The people who care for you and your baby.

Angelica is the founder of Barrio Babies, a family nurse practitioner (FNP-C) and IBCLC who has cared for newborns and their mothers since 2004. She is bilingual in English and Spanish. In 2018 she joined the newborn nursery at Tucson Medical Center as a hospitalist nurse practitioner, caring for babies with hypoglycemia, jaundice, feeding difficulties, and respiratory concerns, and coordinating referrals and continuity of care. She built Barrio Babies around treating mom and baby together, with evidence-based education so families can make informed decisions for themselves and their babies.

Heather is a family nurse practitioner (FNP-C), IBCLC, and BHRT-trained provider who cares for patients across the lifespan. A maternal-child nurse since 2004, she became an IBCLC in 2015 and continues to support mothers and infants through their breastfeeding journey. She leads our Barrio Balance+ functional medicine and bioidentical hormone care, with a strong emphasis on preventive, long-term health and an individualized, partnership-based approach grounded in education and shared decision-making. Outside the clinic she enjoys cooking, gardening, cycling, and trail running.

Aliceann Christy has been a registered nurse and IBCLC for over 30 years, across both inpatient and outpatient settings, including hospital-based lactation care and the lactation team at Tucson Medical Center. At Barrio Babies she provides home-based lactation support across Sahuarita, Green Valley, and the communities south of Tucson, bringing decades of clinical experience into the home to help families navigate feeding with clarity and reassurance.

Jessica has worked as a registered nurse for over 17 years, including as a labor and delivery nurse in both hospital and birth-center settings. After facing her own breastfeeding challenges with both of her children, she became motivated to help other mothers and earned her IBCLC five years ago. She supports families from first latch through the full breastfeeding journey, with care grounded in clinical experience and lived understanding, and provides home visits across Marana, Oro Valley, and the northwest foothills.

Jordan has called Tucson home since childhood and is raising her three children here with her husband. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Physiology and completed the Master’s for Entry into the Profession of Nursing at the University of Arizona in 2014, then began her career in the Tucson Medical Center NICU, where she spent eight years caring for newborns and their families. She later served as Perinatal Nurse Navigator and coordinated TMC’s Childbirth Education program, and became a Certified Lactation Counselor in 2025. At Barrio Babies she provides home visits across Rita Ranch, Vail, and the southeast side, and cares for patients at TMC Rincon, both inpatient and outpatient.

Kimberly Lagarda is a registered nurse with over 16 years of clinical experience focused on maternal and newborn care. She began her career in telemetry, building a strong clinical foundation, and now works at Northwest Medical Center across postpartum, NICU, and lactation units. As an IBCLC she is passionate about evidence-based lactation support and education, and as a mother of three she values meeting families where they are.

Maria Sara Villa was born and raised in Colombia, in a family closely connected to La Leche League that shaped her early love of breastfeeding support. She has worked as a childbirth educator and birth doula, and later became a registered nurse with experience in mother-baby hospital settings and school health. As an IBCLC she supports families through feeding challenges and early parenting with a calm, experience-informed approach, meeting families where they are. She provides lactation consults at our Central Tucson clinic.

After 17 years in nursing, including 12 as a postpartum nurse at TMC, Rachel provides in-home breastfeeding support across Tanque Verde, East Tucson, and Davis-Monthan.

Rhegan Derfus has over 15 years of experience supporting families through pregnancy and the postpartum period, and has been an IBCLC for the past six years, following earlier work as a Certified Lactation Counselor. A native Arizonan with a background in public health and social services, she provides evidence-based lactation care across rural Cochise County, with a focus on Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista, and a commitment to accessible, family-centered care in the community she calls home.