Our Staff

Founded in 1996, we were the first private medical practice in the United States to focus exclusively on the specialty of breastfeeding medicine.  In the twenty plus years since Breastfeeding Resources was founded, we’ve grown and shrunk and grown again, as our all-mother clinical staff have each negotiated the complicated paths that criss-cross between nurturing breastfeeding families and nurturing our own families.

Clinical staff
  • Sue Iwinski, IBCLC, is board certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, and has been with our practice since 2000. As our senior lactation consultant, she trains and mentors new staff. Her attention and care with each and every family draws many mothers to our practice by word of mouth. This thoughtful approach to each family, as well as her clinical expertise and insight, have set the tone for our practice, individualizing care to each family’s circumstances. A leading voice for babies in her role with Connecticut’s La Leche League, she speaks regularly at League annual conferences. She has two adult children, and is lead vocalist for AfterShock, Connecticut’s powerhouse danceable rock band.
  • Beth Iovinelli, RN, IBCLC, comes to us from a large pediatric practice where she served as both a pediatric nurse and director of their lactation program.  Beth has been in maternal child health for almost 25 years, and has been certified as an IBCLC since 2000. Her experience as a labor and delivery nurse, a postpartum nurse and lactation consultant, and as RN in a regular pediatric office, keeps us in touch with the real world beyond our walls. She works with us fulltime, and additionally spends a day a week as nurse lactation consultant at Greenwich hospital. She is sought out frequently to share her knowledge of breastfeeding and lactation, as teacher and speaker for both mothers and professionals. The mother of two adult children, she loves travel, volunteers every summer as a nurse for the Hole in the Wall Camp for kids with cancer, and sings weekends for a rock ‘n roll band.
  • Liza Goldman Huertas, MD, is a family medicine doctor who joined us in 2017. A 2008 graduate of Yale’s School of Medicine, she did her Family Medicine residency in the Social Medicine program at Montefiore in the Bronx. She worked for three years at Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven before joining us. Her knowledge of breastfeeding and lactation is matched by her warmth and compassion for the mothers she sees.  She brings to our table a broad knowledge of women’s health issues, in particular expanding our clinical support for breastfeeding mothers with type1 and gestational diabetes, those with chemical dependence, and those with mood disorders.  And, as a native of Puerto Rico, she’s fully fluent in Spanish.
  • Laurie Rubel, APRN, has been with us since 2016. Her experience in family medicine at a federally qualified health center in New York City, has given her a broad perspective on breastfeeding issues. A thoughtful and experienced clinician, she approaches each family with an inquiring clinical mind and a compassionate heart, helping mothers navigate their complex breastfeeding and feeding issues. The mother of three previously breastfed children, her kids keep her on her toes!
  • Sue Marchitto, APRN, IBCLC, is also certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. She has worked part time with us since 2014, while remaining a valuable member of the Yale Health Plan pediatrics team, sharing her breastfeeding expertise with families both in New Haven and with us. We are so grateful to have her wisdom, experience and expertise.
  • Lisa Papp Terifay spans both the administrative and clinical sides of our practice. A welcoming and cheerful receptionist, she is both tech savvy and breastfeeding knowledgeable. She takes on a wide variety of techy projects for us, and, most importantly, organizes and facilitates our weekly mothers’ support group. The mother of three previously breastfed children, she for many years was a volunteer leader for La Leche League International, giving her broad experience supporting breastfeeding mothers. Her busy family life willing, we hope she will soon be working towards lactation board certification by the IBLCE.
  • Christina Smillie, MD, FAAP, IBCLC, FABM, our founding physician, devotes full time to clinical practice at Breastfeeding Resources, while finding occasional time to speak both nationally and internationally. Board certified as both pediatrician and lactation consultant, she is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has two adult children and one grandchild.

All of us have experience balancing the juggle of managing family responsibilities with employment, and we’ve also each spent a chunk of time as stay-at-home mothers, working exclusively inside the home with our young children.

Administrative staff

Reception– Lisa Papp Terifay and Linda Kozlowski

Billing and office management–Sharon DeBernardo, Valerie Wilke, Amanda Ostrowski, and Deborah Brunson