BFUSA Welcomes Patrice Davis to its Board of Directors

“I love this organization. Its mission is my mission.”

That’s how Patrice Davis, DNP, FNP-C, RNC-MNN, IBCLC, explains why she accepted the offer to become the newest member of BFUSA’s Board of Directors without a second thought.

“I truly believe that every hospital should have the 10 Steps as a standard,” she continues. “Just like washing our hands is essential, those 10 Steps are essential for supporting moms, whether or not they decide to breastfeed. It should be foundational, something we should all strive for.”

Where does this passion for Baby-Friendly come from?

Patrice had every intention of going to medical school after graduating from Russell Sage College in 2007 with a BS degree in nursing. But when she took a position as an RN at Albany Medical Center to “gain some experience,” she found the time she was able to spend with patients at the bedside was highly rewarding and decided that’s where she belonged. She also discovered that “women and children are my calling” and began to develop a passion for lactation.

Patrice then moved to New York City to work in the New York-Presbyterian system. By then, she had become so excited about lactation that, even before she took her boards for the IBCLC certification, she was the go-to person for lactation on the night shift when there was no lactation consultant available.

“They saw how much I enjoyed helping the moms,” she recalls. “If they had an issue with a difficult latch or something, they would ask me to help them troubleshoot.”

After becoming IBCLC certified, Patrice taught human lactation and breastfeeding for Columbia University medical students while serving as the lead Lactation Consultant for New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital. It was there that she was first exposed to the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), as the hospital was participating in a citywide learning collaborative which sought to increase breastfeeding rates and to help hospitals across the city achieve Baby-Friendly designation.

“When I started nursing, the formula companies would go on the floor and offer us lunch and give us samples and free gift bags to give to our patients,” she remembers. “That was the standard.”

But after learning about the 10 Steps in the learning collaborative, Patrice began to see a different path.

During this time, she completed a Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Rutgers University and obtained her certification as a family nurse practitioner. Her doctoral project focused on increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates at her hospital using just one of the 10 Steps – skin-to-skin.

“I went over how to perform it correctly and how to document it appropriately,” she says. “We saw an increase in exclusive breastfeeding and overall breastfeeding rates simply from implementing this one change, helping these moms get to skin-to-skin for that golden hour.”

Patrice left Presbyterian at the end of 2018 to move to Florida, where she still lives with her husband and two children, Samuel (5) and Sariah (3). From there, she founded a childbirth education and breastfeeding support company to help moms during the pandemic and currently works as a Full Professor at Joyce University of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Now, Patrice is looking forward to continuing to drive BFUSA’s mission forward as a member of the Board of Directors.

“I’d like to see the BFHI become more known to the new generation coming up who are going to start being our customers,” she says. “We want them to drive demand and say, ‘We want this for our hospitals.’ I’d like to help with that vision.”

BFUSA is excited to welcome Patrice to its Board.