Lauren Narbey, CNM, PhD, recently successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Patterns of Breastfeeding Among Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and Integration of Lactation Support into Perinatal Recovery Programs Across the United States.”  Her clinical practice as a midwife and research interests have focused on optimizing care for individuals with perinatal opioid use disorder. She will continue this work as a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Elizabeth Krans at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Lauren will spearhead multiple projects on factors complicating recovery for pregnant and postpartum individuals with opioid use disorder. Lauren extended an invitation to attend her PhD defense to ARCS Pittsburgh co-president, Anne Crawford. "I was pleased to accept for two special reasons. First, it was important to represent ARCS Pittsburgh Chapter in this important occasion. Second, after serving more than ten years on the Sojourner House and Sojourner MOMS Boards of Directors, I know first-hand the biases and misconceptions around mothers in recovery. Lauren’s defense presentation provided the factors that were negatively impacting these mothers from even trying breastfeeding while showing data supporting these mothers being able to safely breast feed their newborns."