Speaker Bios
Dr Nils Bergman MD calls himself a Public Health Physician, and currently promotes and researches skin-to-skin contact on a fulltime basis.
He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a research affiliate of the South African Medical Research Council.
Dr. Bergman was born in Sweden and raised in Zimbabwe, where he also later worked as a mission doctor. He received his medical degree (MB ChB) at the University of Cape Town, and later a Masters in Public Health at the University of the Western Cape. During his years in Zimbabwe he completed a doctoral dissertation (MD, equivalent to PhD) on scorpion stings. He has worked in rural South Africa, Zimbabwe and Sweden, and his last posting was Senior Medical Superintendent of Mowbray Maternity Hospital in Cape Town, overseeing 18000 births per year.
He enjoys sharing the wildlife of Africa with his wife and three youngsters.
Suzanne Smith CPM, LDEM
Suzanne has her BA in Human Biology from Stanford. She also has her BA and MS in Midwifery from Midwives College of Utah. She started her practice in 1994. She was president of the Utah Midwives Association in 2000 when it was discovered the work these midwives had been doing had been rendered, though a legislative accident, illegal. With two other midwives, she wrote and lobbied for the current license law for direct-entry midwives, which passed in 2005 and became the first licensed direct-entry midwife in Utah 2006. With a long-standing interest in birth centers, she looked at the laws governing them in Utah, and found them impossible. She attempted to change the law, but was unsuccessful, but along the way discovered an exemption in the law that allowed her to open the first Bella Natal Birthing Suites in 2007, and a second one in 2011. There are now 10 centers like Bella in the state, run by direct-entry midwives, certified nurse-midwives, and combinations of the two.
Karin Hardman IBCLC
UBC President
Karin is the current president of Utah Breastfeeding Coalition. She has been an LLL leader since August of 2004. She has recently achieved the IBCLC credential in October 2011. Karin enjoys the communication part of helping mothers breastfeed, so she became a Communication Skills Instructor for LLL of Utah in 2008 and teaches communication workshops around the state. These workshops are designed for both mothers and breastfeeding helpers as well as other professionals who work with mothers and babies. Karin is also a breastfeeding mother.
Elizabeth Smith, MPH, ICCE, IBCLC, RLC
Elizabeth Smith earned her BS in Health Education in 1995. She went on to earn her Master's in Public Health in 2000 where she had an emphasis in Maternal Child Nutrition. After working as a perinatal educator for 2 years she became the coordinator of the Perinatal Education Department for the University Hospital. As a part of her job she has been a part of many committees including: The March of Dimes, Utah State Health Department Perinatal Committee, Utah State Health Department Physical Activity Obesity and Nutrition (PANO), University Hospital Perinatal Bereavement Committee and University Hospital Baby Friendly Committee. She has presented at many conferences both locally and nationally.
