Appendix C
Committee Member and Staff Biosketches
LARUE ALLEN (Chair) is Raymond and Rosalee Weiss professor of applied psychology and vice dean for faculty affairs at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She also directs the Child and Family Policy Center (CFPC), which focuses on bringing social science knowledge to policy makers and practitioners concerned with young children and their families. As part of her work at CFPC, Allen has partnered with the agencies that oversee the publicly funded early care and education system in New York City and State on research initiatives such as authentic assessment in preschool settings, and Family Child Care Workforce Development. Allen was chair of the Committee on the Science of Children Birth to Age 8: Deepening and Broadening the Foundation for Success, which was convened by the Institute of Medicine and authored the 2015 report Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation. A follow-up committee, which she also chaired, focused on how to fund early care and education for children from birth to kindergarten entry that is accessible, affordable to families, and of high quality, including a well-qualified and adequately supported workforce consistent with the vision outlined in the prior report. The follow-up committee’s report, Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education, was released in 2018. Allen received her doctorate in clinical/community/developmental psychology from Yale University.
RANDALL AKEE is associate professor in the Department of Public Policy and American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Previously, he served as a David M. Rubenstein fellow in economic studies
at the Brookings Institution. Akee is an applied microeconomist and has published research on childhood interventions on child health and educational outcomes. He has examined the impact of school quality and access to child outcomes for Indigenous peoples in the United States. Previously, he served on the National Advisory Council on Race, Ethnic, and Other Populations at the U.S. Census Bureau. Akee cowrote a National Academy of Sciences (NAS)–commissioned paper on poverty and American Indian children in 2017. In 2019, he participated in an NAS research conference focusing on the U.S. Census and Differential Privacy. He is a research fellow at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Akee completed his doctorate at Harvard University in June 2006.
ALFREDO J. ARTILES is Lee L. Jacks professor of education at Stanford University. He is director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and director of research at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. Artiles’ scholarship examines equity paradoxes created by educational policies. He studies how responses to the intersection of disability, race, language, gender, and social class can unwittingly stratify educational opportunities for disparate groups. He has (co)led federally funded national and regional technical assistance centers to reduce educational disparities. Artiles is an elected member of the National Academy of Education, a fellow of the American Educational Research Association and the National Education Policy Center, and a senior research fellow of the Learning Policy Institute. He was a resident fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and was elected vice-president of the American Educational Research Association, leading its Social Contexts of Education Division. Artiles served on the National Academy of Sciences’ consensus study panels on English Learners and the Future of Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences, and served on the White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
RENÉE BOYNTON-JARRETT is associate professor at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine. A pediatrician and social epidemiologist, she is founding director of the Vital Village Network, which uses a trauma-informed lens to improve community capacity to promote child well-being in Boston and support coalitions nationally through the National Organization for Women Forum. Her scholarship has focused on early-life adversities as life-course social determinants of health, with a specific concentration on psychosocial stress and neuroendocrine and reproductive health outcomes, including obesity, puberty, and fertility. Boynton-Jarrett is nationally recognized for work on the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse
and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns. Through dedicated community partnerships her current work is developing community-based strategies to promote child well-being and prevent childhood adversities.
KENNETH A. DODGE is William McDougall distinguished professor of public policy and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. He is a leading scholar in the development and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors. His work provides a framework for understanding how current public policies perpetuate opportunity gaps in the first several years of life but could be reshaped to reduce gaps and support success for all children. Dodge has published more than 500 scientific articles, which have been cited more than 125,000 times. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015. He is past-president of the Society for Research in Child Development (2019–2021) and has been awarded the Distinguished Scientific Award from the American Psychological Association. Dodge earned his Ph.D. in psychology (clinical) from Duke University in 1978.
