The Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose, operating since 1974, is a charter member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) whose protocols for processing and distributing donated breast milk remain the operational gold standard for milk banking organizations. In 2017, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated in their report Donor Human Milk for the High-Risk Infant: Preparation, Safety, and Usage Options in the United States that (HMBANA) donor milk banks represent a safe and effective approach to obtaining, pasteurizing, and dispensing human milk for use in NICUs and other settings. Along with the executive director, Pauline Sakamoto RN, MPH, PHN, the board of the non-profit Mothers' Milk Bank based in San Jose, California, is comprised of many of distin- guished clinicians, scholars and authors in neonatology, developmental medicine, public health, and lactation advo- cacy. Among those, Professor Ronald Cohen, MD, Kerin Torpey Bashaw, MPH, RN; Susan Crowe, MD; and Karen Miyamoto, RN, MPH. Essential is the expertise of Crystal Ciancutti, BS, MBA in marketing. These professionals and others are supported with that which represents among the savviest operations, management, donor recruitment team in the arena of breast milk banking. Milk banks, when affiliated with the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), are safe, certified, and have a legacy of meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, addressing the issues of equity and social justice for women, babies, and families under or at the poverty line. Mothers' Milk Bank San Jose distributed over 551,000 ounces of donor breast milk in 2017 to 114 hospitals, to Washington state, Arizona, Idaho, Connecticut, and Maryland.
