The Hearts Milk Bank is the UK’s newest milk bank. As part of the <a href=”https://humanmilkfoundation.org” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Human Milk Foundation</a>, we bring a new approach to the provision of milk bank services, to provide the opportunity of being fed with human milk to every baby who could benefit.
The HMB offers equity of access to safe and assured supplies of donor human milk to hospitals and community-based clinicians for babies across London, East Anglia, the southeast of England and beyond.
As a centre of research, we are creating wide-ranging new programmes of studies into milk banking and human milk.
Our vision is to support families, researchers and breastfeeding through the wider availability of screened donor milk, and work with milk banks across the <a href=”http://www.ukamb.org” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>UK</a> to create the gold standards of safety and efficiency.
The Hearts Milk Bank is the UK’s newest milk bank and was co-founded by Dr Natalie Shenker and Gillian Weaver. Having both worked in the NHS for many years, they aim to bring a new approach to the provision of milk bank services that can break the cycle of disinvestment and rationing.
The HMB offers equity of access to assured supplies of screened donor human milk to hospitals and community-based clinicians for babies across London, the southeast, East Anglia and beyond. As a centre of research, we are working on wide-ranging new programmes of studies into milk banking and human milk. The Hearts Milk Bank works as part of the Human Milk Foundation. Donations to our charity make sure that parents can access donor milk for their children.
Dr Jim Gray has been a Consultant Microbiologist at Birmingham Children’s and Women’s Hospitals since 1995. He has research and clinical interests in the prevention and management of obstetric and neonatal infections, and has worked on several programmes with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). 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.
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.
Dr Merran Thomson is a neonatologist who for many years worked as a Consultant Neonatologist, Chief of Service for Paediatrics and Neonatology, and Clinical Lead for the North West London Perinatal Network. She now works on a range of related issues, including advising on new drugs and therapeutic discoveries working with several charities to improve the education and training of doctors and nurses in Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet countries, and continuing neonatal work.
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.
Alice Casey leads leads a portfolio of work at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta), looking at how technology is transforming communities and civic life.
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