BRENDA P. JONES HARDEN is Ruth Ottman professor of children and family welfare at the Columbia School of Social Work. She directs the Prevention and Early Adversity Research Laboratory, where she and her research team examine the developmental and mental health needs of young children from low-income backgrounds who have experienced early adversity such as maltreatment. A particular focus is preventing maladaptive outcomes in these populations through early childhood programs, including home visitation, parenting interventions, early care and education, and early childhood mental health programs. Jones Harden has numerous publications in the early childhood and early adversity arenas. She has been a Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellow, in which she worked on early childhood program evaluations and research on children in the child welfare system. She is currently the president of the Board of Zero to Three, a national organization with a mission to ensure that all infants and toddlers have an equitable start in their lives. Jones Harden received a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University (1996) and a master’s in social work from New York University (1980).
PAMELA K. JOSHI is senior scientist and associate director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and policy research director for diversitydatakids.org. Her research investigates how social policies, such as early childhood education, paid family and medical leave, and antipoverty programs, influence children’s developmental trajectories and evaluates
their effectiveness in reducing racial and ethnic inequities in access to opportunities. Joshi is trained in Cochrane systematic review and policy equity methods and has been funded to undertake comprehensive policy reviews, most recently including the access of children in immigrant families to the social safety net. She serves on several expert panels, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Research and Planning Evaluation’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Human Services project. Joshi and colleagues received the Lawrence R. Klein Award from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics for their research documenting differential job quality of working parents by race, ethnicity, and nativity. Joshi received her Ph.D. in social welfare policy from Brandeis University and a master of public policy from the University of Michigan.
SHANTEL E. MEEK is professor of practice and founding director of the Children’s Equity Project (CEP) in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. She manages strategic partnerships with CEP partners at 17 universities and nonprofit organizations, policy makers, and national organizations, with a budget of over $1 million, and sets the strategic direction of the CEP. Meek previously served as a consultant in early childhood policy and strategy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC, where she advised senior staff on a range of federal and state equity and early childhood policy issues. Previously, she served in the Obama administration as senior policy advisor for early childhood development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and as senior policy advisor for education in the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. During her time in the Obama administration, Meek advised senior officials at HHS and at The White House on a wide array of policy issues, including Head Start, child care, public pre-K expansion, and promoting equity and reducing disparities across the early care and education system. She also worked on drafting official guidance and regulations related to Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and worked closely with states and communities on implementation.
BELA MOTÉ is president and CEO of the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago, Illinois, and is widely recognized as a leader in early childhood education and youth development. She is a seasoned nonprofit executive with successful program, strategy, evaluation, and organizational management experience. Moté has spent her career developing, scaling, and evaluating highly effective programs for children and families that improve systems and funding for underserved families locally, nationally, and internationally. Previously, she served as vice president of evidence-based
youth development for the YMCA of the USA. Additionally, Moté has held leadership positions with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago; Start Early; Teaching Strategies, Inc.; and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. She serves on several councils, committees, and commissions at city, state, and national levels. Moté holds an M.Ed. from the Erikson Institute.
MILAGROS NORES is codirector for research and associate research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research. Her expertise is in early childhood attainment and program evaluation, the economics of education, and international and comparative early care and education. Nores has recently concluded an early childhood study in Colombia and a study on parental–child educational practices for minority children in the United States, and an evaluation of the Seattle preschool program. Currently, she is currently leading evaluations of Philadelphia and West Virginia’s preschools programs. Nores consults for various organizations in education projects in Latin America and Asia. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Taubman Center in Public Policy at Brown University. She has been involved in sponsored research amounting to about $17 million. Nores strongly emphasizes moving beyond descriptive analysis to making inferences about programs and policies, examining the short- and long-term benefits of pre-K, understanding the determinants of preschool access and participation for different types of families, and assessing the impacts of access (or lack thereof) to pre-K on later academic achievement. She has a Ph.D. in education and economics from Columbia University and an Ed.M. in educational administration and social policy from Harvard University.
CYNTHIA OSBORNE is professor of early childhood education and policy at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. She is also founder and executive director of the national Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, an academic research center that translates research on state policies with demonstrated effectiveness at creating the conditions in which young children and their families can thrive into policy actions states can adopt. Osborne was an appointed member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty by Half in 10 Years and is currently an elected member of the Policy Council for the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Osborne’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of social policy, poverty and inequality, family and child well-being, and family demography. She has extensive experience leading long-term evaluations of state and national programs, with the aim of helping organizations understand what works and how to ensure sustainable implementation of effective policies. Osborne holds a
Ph.D. in demography and public affairs from Princeton University, a master in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a master of arts in education from Claremont Graduate University.
