Center Director & Senior Staff

• Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., Director
• Gillian A. Najarian, Managing Director
• Pat Kennedy Graham, Deputy Director of the Center and Director of Finance and Administration
• Al Race, Deputy Director of the Center and Director of Communications and Public Engagement

Staff

• Damiana Alston, Executive Assistant to Jack Shonkoff
• Jerry F. Boren, Consultant
• Charles Brackett, Administrative Assistant to the Senior Management Team
• Nicole Brown, Project Manager, Faculty Development and Donor Relations
• James Cairns, Project Director, Global Children’s Initiative
• Susan Crowley, Project Manager, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative
• Alison Driesch, Event Coordinator
• Becky Jaques, Project Manager, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative 
• Mike Kirwan, Project Coordinator, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative
• Millicent Lawton, Senior Communications Manager, Publications and Media Relations
• Susan Levene, Project Manager, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative
• Susan Lin, Project Coordinator
• Jessica Mason, Senior Project Manager, Global Children's Initiative
• Kent Neumann, Financial Specialist
• Mike Pastore, Senior Communications Manager, New Media and Technology
• Kate Rosenburg, Associate Director, Finance and Administration
• Holly Schindler, Project Director, National Forum's Meta-Analysis
• Joanne Sears, Operations Manager
• Martine Séverin, Program Manager, Education and Leadership Development
• Rebecca Stoltz, Project Director, Science of Health and Development Initiative
• Alyssa Swander, Communications Coordinator
• Tassy Warren, Project Director, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative

Researchers

• Visiting Scholars & Senior Research Associates >>
• Research Assistants >>

Center Director

Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., is the Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston; and Director of the university-wide Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. He also chairs the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a multi-university collaboration comprising leading scholars in neuroscience, psychology, pediatrics, and economics, whose mission is to bring credible science to bear on policy affecting young children.

Under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Shonkoff served as Chair of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families and chaired a blue-ribbon committee that produced the landmark report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. He also served as a member of the Panel on Child Care Policy, the Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence Interventions, and the Roundtable on Head Start Research.

Dr. Shonkoff has received multiple honors, including elected membership to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, elected membership to the American Pediatric Society, designated National Associate of the National Academies, the C. Anderson Aldrich Award in Child Development from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children from the Society for Research in Child Development.
 
Dr. Shonkoff has served on numerous professional networks and public interest advisory boards, including the core scientific group of the MacArthur Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development, the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development, and the Executive Committee of the Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has authored more than 150 publications, including nine books; co-edited two editions of the widely heralded Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention; and served on the editorial board of several scholarly journals, including Child Development.

Dr. Shonkoff completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University, medical education at New York University School of Medicine, pediatric training at Bronx Municipal Hospital Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and fellowship in developmental pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston. He has been a visiting professor or delivered named lectureships at more than 30 universities in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy and Dean of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

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Senior Staff

Gillian A. Najarian is Managing Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and was among the Center’s founding staff members in July 2006. She is Chief Operating Officer for the Center, responsible for overseeing and coordinating Center-wide governance issues, including resource assessment and strategic planning around all new initiatives as well as fundraising and donor relations, board management, faculty development, partnership development, and staff deployment and development. She currently sits on the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley’s Healthy Child Development Impact Council, the Advisory Council for Room to Grow, and the Planning Committee to develop a training strategy in early life adversity and experience-based brain development for the Norlien Foundation.

Previously, as Associate Dean at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, Gillian worked with faculty and research staff on media and communications issues related to public dissemination of their work in the context of overall branding and marketing for the school. Early in her tenure at The Heller School, she directed a complete reorganization of all student affairs, including admissions, financial aid, counseling, and career and academic services. Before joining Brandeis, she worked at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Prior to her career in higher education administration, she worked as an ESL teacher and foreign program officer in Boston, France, and Japan. She earned a B.A. in French Language and Literature and International Relations from Connecticut College, and an Ed.M. in Higher Education Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Pat Kennedy Graham serves as a Deputy Director of the Center and as the Director of Finance and Administration. As a member of the senior management team at the Center, she has primary responsibility for budget planning and forecasting, contract and grants administration, human resources, strategic planning, and the Center’s operations efforts. Pat has held senior positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, its Department of Facilities, and at its Media Lab. She has served as deputy director for operations at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, and most recently worked at the Smithsonian’s Freer Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington, DC, as associate director for finance and administration. Throughout her career, Pat has managed all types of administrative and operational functions, including finance, human resources, information technology, contract and grants, event planning, travel, communications, and facilities groups, as well as managing an engineering fabrication function and a scientific library. Pat earned her undergraduate degree in English from Boston College and a master’s degree from Boston University.

