New Members of the Professional Advisory Board
Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Betty Crase
LLLI Board of Directors
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 41 No. 4, August-September 2005, p. 95.
The La Leche League International (LLLI) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that there are five new
additions to the LLLI Professional Advisory Board (PAB). These members were approved for invitation to join the
advisory councils reflecting their professional training and experience at the LLLI Board of Directors meeting in
March 2005. Below is some information about each new member. We are pleased that they are willing to share their
expertise with LLLI. For more information about the three councils that comprise the LLLI PAB, please see the
article in the February-March 2005 issue of Leaven (pages 22-23).
Health Advisory Council
Thomas W. Hale, PhD, is Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Tech University School of Medicine. He holds degrees in
Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology and is a widely experienced Clinical Pharmacologist. He is a
well-known international lecturer on the pharmacology of lactation and is the author of Medications and Mothers'
Milk, the top-selling drug reference in the world. Two of his other books are Clinical Therapy in
Breastfeeding Women and Drug Therapy and Breastfeeding: From Theory to Clinical Practice.
Legal Advisory Council
Melissa Vance, JD, was accredited as a La Leche League Leader in 1997, and began updating the legal portion of the
La Leche League International Web site in 2004. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the Dickinson School
of Law. An attorney since 1987, she is employed part-time by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators.
Melissa resides in Moorestown, New Jersey, USA with her sons, Kevin (14) and Sean (10) Kirsch.
Jessica Natkin, JD, is a Leader with LLL of Oakland/Berkeley (California, USA). She is a graduate of UC Berkeley
and Northwestern University School of Law. After serving as a law clerk in US Bankruptcy Court and practicing
bankruptcy law and general litigation, Jessica has spent the last seven years focusing on attorney career
development, currently for a major Silicon Valley law firm. Jessica is excited to put her lawyer hat back on to
work for La Leche League International in the areas of breastfeeding policy and advocacy. Jessica lives in Oakland,
California with her husband, Blair, and their son, Roger (3).
Jake Aryeh Marcus, JD, has been practicing law since 1988 and became a La Leche League Leader in 1997. As a
lawyer, Jake specializes in litigation, immigration, employment discrimination, violence against women, and
HIV/AIDS. As a Leader she was recently appointed Legal Assistant Area Professional Liaison for Eastern
Pennsylvania, USA. She served as Book Review Editor for Leaven for four years and has spoken at Area Conferences on
breastfeeding and the law. Jake homeschools her three sons (now 5, 8, and 10).
Mark McKenna, JD, is an Assistant Professor of Law at St. Louis University. His research is focused on
intellectual property, particularly trademark and copyright-related issues. He teaches various intellectual
property courses as well as civil procedure. Prior to entering academia, Mark was an attorney at an intellectual
property boutique firm in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA Economics)
and the University of Virginia School of Law. Mark and his wife, Maria, are the parents of three children: Kieran
(6), Julia (4) and Connor (1).
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:57 UTC 2007.