ALBERT WAT is senior policy director at the Alliance for Early Success, where he supports the organization’s strategy and goals for early education, including increasing access to high-quality pre-K, improving the early learning workforce, and enhancing alignment with K–12 policies. Wat has served on two National Academies committees, which created the following reports: Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation; and Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity. He also serves on the board of the Council for Professional Recognition. In late November 2022, Wat began a nine-month assignment as Senior Policy Advisor at the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support their initiatives related to the ECE workforce. Wat holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from Stanford University, and a master’s in education policy from The George Washington University.
2020–2022 James C. Puffer, MD/American Board of Family Medicine Fellow
RITA HAMAD is a social epidemiologist and family physician in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research Program at UCSF, and associate director of the UCSF Center for Health Equity. Her research evaluates the health effects of social and economic policies using interdisciplinary quasi-experimental methods, with a specific focus on safety net policies. Hamad has given presentations and provided consultation to policy makers and staff in the California state legislature on the design of economic policies to address health equity. She serves as cochair of the Communications Committee of the Interdisciplinary Association of Population Health Sciences. Hamad received a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Stanford University, an M.D. from UCSF, and an M.P.H. and M.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.
2020–2021 National Academy of Medicine Distinguished Nurse Scholar in Residence and Consultant to the Committee
ASHLEY DARCY-MAHONEY is a neonatal nurse practitioner and researcher who has worked throughout her career to advance nursing research, education, and practice, with a focus on neonatology, infant health, and developmental pediatrics. As director of infant research at The George Washington University’s Autism and Neurodevelopmental Institute, Darcy-Mahoney advances the body of research in infant health and developmental outcomes in high-risk infants with a focus on understanding the early brain and development trajectories in this population. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nurses, is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar Alumna, and a Josiah Macy Faculty Scholar; she was recently named a Modern Healthcare Rising Star in Nursing. Darcy-Mahoney holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S.N. from Georgetown University.
Staff
REBEKAH HUTTON (Study Director) is senior program officer with the National Academies. She is currently study director of the Committee on Exploring the Opportunity Gap for Young Children from Birth to Age Eight and the Committee on A New Vision for High Quality Pre-K Curriculum. Previously, she was study director of the Committee on Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety. Prior to working at the National Academies, Hutton was an education management and information technology consultant working on projects in the United States, as well as in Haiti, Equatorial Guinea, and Djibouti. She has also worked as a program manager and researcher at the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University and as an English-language lecturer in Tourcoing, France. During her time with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Hutton has worked on projects focused on fostering the educational success of children and youth learning English, reducing child poverty, and promoting the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youths. She received her M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University in international education policy and management.
PAMELLA ATAYI serves as program coordinator with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She has been serving with BCYF since 2009. Atayi provides clerical, administrative, and logistical support for the senior board director, board members, and project directors. She also supervises the Board’s administrative support staff and serves as liaison between
boards and programs of the National Academies, and related external customers, members, and sponsors on clerical and administrative matters. Further, Atayi currently provides logistical and clerical support for the Committee on Exploring the Opportunity Gap for Young Children from Birth to Age Eight. She was awarded the Sandra H. Matthews Cecil Award by the Institute of Medicine (now the Health and Medicine Division) in 2013, and the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education’s Espirit de Corps Award in 2017. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Maryland University College and a diploma in computer information systems from Strayer University.
MEREDITH YOUNG serves as associate program officer with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She currently supports the Committee on Exploring the Opportunity Gap for Young Children from Birth to Age Eight and the Committee on A New Vision for High Quality Pre-K Curriculum. Before joining BCYF, Young supported the National Academies’ Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) as a research associate. During her 5 years at FNB, she contributed to research focused on updating dietary reference intakes, revising federal feeding guidelines, and accelerating progress in childhood obesity prevention and treatment. Young received her M.S. in nutrition science and policy from Tufts University and her B.S. in human nutrition, foods, and exercise with a concentration in dietetics from Virginia Tech.
