THE COHORT SEVEN FELLOWS 2017–2019
Michelle Bezark
PhD candidate, History, Northwestern University
Researching the origins of State-Sponsored welfare for children and families.
Bridget Cho
University of South Carolina Aiken
PhD, Clinical Child Psychology, University of Kansas
Building caregivers’ capacity to provide safe, supportive, nurturing parenting practices that promote resilience among young children exposed to adversity and trauma.
Gracelyn H. Cruden
Oregon Social Learning Center
PhD, Health Policy and Management, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fostering community-academic partnerships and applying systems thinking to collaboratively determine how best to promote mental well-being across the life course.
Annie Davis
Georgetown University
PhD, Clinical Psychology, The Catholic University of America
Dedicated to advancing early childhood mental health in low-income communities by evaluating community-based interventions and ensuring equitable access to services.
Yonah Drazen
PhD candidate, Social Work, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Focusing on the stability of the child welfare workforce, and how the combination of factors that encourage retention may moderate factors that encourage turnover.
Wendy R. Ellis
George Washington University Building Community Resilience Collaborative
DrPH, Health Policy, George Washington University
Working to grow a ‘resilience movement’ to address systemic inequities that contribute to social and health disparities that are often transmitted in families and communities from generation to generation.
Kenneth Feder
PhD candidate, Mental Health, Johns Hopkins
Studying how policies and programs can best meet the needs of children growing with a parent with a substance use or mental health problem.
Tyler Hein
Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
PhD, Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan
Utilizing quantitative methodology to inform prevention and intervention strategies that enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families.
Catherine Kuhns
The Urban Institute
PhD, Developmental Science, University of Maryland
Bringing a strengths-based and contextualized perspective to the study of our most vulnerable children and families.
Alysse Melville Loomis
The University of Utah, College of Social Work
PhD, Social Work, University of Connecticut
Studying the impact of early childhood trauma within the preschool context in order to develop trauma-informed early childhood systems that promote child and family well-being.
Natalia Orendain
PhD candidate, Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles
Bridging the gap between the neuroscience of adolescent development and policy efforts surrounding youth in the care of the Juvenile Justice System.
Christina Padilla
Child Trends
PhD, Psychology, Human Development, and Public Policy, Georgetown University
Examining the role that parents and early education experiences have on young children in order to promote child and family well-being.
Sarah Prendergast
Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Early Childhood
PhD, Applied Developmental Science, Colorado State University
Researching strengths-based approaches to child maltreatment prevention and promoting early achievement.
Aditi Srivastav Bussells
Children’s Trust of South Carolina
PhD, Public Health, University of South Carolina
Exploring the ways in which researchers can most effectively communicate about public health to help inform strong and successful policies and programs that promote equity.
Lindsay Zajac
PhD candidate, Clinical Science, University of Delaware
Conducting translational research to evaluate the efficacy of evidence-based programs for families and providing clinical services to youth with experiences of adversity.