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Al Race is the Center’s Deputy Director and Director of Communications and Public Engagement. His responsibilities include overall thought leadership for the Center’s knowledge translation and public engagement portfolios, and he leads the development and execution of strategic communications plans for the Center and its initiatives, including the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, the Frontiers of Innovation initiative, and the Global Children’s Initiative. He works with scientists, researchers, students, and business leaders on improving the presentation of the science of early childhood to policymakers and the general public and directs the Center’s communications research agenda and the development of publications and new media products. As Deputy Director, he participates in formulating, revising, and operationalizing the Center’s strategic plan, vision-setting and strategic alignment, portfolio prioritization, project governance, and development and donor relations activities. In addition, Al has primary responsibility for ensuring the strategic alignment of outputs in all projects, initiatives, and products as well as conceptualizing an impact measurement system across the Center. Prior to joining the Center, Al provided leadership in editorial development for a range of print and multimedia publishing ventures in education, entertainment, and media literacy. He received his B.A. in English Literature from Middlebury College.

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Staff

Damiana Alston joined the Center in October 2011 as Executive Assistant to Jack Shonkoff.  In addition to performing essential administrative tasks for the Center Director such as calendaring, making travel arrangements and drafting correspondences, she acts as the first point of contact for the Center and provides customer service for a variety of relationships both within and outside of the University.
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Jerry F. Boren, who was among the Center’s founding staff members in July 2006, serves as Consultant to the Center, providing financial and administrative expertise. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of the Center and Director of Finance and Administration. Jerry came to the Center from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University where he served as Senior Administrative Officer. In this role, he was responsible for supervising the financial and central administrative services of the school. Prior to assuming school-wide responsibilities, he served as Associate Director of the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at The Heller School, where his role focused on financial and administrative services. Before joining Brandeis, he taught sociology at Merrimack College, worked as a management consultant, and served as research director for the Center on Corporate Community Relations at Boston College. He earned an M.A. in social ethics from Andover Newton Theological School and a Ph.D. in sociology from Boston College.
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Charles Brackett joined the Center in March 2011 as Administrative Assistant to the Senior Management Team. His work includes scheduling and providing administrative and systems support to the Center’s senior staff. Charles holds a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from McGill University and an M.A. in Political Science from Northeastern University.
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Nicole Brown joined the Center in January 2011 as Project Manager, Faculty Development and Donor Relations. Nicole’s portfolio includes management of faculty and boards, including the Center’s cross-University Steering Committee; donor relations, including donor research and tracking, the production of development materials, and writing progress reports; and performance measurement. Nicole received her bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College).
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James Cairns joined the Center in November 2008 as Project Director for the Global Children’s Initiative. Prior to joining the Center, Jim served as the Director of Programs at the World Conference of Religions for Peace, coordinating global program strategy and overseeing programs in conflict transformation, peace building, child rights, sustainable development and HIV/AIDS in the organization’s International Secretariat. He previously served as Director of the Advocacy and Action for Children Program, managing the organization’s involvement in all issues related to child and family welfare, particularly the impact of HIV/AIDS on children. He holds master’s degrees in international relations and theology from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University.
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Susan Crowley joined the Center in April 2011 as Project Manager for the Frontiers of Innovation (FOI) initiative, bringing extensive management experience in health care, early education, and university settings. She works with the FOI team and its partners to develop and test innovative strategies aimed at decreasing barriers to learning, particularly focusing on managing the FOI-sponsored working groups, the Innovation by Design process, and links to policy work. She earned a B.S. in nursing from Boston University and an M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School.
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Alison Driesch joined the Center in March 2011 as the Event Coordinator. In this position, she supports meetings for the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, the Early Childhood Innovation Partnership, the Center’s Education and Leadership Development domain, and the Global Children’s Initiative. Previously, she worked for Enterprise Community Partners organizing a broad range of meetings and national conferences. Alison received her B.S. in marketing from Roger Williams University and is currently pursuing her Certified Meeting Professional designation.
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Becky Jaques is a Project Manager for the Frontiers of Innovation initiative, having joined the Center in October 2010. Previously, she worked at the Council on Competitiveness as a research associate for global initiatives. She also worked in Sydney, Australia, for ING DIRECT bank in marketing. Becky received her B.S. in business administration, specializing in marketing and international business, from Miami University.

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Mike Kirwan joined the Center in June 2011 as a Project Coordinator for the Frontiers of Innovation initiative. Previously, he worked as a graduate research assistant for Dr. Nathan Fox, a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. He holds a B.A. in psychology and economics from Williams College and an M.A. in human development from the University of Maryland, College Park.

