Lissa Knudsen

Ph.D. Student

Photo: true

2016 Cohort
lknudsen@unm.edu

Lissa Knudsen is a Health Communication PhD candidate, expected to graduate in December 2025. Lissa’s work employs a critical-cultural lens, focusing on health policy efforts to increase breastfeeding rates, media representations of breastfeeding mother-child dyads, and the contested spaces surrounding breastfeeding mothers. Her research now also encompasses discourse about other types of lactation and milk, including raw cow and goat milk.

In 2007, Ms. Knudsen won the National Public Health Association's inaugural Trong Nguyen Memorial Award for Student Leadership in recognition of the policy work she did to get the New Mexico 'Breastpump Use in the Workplace' bill signed into law. That same year, she also received the University of New Mexico (UNM) Student Volunteer of the Year Award. From 2009-2011, she served as the UNM Graduate & Professional Student President, advocating on behalf of graduate students, particularly focusing on efforts to create space and open doors for students who were also parents. She previously served as chair of the New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force and is currently the president of the New Mexico Cheese Guild, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting local cheesemakers.

In addition to her academic work, Lissa is a cheesemonger at a local cheese shop and is pursuing her Certified Cheese Professional certification, which is akin to becoming a sommelier for cheese. Her involvement in the cheese industry has provided her with valuable background and context for her research on public health discourse about raw dairy products and how this communication compares to and relates to communication about human breastmilk.

Born in San Luis Obispo, CA, on August 31, 1974, Ms. Knudsen received a B.S. degree in Health Science and a Master of Public Health degree, graduating with distinction, from California State University, Northridge, in 2005. She currently lives in downtown Albuquerque with her three cats, two dogs, and a small flock of backyard chickens.