Wichita pediatrician Nancy G. Powers has been named to the Janice M. Riordan Distinguished Professorship in Maternal Child Health at Wichita State.

Juanita Tate, chair of WSU's School of Nursing and associate dean of the College of Health Professions, said Powers was chosen after an international search to fill the professorship.

Nancy G. Powers

Powers stood out not only in academic and professional credentials as a pediatrician, said Tate, but for her dedication and focus on breastfeeding and lactation.

As a physician and owner of Breastfeeding Medicine of Kansas in Wichita, Powers provides outpatient services for breastfeeding problems and clinical teaching for the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

From 1995-2007, she was a staff pediatrician and medical director of lactation services for the Pediatrix Medical Group of Kansas at Wesley Medical Center. In San Diego, she served as staff pediatrician and director of clinics for Wellstart International and Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.

Powers has been a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 2002, and has been board certified in pediatrics since 1984, having served her residency at the University of California-San Diego and internship at the University of California-Irvine.

She completed her graduate studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and undergraduate work at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia.

Juanita Tate

"We are delighted to find such a well-qualified and distinguished individual to fill this position," said Tate.

The professorship, with its emphasis on breastfeeding and human lactation, is the first such position at WSU, Tate said, and is believed to be the first of its kind in a school of nursing anywhere in the U.S. It was funded with an anonymous $1.6 million gift in honor of longtime WSU professor Jan Riordan.

"I admired Dr. Riordan's work before I ever met her or moved to Wichita 14 years ago," said Powers. "She welcomed me as a colleague at that time and we have worked together off and on throughout the years. I am honored to be chosen as the first recipient of the first Riordan Professorship – a unique opportunity to improve the lives of babies and their families. I am very excited to be working with the stellar faculty and graduate students at WSU."

Riordan will get to work closely with Powers before retiring. Riordan is a widely noted author, lecturer, researcher and consultant on breastfeeding and lactation management.

She teaches half-time now in WSU's graduate nursing program, including the online course on lactation. The course and Riordan's textbook "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation" are used by health professionals worldwide.

"Dr. Powers will be able to grow that breastfeeding focus here," said Tate. A vision for the future, Tate added, would be a center for breastfeeding in the School of Nursing.

When the Riordan professorship was announced in fall 2007, College of Health Professions dean Peter Cohen noted that it highlights the college's vision of "innovation and excellence in education to promote a healthy society" by focusing on an area not being heavily researched.

Riordan also commented at the time that the gift would advance online graduate education to health professionals in parts of the world where it is badly needed, especially where infant mortality is high, and enhance clinical research.