Farewells to some important figures
Adriano Cattaneo. December 6, 2025
IBFANers are all heartbroken with the news of the death of Adriano Cattaneo on 6th December, after a terrible bicycle accident on 29th September. Adriano was a medical officer for WHO in Geneva for 4 years and an epidemiologist for 20 years at the Institute for Maternal and Child Health in Trieste, a WHO Collaborating Centre. A hugely valued leader for IBFAN Italy’s NoGrazie and for all our global work – he was the ‘go-to’ person with the wisest advice on all the tricky issues that we try to tackle. To see two interviews with Adriano in 2023 click HERE. and HERE
We send all our love to Sofia and his children and grandchildren.
IN MEMORY OF ADRIANO CATTANEO
Message from Adriano’s family. We wish to gather together to say goodbye and remember him with affection on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at the Cemetery of Sant’Anna in Trieste, via Costalunga 240, in the Blue Room, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Anyone who knew him and would like to share a thought, a word, or an embrace is warmly welcome
Adriano, Sofia (centre back) and IBFANers at the WHO Global Congress on Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. June 2023. Photo:
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Grainne Moloney.
Another tragic loss is UNICEF’s Grainne Moloney, Senior Adviser, in UNICEF’s Early Childhood Nutrition and Development Department. Like Adriano, Grainne was not afraid to stick her neck out and say the difficult things – so often beyond the call of duty. We send our love to Grainne’s family.
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Pam Zinkin
Pam Zinkin, a human rights campaigner and consultant paediatrician who died this year at 94, was a huge support and inspiration to Baby Milk Action and many human rights organisations. She was an Advisor and Director of Baby Milk Action for many years.
“My mother, Pamela Zinkin, who has died aged 94, was a consultant paediatrician credited with saving the lives of children all over the world. She was also a lifelong campaigner for the NHS. In 1977, by then a single parent with two young sons, Pam moved to newly independent Mozambique to work as a senior paediatrician, then head of paediatrics, at Maputo central hospital. The country’s healthcare was in a precarious state, with 80% of its doctors having left after independence in 1975. Within five years, Pam and her team had reduced mortality among the 8,000 annual child admissions from 25% to 4%.”
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David Nabarro
WHO Tribute. Dr David Nabarro died on Friday 25 July 2025 at his home at 75. At WHO, David was at the forefront of multiple areas of work, including malaria control, humanitarian crisis response and outbreaks. Most recently, David served as a WHO Special Envoy on COVID-19. He supported many in their career development with his vision, skill, compassion and patience. Like the many who knew him, IBFAN appreciated David as an impactful champion of health, equity and disadvantaged people worldwide, even though his leading role in the Scaling Up Nutrition initiative was problematic for us. However, despite our differences, we appreciated his willingness to discuss, argue and try to find common ground. We will certainly miss him. We send our love to his family.
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Ruth A. Lawrence, MD, 1924–2025:
A Trailblazer in Lactation Medicine and Child Health
Ruth A. Lawrence, MD, a pediatrician and internationally recognized leader in breastfeeding science, passed away on October 12, 2025, at the age of 101. During a career spanning more than seven decades at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), she helped propel breastfeeding from what was once considered a marginal field of medicine into mainstream discipline of clinical practice and scholarly inquiry.
“Dr. Lawrence’s work reshaped how we understand and support infant feeding, and her legacy lives on in every clinician, nurse, and researcher who carries forward her vision,” said Kathy Parrinello, RN, PhD, President and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital. “Her spirit of persistence, mentorship, and compassion remains woven into the heart of URMC.”