Michal Young, MD, F.A.A.P., is currently an Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University College of Medicine. She also serves as the Medical Director of the B.L.E.S.S. (Breastfeeding Lactation Education Support Services) Initiative as well as Director of the NICU and Newborn Services, at Howard University Hospital. She is a graduate of Howard University College of Medicine, Class of 1979. Dr. Young completed a rotating internship in Medicine and Pediatrics at Grady Memorial and Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by a Pediatric residency at Howard University Hospital, and a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital. Most of her clinical and academic practice was at D. C General Hospital where she was the Director of the N.I.C.U. for the last five years prior to the closure of that Hospital in July 2001.
Dr. Young has several publications and presentations over a range of topics governing infant care. Her research interests are in developmental outcomes of the ELBW, HIV perinatal transmission, and in breastfeeding education for professionals and parents. Dr. Young had just completed her fellowship in Neonatology at the time of the birth of her first child. She recalls how poorly educated she was about breastfeeding and the benefits of human milk. This experience placed her on a life-long quest to improve breastfeeding education for medical professionals, and patient’s families. Dr. Young speaks locally and nationally about the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding for the human infant. She is a member of the ILCA Advisory panel, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the Section on Breastfeeding in the American Academy of Pediatrics, one of the Breastfeeding Coordinators for the D.C. Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Vice-President of the D.C. Breastfeeding Coalition.