Dr. Kathleen Marinelli, an expert in the field of human lactation, was among the first group of 20 physicians to become a fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM). She has served on its board of directors, representing ABM on the United States Breastfeeding Committee. She is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and is a neonatologist and director of lactation support services at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Marinelli helped begin the New England Mother's Milk Bank in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and serves as its medical director. 

A graduate of Cornell University and Cornell University School of Medicine, she was a pediatric intern, resident, nephrology fellow and neonatology fellow at Children's National Medical Center at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She lives in Glastonbury, Connecticut, with her husband and four children.