BFUSA Welcomes Dr. Lisa Eiland, Neonatologist, to its Board of Directors
“I’ve just always loved babies.”
That’s how Dr. Lisa Eiland, Division Lead for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, in Hackensack, New Jersey, describes what drew her to the field of Neonatology.
“As they start their lives, babies are a blank slate that can be molded and shaped,” she says. “And they have no filter, so the reaction you get from them is pure.”
After finishing her training in Neonatology in 2006, Dr. Eiland spent the first years of her career researching how early life stress impacts brain development.
“In the NICU, a baby’s outcome isn’t always explained by what we can see organically,” she explains. “So, I thought stress might be playing a role. We talk about ‘weathering’ in adults and how stress plays a critical role in health outcomes. The same is true in newborns.”
Dr. Eiland brought these lessons with her when she transitioned from working with rats in the research lab to working with patients in the NICU, emphasizing clinical programs that try to ameliorate stress for patients in the unit. A key part of that effort is developing an individualized connection and trust with the family.
“I try to build partnerships with the family, incorporating them in the care team, working together to try to give each baby a more positive outcome,” she says.
Now, Dr. Eiland is looking forward to engaging with BFUSA as a new member of its Board of Directors.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work at a broader level to consider things we can do institutionally to help support families in their breastfeeding journeys and set standards across neonatology so that families can have the opportunity to succeed at breastfeeding,” she says. “I also think I can help BFUSA find new ways to harness the power of parental engagement on newborn health by bringing my expertise to help improve experiences of mothers, their partners and babies at the very beginning of their lives.”
BFUSA is pleased to welcome Dr. Eiland.
