Faculty
Dr. Merav W. Efrat
Dr. Merav Efrat is a Full Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She is both an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), with over a decade of experience in health education and lactation support.
Dr. Efrat serves as the Director of CSUN’s Human Lactation Program, which encompasses a comprehensive academic program for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a continuing education training initiative for healthcare professionals and community members. She teaches in both the academic and continuing education settings, preparing the next generation of lactation professionals.
Her work is driven by a mission to improve breastfeeding rates across communities by increasing the number of qualified lactation professionals in Southern California and beyond. She has published numerous articles highlighting the impact of CSUN’s human lactation curriculum both on CSUN’s students’ success, as well as improving breastfeeding rates in the community.
Dr. Efrat has received numerous honors for her innovative contributions to lactation education, including CSUN’s Visionary Community Service-Learning Award (2014), BreastfeedLA’s Visionary Impact Award (2017), the 2020 California State University Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award (FILA), the 2023 California Breastfeeding Coalition Golden Nugget Award and the Perinatal Advisory Council’s Mitchell Goldstein Dedication to Community and Neonatal Care Award (2025).
Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Efrat has secured twelve federal and private foundation grants supporting research, curriculum development, and experiential learning opportunities in human lactation. She currently serves as the Project Director for a major initiative to expand CSUN’s human lactation curriculum to equip students with the competencies and confidence they need to feel prepared and succeed as lactation professionals.
Publications
Efrat, M.W. (2021). Exploring the impact of offering an undergraduate lactation elective course as a strategy for normalizing breastfeeding Clinical Lactation, 12(3),108- 113.
Efrat, M.W., Boyns, D. & Rubino, L. (2020). Exploring the feasibility of utilizing undergraduate lactation education courses as a vehicle to prepare the future healthcare workforce to educate and support breastfeeding families in the community Clinical Lactation, 11(2) 59-64.
Efrat, M.W. (2018) Breastfeeding, self efficacy and level of acculturation among low-income pregnant Latinas, International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition, 7(4), 169-174.
Efrat, M.W. (2017). Exploring strategies that influence children’s physical activity self-efficacy, Contemporary Issues in Education Research. 10(2), 87-94.
Efrat, M.W. (October 2016). Understanding factors associated with children's motivation to engage in recess-time physical activity, Contemporary Issues in Education Research. 9(2), 77-86.
Efrat, M.W., Esparza, S., Mendelson, S. Lane, C. J. (2015) The effect of lactation educators implementing a telephone-based intervention amongst low-income Hispanics a randomized trial, Health Education Journal.. 74(4) 424 –441.
Dunton, G., Ebin, V., Efrat, M.W., Efrat, R., Lane, C., Plunkett, S. (June, 2015). The use of refundable tax credits to increase low-income children’s after-school physical activity levels. Journal of Physical Activity & Health. 12 (6).
Efrat, M.W. (April 2013). Exploring effective strategies for increasing the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity children accumulate during recess: A quasi-experimental intervention study. The Journal of School Health, 83(4), 265- 272.
Efrat, M.W. (2011). The relationship between low-income and minority children’s physical activity and academic related outcomes: A review of the literature. Health Education and Behavior., 38(5) 441-451.
Efrat, M.W. (2009). The relationship between peer and/or friends’ influence and physical activity among elementary school-aged children: The Journal of Health Promotion 7 Special Edition: Obesity Prevention) 48-61.