USLCA created the Terry Jo Curtis Award to recognize the exemplary efforts of those increasing access and equity for the US IBCLC. Terry Jo Curtis, IBCLC, founded Indiana’s Black Breastfeeding Coalition and was a powerful voice promoting breastfeeding for all families in her community. She was proud to be an IBCLC. Sadly, Ms. Curtis passed on in May of 2014, but we honor her work with this award.
Congratulations to the 2022 winner!
The winner of the 2022 Terry Jo Curtis Award is Nekisha Killings, MPH, IBCLC
Nekisha Killings MPH IBCLC is an equity strategist and maternal and child health advocate who speaks, teaches, and facilitates on topics related to equity and dismantling bias across various sectors. She consults organizations on creating and implementing strategies to better support marginalized communities. Nekisha penned the chapter titled Cultural Humility in the latest Core Curriculum textbook. Nekisha works to wow audiences with new realizations that will impact their approach to care. Nekisha is on a mission to normalize brown breasts in health provider education, thereby better-equipping providers to treat people of color.
Nekisha is the founder & creator of the Melanated Mammary Atlas, an amazing resource for all lactation care providers. This app is full of photos demonstrating a variety of breasts & associated issues (e.g. thrush, cracked nipples, mastitis) shown on melanated skin. This resource is invaluable, as up till now the only scholarly resources available of this nature were filled almost exclusively with white breasts. Nekisha‘s work is rooted in compassion and candor that could only have been cultivated in years of supporting new parents through their first days of parenthood. To eager audiences, she extends her own brand of wisdom, wit, and eureka moments to shift the way they approach life & work. Congratulations Nekisha!