Pediatrician Rima L. Strassman, MD, Medical Director of Lactation Services at St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) and St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, is among the first group of physicians to become board-certified in breastfeeding and lactation medicine.

Dr. Strassman was one of about 100 physicians in the U.S. and Canada to pass the Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine pilot certification exam with the North American Board of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine, which she took in October. Dr. Strassman is the only physician in the region to earn this certification.

“I have been practicing breast-feeding medicine for many years, and this makes it a valid board specialty,” she said.

As a specialist in breastfeeding and lactation, Dr. Strassman helps parents and their newborns who may be having difficulty transferring milk diagnose the reason and find a solution. She said the new board certification will help elevate breastfeeding in medical schools. “St. Luke’s is a big teaching hospital,” she said, “and we have the opportunity to have someone like me teach the next generation physicians more about it.”

Dr. Strassman, a pediatrician at St. Luke’s Quakertown Pediatrics, sees breastfeeding patients the St. Luke’s Baby & Me Support Center. As St. Luke’s delivery program continues to grow the demand for breastfeeding support services has increased. St. Luke’s has expanded the services available through the Baby & Me Support Center to Center Valley and Palmerton and has added additional physician and lactation consultant coverage to meet our patients’ needs. Post partum emotion support is also available through the Baby & Me program as well as various support groups and education classes for moms and families.

Anne Eglash, MD, President of the North American Board of Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine, said Dr. Strassman’s passing the exam “is a testament to her dedication, expertise, and passion for providing the highest standard of care for lactating (parent-child) dyads.”

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.  In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.

Information provided to TVL by:

Sam Kennedy