.Dr. Gayle was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She received her B.A. from
Barnard College of Columbia University, New York. She received her M.D. from the University of
Pennsylvania and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gayle is board certified in Pediatrics, completing
a residency in Pediatric Medicine at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. After
completing her residency, she entered the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a training program in epidemiology, at
CDC, followed by a residency in Preventive Medicine and then remained at CDC for a career that spanned 20
years and a variety of positions. She rose through the ranks at CDC to become the first director of the Director
for the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, (NCHSTP), at that time CDC's largest Center. At
CDC, she was involved in studying problems of malnutrition in children in the United States and
internationally, evaluating and implementing child survival programs in Africa and working on HIV/AIDS
research, programs and policy. Her work on HIV/AIDS issues has focused on women, children, adolescents,
U.S. minorities and international populations. On assignment from CDC, Dr. Gayle also served as the AIDS
Coordinator and Chief of the HIV/AIDS Division for the US Agency for International Development
(USAID). She has served as a health consultant to international agencies including the World Health
Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank and UNAIDS and has worked extensively in Africa, Asia,
and the Americas. She also served as the Director of CDC's Washington Office.
Prior to assuming her current position, she was the Director of the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program
for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, responsible for research, program and policies related to
HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health issues and tuberculosis for the foundation. Dr.
Gayle has published numerous articles on public health, especially related to HIV/AIDS and has received many
awards for her scientific and public health contributions. She attained the rank of Rear Admiral (Assistant
Surgeon General) in the US Public Health Service. She is also on the boards of the Institute of Medicine and
the Council on Foreign Relations.
Email: hgayle@care.org
Rey Martorell, Ph.D
Robert W. Woodruff Professor of International Nutrition
Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Dr. Martorell is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of international nutrition at Emory University’s Rollins
School of Public Health. Prior to joining the Emory faculty, Dr. Martorell held faculty positions at Cornell
University and Stanford University. He began his career as a scientist in the Division of Human Development
at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama in Guatemala.
Dr. Martorell’s research interests are nutritional problems in developing countries, particularly maternal and
child nutrition, child growth and development, the impact of early childhood malnutrition on short- and longterm human function, micronutrient malnutrition, and the emergence of obesity and chronic diseases in
developing countries. His policy interests include global health concerns, particularly programs and policies
dealing with food and nutrition, hunger and malnutrition, and the health implications of changes in diet and
lifestyles in developing countries.
Dr. Martorell is a director of the International Nutrition Foundation, trustee and vice-president of the Pan
American Health and Education Foundation and an advisor to UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and
the World Bank. In 2002, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
where he serves on the Food and Nutrition Board. He is the past president of the Society for International
Nutrition Research and past associate editor of the Journal of Nutrition. He has received numerous honors
throughout his career including the McCollum International Lectureship and the International Nutrition Prize
from Kellogg’s and the Society for International Nutrition Research.
Email: rmart77@emory.edu
Miriam Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, IBCLC, FABM
Professor of the Practice of Public Health Director, Carolina Breastfeeding Institute, Department of
Maternal and Child Health UNC Gillings School of Public Health
Dr. Labbok is a Professor of the Practice of Public Health at UNC Gillings School of Public Health and has
been the Director of the Carolina Breastfeeding Institute (CBI) since January 2006. Previously, she served as
Senior Advisor for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care at UNICEF, served as Chief of Nutrition &
Maternal Health at USAID, Associate Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, and the Director of
Breastfeeding, IRH. She was also Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene & Public Health and
was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Tulane University.
Dr. Labbok received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She received her M.P.H. from the Tulane
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and her M.D. from Tulane Medical School. She has had nearly
35 years of research and program work on maternal/child dyad health and nutrition. She is known for the
development of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) for birthspacing, technical secretariat for the
Innocenti Declaration meetings, definitions for breastfeeding, studies of health consequences of breastfeeding
for the dyad, and for community health initiatives using operational and translational research approaches. She
has worked in more than 50 countries, and has published more than 330 chapters, published articles, papers,
and abstracts, and has been invited to hundreds of lectures and seminars.
Email: labbok@email.unc.edu
Nils Bergman, MD, MPH, Ph.D
Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Creator of Kangaroo Mother Care DVDs
Former Senior Medical Superintendent of Mowbray Maternity Center, Cape Town, South Africa
Dr. Bergman graduated from the University of Cape Town, and has worked in South Africa, Ciskei and,
Sweden, before working seven years as Medical Superintendent and District Medical Officer at Manama
Mission, Zimbabwe. Here he, together with Midwife Agneta Jurisoo, developed and implemented Kangaroo
Mother Care (KMC) for premature infants right from birth. This resulted in a five-fold improvement in
survival of Very Low Birth Weight babies.
