Donor-Human-Milk Network Board Adviser

The mandate

The authority is considering a shared donor-human-milk network for neonatal units that currently depend on uneven local donation, frozen transfers and case-by-case borrowing. The investment paper adds litres of stated pasteuriser capacity but does not reconcile eligible donors, screening attrition, container availability, batch formation, microbiology release, frozen storage, transport and the acuity of babies likely to receive milk. Directors need independent challenge before approving a network whose nominal litres may not become timely, released and clinically allocable feeds.

Six observations form the evidence spine: donor collection, pasteurisation and neonatal receipt are examined when the relevant capacity question is live, then carried into four scheduled committee sessions. The adviser retains four days in each month, deploying them between source review, the defined network question, private chair preparation and closure of that committee’s actions rather than offering a standing clinic. Management routes de-identified demand, yield, discard, release and transfer data through the programme office. If the proposed network changes materially, the chair receives an initial view within two business days and a considered written challenge within five; no part of this arrangement creates on-call clinical consultation.

The appointment ends after six months with the investment decision and a board record of unresolved assumptions. Renewal requires a fresh resolution identifying a new standing question, not slow facility procurement or an incomplete licensing process. Outputs comprise a usable-litre bridge, regional capacity cases, custody and allocation challenge, conflict register and launch conditions. Payment is for independent judgement and scheduled work, never for project approval, donor volume or utilisation.

The adviser has no line authority and carries no executive, clinical or operational responsibility. Neonatologists and dietitians determine eligibility and use; laboratory and Quality functions govern testing, pasteurisation release and deviation; public-health teams approve donor criteria and consent; Operations controls facilities and transport; executives propose investment and allocation policy. The adviser may challenge whether these decisions form a workable network but cannot recruit donors, release milk, prioritise an infant or certify a bank.

Hospital, milk-bank equipment, container, laboratory, courier, infant-nutrition, donor-platform and charitable interests must be disclosed. A relationship involving a proposed site or supplier requires case recusal. Family and donor records remain de-identified and within authorised health systems. The adviser cannot use network access to solicit donations, market formula or equipment, build a patient dataset or secure implementation work from a party assessed during the term.

Why the board wants this voice

Milk-bank capacity is a chain of biological donation, screening, controlled processing, evidence and clinical allocation, not a pasteuriser nameplate. The committee needs someone who can distinguish collected volume from releasable and appropriately usable feeds while respecting sensitive family choices. Independent scrutiny should reveal whether regional pooling genuinely improves access or simply moves shortage and discard between hospitals.

What you will own

• Test the bridge from recruited donors through screening, expression support, collection yield, batch formation, release, storage and neonatal use.
• Challenge demand cases by gestation, acuity, duration of eligibility, maternal-supply transition and hospital rather than undifferentiated litres.
• Examine pasteuriser, freezer, laboratory, container, staffing and transport constraints against peak demand and equipment downtime.
• Probe chain-of-identity, consent, labelling, batch genealogy, temperature evidence, quarantine and recall across shared-bank transfers.
• Assess allocation guardrails for shortage periods without substituting for individual neonatal or dietetic judgement.
• Compare central, hub-and-spoke and reciprocal-bank designs for usable yield, resilience, access, discard and family burden.
• Give the chair the usable-litre model, capacity cases, unresolved clinical interfaces, conflicts and evidence-gated launch conditions.

Candidate qualifications

• Held senior milk-bank, neonatal nutrition, maternal-health supply, transfusion-style biologic processing or comparable health-network authority.
• Has designed or challenged donor-to-recipient capacity across screening, controlled processing, microbiology release, frozen custody and allocation.
• Understands how donor eligibility, batch yield, discard, equipment downtime and neonatal demand convert gross litres into usable supply.
• Can respect clinical and public-health decisions while testing the operational evidence on which a regional network depends.
• Has advised a health board on sensitive donated-material capacity with de-identified evidence and transparent conflicts.
• Can identify when centralisation improves utilisation and when transport, release or local donor relationships create greater fragility.

Non-negotiables

• Can attend four Abu Dhabi committee sessions and six regional hospital, collection or milk-bank observations within six months.
• Brings direct donated-biologic or neonatal supply experience; generic cold-chain, hospital strategy or equipment sales is insufficient.
• Will disclose hospital, supplier, laboratory, courier, charity, formula-company and donor-platform interests before evidence access.
• Accepts no donor approval, pasteurisation release, laboratory, clinical eligibility, infant allocation, licensing or investment authority.

1. 49 words maximum. Which loss between recruited donors and released milk most often invalidates a capacity case?
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a shortage rule you challenged without deciding an individual infant’s care.
3. 49 words maximum. What hospital, milk-bank, supplier or infant-nutrition interest could require your recusal?

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