Kimarie Bugg, DNP, MPH, FAAN IBCLC

Kimarie Bugg DNP. MPH, FAAN, IBCLC, is President and CEO of Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE), a national nonprofit created in 2011 to address breastfeeding inequities in the African American community and a career pediatric, perinatal, and neonatal nurse professional.

Kimarie has spent four decades working in the Atlanta Metropolitan area and nationally promoting perinatal health, breastfeeding, and community-based impact solutions. She previously worked in private pediatric practice and for Emory University School of Medicine as a nurse practitioner at the state level, as a perinatal nurse consultant, in the hospital’s pediatric emergency center, special care nursery, and as a bedside breastfeeding consultant. She was the first African American IBCLC (1987). She was a member of the faculty for Boston Medical Center’s Communities and Hospitals Advancing Maternity Practices, a Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, and a past board of directors and chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) ethics committee.

Dr. Bugg is known nationally for her work in lactation, anti-racism and health equity strategies, the nonprofit world and marginalized community empowerment. She has received innumerable awards and recognition, including multiple lifetime achievement awards. She provides health equity through breastfeeding engagement, training, education and resources for healthcare providers, lactation support providers and community transformers nationwide. Dr. Bugg is an adjunct faculty member at Morehouse School of Medicine.