Prof. Mary Renfrew – Director of the Mother and Infant Research Unit University of York
Mary Renfrew is Professor of Mother and Infant Health in the University of York, where she is also Director of the multidisciplinary Mother and Infant Research Unit, and Director of the national Collaborating Centre for Maternal and Child Nutrition (funded by NICE). She has ongoing research and development work in infant feeding, inequalities in health, the organisation of maternity care, and ways of avoiding interventions in childbirth. She has been involved in research and education in midwifery and maternity care for over 25 years, in Scotland, England and Canada.
In addition to academic journal publications, she has written widely about maternity care, and is author or editor of seven books. She has worked closely with service users and consumer groups for many years, especially in the involvement of service users in research. She is co-author, with Chloe Fisher and Suzanne Arms, of ‘Bestfeeding; getting breastfeeding right for you’. She has been Chair of the WHO Strategic Committee for Maternal and Newborn Health, and has advised the WHO, UNICEF and the International Confederation of Midwives on aspects of maternal and child health, and research.