Dr. Anita Esquerra-Zwiers, PhD, RN, CBS, is an Associate Professor at Hope College Nursing Department, Holland, MI, United States. Anita’s research experience as a primary and co-investigator spans healthcare and academia. In her early research career, she worked collaboratively with Rush University Mother’s Milk Club and neonatal intensive care unit, identifying the impact of donor human milk on preterm mothers’ experiences and human milk feeding outcomes. In 2017, she created her research team, Mother’s Milk for Michigan Infants, to explore personal, social, and perceived behavioral control, intentions, milk biomarkers, and biological factors associated with perceived insufficient and impaired milk volume. Early on, Anita benefited from the ISRHML – Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Trainee Expansion Program Trainee Bridge Fund by completing training in human milk biochemistry, metabolomics, feeding, and milk removal at The University of Western Australia under the mentorship of Dr. Donna Geddes and Dr. Ching Tat Lai. Her current research uses ion-selective electrodes to assess milk biomarkers to identify secretory activation and support lactation interventions to improve lactation outcomes among low-income populations. Anita’s current research combines her clinical experience as a labor and delivery, postpartum, newborn nursery, neonatal intensive care nurse, and lactation certification. Anita is currently enrolling participants in a funded extensive quasi-experimental multifaceted intervention (smartphone application, lactation provider precision protocols, and weekly phone calls) to improve lactation and maternal and infant health outcomes among low-income families.

Besides her research, Anita is an associate professor with over 15 years of teaching experience in practicum and lecture courses in nursing and global health. Last year, Anita was granted a year’s sabbatical for 2023-2024. During her sabbatical, she is building her leadership and research portfolio. Anita’s leadership training includes the American Association of Colleges and Universities PKAL STEM Leadership Institute and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Diversity Leadership Training. Anita is also building her data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence skills with a traineeship with the AIM-AHEAD All of Us Training Program. This training program will provide her with the skills needed to independently analyze the data from her large interventional study, milk microbiome research, and future analysis with DNA and milk biomarker data.