He introduced KMC to South Africa in 1995, which became official policy for the care of prematures in the
hospitals of the Western Cape province within five years. He has given keynote addresses on KMC at
International Conferences in six continents, and published articles on a variety of subjects in medical journals.
He also served as the Senior Medical Superintendent of the Mowbray Maternity Hospital and five Midwife
Obstetric Units. Dr. Bergman continues to live and work in Cape Town, as a Consulting Public Health
Physician. He is also an honorary senior lecturer and research affiliate with the University of Cape Town. Apart
from his original degree, he holds a Diploma in Child Health, a Masters degree in Public Health, and a
Doctoral degree in Clinical Pharmacology.
Email: bergman@xsinet.co.za
Marcia Griffiths, MSc.
President, The Manoff Group
Marcia Griffiths is known for her field work, technical expertise, and innovative programming in applied
nutrition and social marketing. Her career includes over 35 years of program management and technical
assistance work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Ms. Griffiths has served as a senior advisor in
communications, social marketing, and behavior change for numerous USAID, World Bank, and developing
country government projects. She began her career with The Manoff Group 30 years ago as director of
technical assistance for the Government of Indonesia's ground-breaking Nutrition Communication and
Behavior Change Project. She later served as director of the Weaning Project, where she developed an
integrated package of child health interventions called community-based growth promotion (CBGP) that has
been adopted by over a dozen countries.
Marcia Griffith’s experience incorporating behavioral issues in program design grew into Behavior-Centered
ProgrammingSM, a standardized approach to the design process. She also pioneered Trials of Improved
Practices (TIPs), an action research methodology for "test marketing" health practices for feasibility. Ms.
Griffiths has published extensively, including the World Bank's Promoting the Growth of Children: What Works,
WHO's IMCI Nutrition Guide and Designing by Dialogue: Consultative Research for Improving Young Child Feeding. She
speaks fluent Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia.
Email: mgriffiths@manoffgroup.com
Independent Consultant
Dr. McNulty is an experienced international health professional specializing in maternal child health and
nutrition and in monitoring and evaluation. Her past work experiences include activities in Africa, Latin
America, and Central and South Asia and a faculty position at the University of Wyoming. She had ten years of
field experience managing nutrition, health, and integrated rural development programs in Latin America
before serving as Deputy Director for Child Health for CARE headquarters and later as assistant country
director for program. She then became Director of Health Programs for Mercy Corps until 2005. Since then,
she has been providing technical assistance to a variety of international organizations as a consultant. Judiann
has a Doctorate of Public Health in Health Education and International Health from Tulane and a Masters of
Science in Nutrition Education.
Email: judiannmc@yahoo.com
Mary Lung’aho, Ph.D
Special Advisor IYCF, Window of Opportunity
Dr. Lung’aho is a public health nutritionist who has specialized in infant and young child feeding in
emergencies over the past 15 years. She serves as Special Advisor for the Window of Opportunity Program.
First with the LINKAGES project, and now with CARE, Mary has been a member of Infant Feeding in
Emergencies (IFE) Core Group since its inception. Mary holds a doctoral degree in nutrition sciences and a
master’s degree in medical anthropology.
Email: mary@nutritionpolicypractice.org
Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MPH
Senior Director for Health, CARE USA
Dr. Schwartz joined CARE as the Senior Director for Health Programs in January, 2009. As Senior Director,
he oversees CARE’s multi-faceted health initiatives in maternal and child health, nutrition, sexual and
reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and other infectious diseases.
Before joining CARE, Dr. Schwartz worked for 22 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), and the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
His work at CDC included surveillance and investigation of bacterial respiratory infections; development of
CDC’s program to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance; establishment of a collaborative surveillance
and research network to investigate the impacts of new vaccines; and collaboration with the World Health
Organization on control of acute respiratory infections, immunizations, antimicrobial resistance, and integrated
management of childhood illness. At NVPO, Dr. Schwartz led pandemic influenza planning activities, and
coordinated public and stakeholder engagement around pandemic vaccination and vaccine safety research.
Dr. Schwartz is trained in pediatrics, pediatric infectious diseases, epidemiology, and public health. He is an
author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and 5 book chapters, and has served on several public
health, medical and scientific advisory committees.
Email: bschwartz@care.org