Meet your team
Mary Ellen Kramp, DPT, CLT-LANA
Mary Ellen graduated from Springfield College in 1992 with a Master of Science degree in physical therapy and received her doctorate from Boston University in 2005. She is the owner of Evolution Medical Associates, a multidisciplinary clinic in Clearwater, FL and has been working in women’s health for almost 20 years. She has also co-founded The Nourish Project to create professional and community education from a multidisciplinary standpoint for the treatment of breast/bottle feeding infant issues and mastitis. In addition to being a teaching assistant for Barral Institute and Herman & Wallace, she has developed her own continuing education courses to teach Lymph Drainage and Vascular Release for the Pelvic PT, Lymph & Vascular Techniques for the Ortho Therapist, The Infertility Protocol and Breast, Baby & The Difficult Latch. She has been a certified lymphedema therapist for 20 years. In 2014 she became the president and co-founder of Pelvic Health Research Initiative, a non-profit organization established to raise money to fund pelvic research. She published a case series report in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association on manual therapy techniques for the treatment of infertility and has also published in Rehabilitation Oncology. To see upcoming courses by Mary Ellen, please see her course page here.
Catherine Halek, IBCLC, Infant Feeding Specialist
Cat discovered her love of breastfeeding through her experience of breastfeeding her own child, Jax. She started her professional journey towards becoming an IBCLC, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, at Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) in Pinellas County as a breastfeeding peer counselor in 2011. There she received mentoring by 3 IBCLCs, which inspired her to become an IBCLC. In 2014 she started her own private practice. In 2016 she began work at Champions for Children where she worked in another high-volume non-profit community setting. Cat has become an educator in the breastfeeding community for both parents and IBCLCs through presenting at numerous conferences and breastfeeding trainings. She is passionate in supporting the whole family in all their feeding choices. Because of her passion for a multidisciplinary approach for treatment and education, she co-founded The Nourish Project. Cat also has extensive teaching experience prior to her lecture with The Nourish Project including both parent and professional trainings including: 2011 through 2014 Pinellas County Health Department; Breastfeeding trainings for WIC, Healthy Start, Nurse Family Partnership; Stages of change and Motivational Interviewing for WIC Staff; Breastfeeding Classes: 2015 to present; Breastfeeding and Counseling techniques for doulas: 2016 to Present; Boot Camp For Moms instructor: 2016; Storms of Motherhood Trainings (Mental Health Distress during the Perinatal period) for Perinatal Professionals: 2016; and No more difficult clients: Touchpoints TBBT Conference: 2018.
Barbara Nelson, CCC/SLP, CLC
Barbara became dual certified as a Speech Language Pathologist and Certified Lactation Counselor to support mothers who wanted to breastfeed their medically involved infants. For 11 years she worked as a pediatric SLP in diverse settings including a not-for-profit community based center, but predominantly in the pediatric hospital based setting in outpatient rehab, inpatient rehab, and the NICU. Her specialty areas included infant dysphasia and pediatric voice disorders. After the birth of her son, she began a new chapter in her career when she co-founded The Nourish Project to help redefine what true multidisciplinary services look like, and began January Consulting (dedicated to creating parent education materials to confidently feed their child and understand their cues). Her personal mission is to encourage positive mealtime relationships and prevent the need for future feeding therapy through early education and addressing feeding issues at the root, because meals should be enjoyable for the whole family. Her teaching experience includes mentoring clinical fellows, and now with The Nourish Project, lecturing large groups.
What People Are Saying
Lecture Experience
Breast, Baby, and the Difficult Latch Virtual Course 2025
ATPA National Conference 2024
Tampa Bay Breastfeeding Task Force Conference 2023
Growth means you never stop learning or enjoying your work — and we’re here to help you do it.
Learn with us
Check out our new virtual course Breast, Baby, and the Difficult Latch to learn about the anatomy and physiology of lactation and infant breastfeeding, as well as common issues caused by poor latch and how manual therapy can help. This course also covers what normal newborn breastfeeding looks like and basic counseling and communication factors that are specific to the newborn period.