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Millicent Lawton joined the Center in February 2009. As Senior Communications Manager, Publications and Media Relations, she manages copyediting, layout, and production of all Center publications, generates editorial content for the web, writes press releases and leads media relations activities, and implements framing research. Previously, she worked for more than four years as an editor in the Center for Science Education at Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC) in Newton, Mass., and for more than a dozen years as a newspaper and magazine journalist in Washington, D.C., and Boston, covering education issues, politics, and public policy. She received her B.A. in history from Harvard University.
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Susan Levene joined the Center in April 2011 as Project Manager for the Frontiers of Innovation (FOI) initiative, bringing extensive experience in interdisciplinary collaborations for educational projects and documentary films. She works with the FOI team and its partners to develop and test innovative strategies aimed at decreasing barriers to learning, particularly focusing on managing the FOI website, idea-focused working groups, dynamic mapping of the early childhood field and FOI’s evaluation. She earned a B.A. in history from Cornell University.
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Susan Lin joined the Center in July 2010 as a Project Coordinator for the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, and the Center's Science of Health and Development Initiative. She received her B.A. in psychology from Boston University and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. 
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Jessica Mason joined the Center in August 2010. As Senior Project Manager for the Global Children’s Initiative, she manages the design and implementation of the Center’s global programs. Jessica has a wide range of global child development experience in research, policy, and practice initiatives across Latin America and the Caribbean, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and North America. She holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University, a postgraduate certificate in international business management from Georgetown University, and a master’s degree in international education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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Kent Neumann joined the Center in August 2008. He is responsible for monitoring and reconciling Center accounts; processing invoices, travel and other reimbursements; managing student payroll; and preparing consultant agreements. He also assists with the yearly budget and tracks spending. Kent received his B.A. in communications from the University of New Hampshire.
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Mike Pastore serves as Senior Communications Manager, New Media and Technology, having joined the Center in April 2008. He oversees the Center’s Web site, online presence and electronic communications, as well as a range of multimedia products. Mike holds a B.S. in journalism from Boston University and is pursuing his master’s degree in information technology at Harvard University Extension School, with a concentration in digital media and instructional design.
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Kate Rosenburg joined the Center in 2007. As the Associate Director of Finance and Administration, she works closely with the Director of Finance and Administration in ensuring that the Center’s financial systems are working smoothly. She is also responsible for the Center’s human resource needs and oversees the Center’s administrative and operational requirements. Prior to coming to the Center, Kate worked for 12 years in the office of Harvard Real Estate Services as its contract manager.
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Holly Schindler joined the Center on the Developing Child as a postdoctoral fellow in April 2007 after completing her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. Her work at the Center is situated within the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs and includes serving as project director of the Forum’s meta-analysis on early childhood program evaluations from the prenatal period to age 5. She is also a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She co-teaches the Center's undergraduate course, From Neurons to Nations: The Science of Early Childhood Development and the Foundations of a Successful Society.
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Joanne Sears serves as Operations Manager, having joined the Center in July 2006. Joanne serves as point of contact for all facilities-related inquiries and issues, including IT, supplies and office equipment, working closely with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, building staff, and contractors to ensure quality, functionality and timely service. She also works with managers across the Center to onboard new staff, serves as a communications hub by maintaining current resource materials, and works with the administrative team to create and implement new and improved systems to keep the office connected and operating smoothly.
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Martine Séverin has worked at the Center since May 2007. As a program manager, she provides the action leadership for the Education and Leadership Development domain at the Center, working closely with staff and faculty to provide meaningful opportunities for students here and abroad. Martine earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and a master's degree in education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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Rebecca Stoltz joined the Center on the Developing Child in May 2007. As Project Director, she provides leadership for the Science of Health and Development Initiative, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs. She earned a B.A. in child development from Tufts University and an M.P.H. in maternal and child health from Boston University School of Public Health.
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Alyssa Swander joined the Center in December 2010. As Communications Coordinator, she works closely with the other members of the Center’s communications team in the production of publications and presentations, maintaining the Center’s Web site, producing the Center’s e-mail newsletter, and responding to requests and inquiries, among other responsibilities. She is a 2006 graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in English and minored in education.
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Tassy Warren joined the Center in May 2007. As Project Director of the Frontiers of Innovation initiative, she provides action leadership for the Center’s efforts to produce transformational thinking based on science, beyond what has been tried in practice and policy, about how to enhance human potential by germinating and testing strategies that produce breakthrough outcomes for vulnerable young children and families. Tassy received her B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and her Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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