Optimizing the Human Milk Diet for Preterm Infants

Dr. Richard Schanler is the Director of Neonatal Services at Cohen Children’s Medical Center and Northwell Health in Long Island, New York. He also serves as Program Director for the Fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. He is Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, and Research Investigator at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research of Northwell Health. Northwell Health comprises more than 20 hospitals with 11 newborn services, more than 40,000 births per year, and more than 4,000 NICU admissions per year.

Dr. Schanler earned a Master of Science degree (Microbiology) at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his Doctor of Medicine degree at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. He completed internship, residency, and chief residency in Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, and a fellowship in Neonatology at Brown University.  He is a former professor and investigator at the Baylor College of Medicine Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston.

Nutrition in the NICU is his major research and clinical interest. He has conducted studies focusing on the effects human milk on the recipient premature infant, and the how processing effects the composition of human milk. He has numerous publications in this area. 

Dr. Schanler is a member of the American Pediatric Society and Society for Pediatric Research, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics. He is a former President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation. He is the immediate past Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Breastfeeding, and is the Senior Editor of the AAP/ACOG Breastfeeding Handbook for Physicians.