Carrie-Ellen Briere is an associate professor in the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, and a member of the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring and the Models to Medicine Center in IALS.
IALS: Hi Carrie-Ellen, thank you for speaking with us today. We have a few questions for you so everyone on campus can get to know you better. How long have you been at UMass Amherst?
CEB: I started teaching at UMass Amherst in 2017.
IALS: Where did you grow up?
CEB: I grew up in central Connecticut and actually still live down there! I live about 75 miles from campus.
IALS: Does the love of science run in your family?
CEB: My mom is a huge animal lover (and so am I!) and we grew up with almost every animal you can imagine between rescue/fostering and pets. This caretaker role is a huge part of me and how I found my way into nursing. I knew I wanted to take care babies - whether that was a human baby or animal baby. I did not decide until senior year of high school. I went into nursing to become a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
IALS: How long have you been teaching?
CEB: I first taught at Connecticut Children's where I did my postdoctoral fellowship between 2014 and 2017. Part of my time was dedicated to supporting nursing research and evidence-based practice. During that time our department had started a fellowship to teach nurses about conducting evidence-based practice projects and I helped teach within that program. My first academic teaching experience was in 2016 during my postdoc at UConn School of Nursing, and then of course I began teaching in 2017 when I started at UMass Amherst. When I was in school getting my PhD I had no desire to teach and thought I'd want a research only position (I get very nervous public speaking and never thought I would do well as a teacher). However, I will say that I fell in love with teaching once I started and truly enjoy connecting with students at all levels of their education journey. My love of teaching has been the greatest surprise to me over the years.
IALS: What is more stressful, grant proposals, research, or teaching?
CEB: Teaching hands down. As a teacher, I feel responsible for creating an excellent learning environment and helping my students succeed. Teaching "success" feels so personal since I know each of my students.
IALS: Assuming your research is widely successful, how will it impact society?
CEB: As a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse, I know the reality of admission to the NICU for preterm and ill infants and their families. I have always been fascinated about how important these early days are in the life of the newborn, and also for the family. The benefits of breastfeeding and human milk are well-documented especially in this vulnerable population, but questions remain about why some illness (that human milk often protects from) still occur with infants who receive human milk. Biologically, human milk is meant to be fed directly at the breast which cannot occur for our most preterm and ill newborns. What happens there is parents express milk and store it in the refrigerator or freezer until the baby can be fed. However, we know that human milk is full of bioactive components that can change during refrigeration and freezing. My goal is to learn more about feeding processes and milk storage so that all babies can receive the most optimized milk and thus, have the very best health outcomes. So in short, the impact to society would be saving the life of babies and reducing preventable illness.
IALS: Who do you admire and why?
CEB: This is a hard one to answer because I admire quite a few people! I will say that besides my husband who has always supported me and is my biggest cheerleader, I admire two women who have inspired me from very early. The first is my mom; she has had a lot of very challenging health issues for the majority of my teen/adult life and she is constantly a source of joy, positivity, and support. She has always had a dream of becoming a published children's author, and she recently published her first two books with another coming out in August. It has been amazing to watch her follow her dreams in retirement. The other woman I highly admire is my mother in law. I am fortunate to have had her in my life since I was 16 and she is truly one of the most supportive people I have ever met. I do not think I could be where I am today without her support and am so grateful that I get to have two incredible moms in my life.
IALS: What are your interests when you are not a scientist?
CEB: I am married with three little boys, so we are very busy at home! I enjoy spending time outside, running, and hiking. I also love to travel and I run a social media brand focused on traveling with little kids.
IALS: Thank you so much Carrie-Ellen!