Biography:

Deborah (Debbie) O’Connor PhD RD is the Earle W. McHenry Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and a Canada Research Chair in Human Milk and Infant Nutrition. She also holds scientific appointments in the Translational Medicine Program at The Hospital for Sick Children, and the Department of Pediatrics at Sinai Health in Toronto. At SickKids, she served as Director of Clinical Dietetics and Breastfeeding Support from 2000 to 2012 and then as Associate Chief of Academic and Professional Practice until 2013. She was the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Board for the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank. Prior to arriving in Toronto, Dr. O’Connor served as scientist in industry. For more than three decades, Dr. O’Connor has pioneered innovative approaches to improving neonatal nutrition for the most vulnerable infants primarily through clinically embedded blinded multicentre randomized controlled trials. Her work includes developing and testing multi-nutrient fortifiers and protocols to support human milk feeding in hospitalized infants, enriching infant formulas with essential nutrients, and leading transformative initiatives in donor human milk banking and shaping official international guidelines for use.