Part 1 with Keynote Speaker Pat Levitt:

**This conference Will Not be recorded. We hope you will be able to attend live.

__________________________________________________________________________

Keynote Speakers' Bios: 

Pat Levitt, PhD

BA University of Chicago

PhD University of California San Diego

Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University

Dr. Levitt is the Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and WM Keck Provost Professor of Neurogenetics, Keck School of Medicine of USC. Levitt is Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President and Director, The Saban Research Institute at CHLA. Levitt is a developmental neuroscientist performing basic research studies to determine the genetic and environmental contributions to building healthy and adaptive cognitive, social and emotional circuits of the brain across the lifespan. Clinical research studies focus on infants, toddlers and their caregivers to discover objective measures of risk for toxic stress and identify resilience factors. Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and appointed to the Independent Citizens’ Oversite Committee, the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Levitt serves as co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, engaging with policymakers in over 40 states and internationally to invest in children’s programs as early as possible. He has published over 330 scientific papers. Levitt is on the editorial board of 5 scientific journals and serves as a Science Mentor (with his granddaughter) on the Frontiers For Young Minds journal.

Brenda Jones Harden, PhD 

BRENDA JONES HARDEN is the Ruth Harris Ottman Professor of Child and Family Welfare at the Columbia University School of Social Work and Professor Emerita of Human Development at the University of Maryland. 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 who have experienced early adversity and toxic stress, particularly those who have been maltreated, are in foster care, or have experienced other forms of trauma. A particular focus is preventing maladaptive outcomes in these populations through early childhood programs, which she has implemented and evaluated. Dr. Jones Harden is a scientist-practitioner who uses research to improve the quality and effectiveness of child and family services and to inform child and family policy, especially in the areas of home visiting, early care and education, infant/early childhood mental health, and child welfare. She is the immediate past-president of the Board of Zero to Three and serves on various federal, state, and local advisory boards. She received a PhD in developmental and clinical psychology from Yale University and a Master’s in Social Work from New York University.

Registration includes a chance to be entered into a raffle to win a gift card.