Paula Meier, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the director for clinical research and lactation in the neonatal intensive care unit and is a professor of women, children and family nursing and a professor of pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She has worked as a practitioner and researcher in the area of human milk, lactation and breastfeeding for premature infants and their mothers since 1975. Meier has conducted numerous externally-funded research and demonstration projects, and currently serves as the principal investigator for a 5-year, $2.76 million, NIH-funded study, “Health Outcomes and Cost of Human Milk Feedings for Very Low Birthweight Infants.” She has published over 70 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and serves as a member of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and of the Health Advisory Council for LaLeche League, International.