Parvez, Boriana, MD, IBCLC

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About

Language(s): English

Division: Neonatology

Dr. Boriana Parvez is the Medical Director of the Liquid Gold Donor Milk Program at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital's Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She is also Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at New York Medical College, an academic affiliate of Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth). Her primary research interest includes optimizing nutrition for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants via implementation and individualized modification of donor breast milk and mother’s own milk. She studies the impact of various donor breast milk feeding regimens on growth and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and the long-term nutritional outcomes of donor milk in children with short-gut syndrome.

The Liquid Gold Donor Milk Program, since its implementation, has led to significant decline in NEC and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates. This very unique hospital-based milk bank will soon be dispensing only preterm milk with higher protein, caloric and protective factors than the full term donor milk. Dr. Parvez was instrumental in the establishment of the first donor milk bank in New York State and serves as a member of its Executive Board as Director of Research and Development. She worked tirelessly with her colleagues Dr. Heather Brumberg and Dr. Shetal Shah to implement Medicaid coverage for donor milk, which came in effect in December of 2017 and allowing all vulnerable premature babies to have access to this precious lifesaving resource.

Her primary quality improvement interest is in increasing the incidence of breastfeeding across regional perinatal networks. She holds university and industry sponsored research grants, including full funding for the development, implementation and continued operation of a donor milk bank at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, the first such institution in the New York City area housed within a regional perinatal center. She is a member of the New York Milk Bank. Dr. Parvez takes great interest in the education and mentoring of the Neonatal Fellows and serves as Associate Director of the Neonatal Fellowship Program, co-chairing the Clinical Competency Committee.

Two Lives at Stake