The Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute works with local, state and international organizations so that together, we will “Nurture our Future”. CGBI and its associates provide fundamental and meaningful contributions to breastfeeding and related reproductive health policies and programs and, by serving on several expert committees, help further the mission to create an enabling environment, at the community, state, national and global levels, in which every mother is supported to achieve optimal infant and young child feeding and care, and every child achieves its full potential through the best start on life.

Expert committees that CGBI serves include:

1. Miriam Labbok was appointed to the Secretary of Health’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality. Dr. Labbok also served on three expert panels in 2010: Contraceptive use in special situations (CDC), WIC research needs (IOM/USDA), and breastfeeding support in hospitals (CDC), and provided expert review on USDA research. In addition, she serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Human Lactation, Clinical Lactation, Breastfeeding Medicine, and International Breastfeeding Journal, and on advisory boards of ILCA, LLLI, and others.

2. CGBI is part of the advisory group convened by the NC Nutrition Branch of the Division of Public Health to design, implement and evaluate the NC Maternity Center Breastfeeding-Friendly Designation.  This effort includes a “5 Star” approach to encourage maternity facilities to practice the Ten Steps, with one star being awarded for every 2 steps in place. Emily Taylor and Miriam Labbok are providing formative research and expert guidance based in the Breastfeeding-friendly Healthcare project.

3. Miriam Labbok and Emily Taylor are clinical co-leads for the Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina.  This statewide effort aims to increase rates of exclusive breastfeeding during the hospital stay.

4. Emily Taylor was elected to the Board of US Breastfeeding Committee in 2010 to serve as Secretary.  Her responsibilities on the board include establishing appropriate governance policies for the USBC and reviewing and approving the annual operating budget. Her specific role as Secretary includes overseeing correspondence of the organization and preparing and maintaining minutes of all meetings of the membership and the Board of Directors.

5. Brook Colgan was appointed to co-chair the Clinical Instruction Task Force of ILCA, IBLCE, and AARC with Jan Barger of Lactation Education Consultants. The Task Force is working on specific tasks to provide guidance for development of and access to clinical instruction in the lactation field.

6. Barbara Cameron participated in a CDC expert panel on Obesity Prevention in Child Care Settings.  This panel provided feedback and guidance on the development of an obesity prevention action guide for child care settings.

7. Miriam Labbok and Barbara Cameron served as expert reviewers on the nutrition section of the 2011 revised edition of "Caring for Our Children," a best practices guide for out of home care for children.

8. CGBI was a participating member in the BEST Alliance, a community partnership funded under a Community-based participatory research (CBPR) project to increase breastfeeding among African Americans in Durham County.