Urmeka T. Jefferson, PhD, RN

Urmeka T. Jefferson, PhD, RNn has over 16 years experience caring for infants and mothers in the NICU and WBN. Her clinical experience drives her research focused on reducing disparities in breastfeeding to improve morbidity and mortality for vulnerable infants.

Jefferson’s scholarly contributions have been in three main areas: 1) the association of infant feeding attitudes and exposure to breastfeeding intentions; 2) determinants of breastfeeding behavior among African American and rural women; and 3) use of technology to improve access to breastfeeding support services.

She has designed the Mother’s Milk Connection app to support breastfeeding women from the prenatal period through birth and after hospital discharge.

Jefferson is currently focused on research aimed to examine the impact of the Mother’s Milk Connection mHealth intervention on breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity.