Summit Speaker and Committee Spotlights
Louis Appel, MD, MPH, FAAP
Director of Pediatrics
People’s Community Clinic in Austin, Texas
Louis Appel, MD, MPH, FAAP, serves as Director of Pediatrics at People’s Community Clinic in Austin, Texas, where for 20 years from 2003 to 2023 he also served as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Appel provides primary pediatric care at the clinic in addition to overseeing the pediatric clinical programs. At the clinic he has championed the promotion of early relational health and projects on group pediatric well child checks, postpartum depression screening, lactation support, and childhood obesity prevention focused on the prenatal and immediate postpartum periods. For ten years he served as a member of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child’s Pediatric Innovation Initiative working to develop a panel of biomarkers of chronic stress activation in children. Dr. Appel was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee that produced the 2024 report Launching Lifelong Health by Improving Health Care for Children, Youth, and Families.
He is a past president of the Texas Pediatric Society, where he also is a member of the Executive Legislative Committee and co-chairs the Committee on Early Childhood. He is currently a member of the executive committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Early Childhood. A graduate of Princeton University, Dr. Appel received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and obtained his Master of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, with a concentration in public management and community health. He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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Claudia Aristy
Director, HELP Project and Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read
National Board of Directors,
Reach Out and Read
Parent Leader, Nurture Connection
Family Network Collaborative
Claudia Aristy has been Director of the Reach Out and Read Program at Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and The HELP Project since 2013. Her career at Bellevue Hospital began in 2000 as a bilingual Parent Educator in both programs. Aristy was instrumental in developing all aspects of HELP including its Instructional materials. She was also responsible for training bilingual HELP volunteers and for translating and field-testing Spanish language materials for HELP and for the HELPix low literacy medication sheets.
Currently, Aristy oversees both programs–from administration to staff and volunteer training. Her passion for her work inspires staff and volunteers as well as the many professionals and media representatives who visit the programs. She serves on the National Board for Reach Out and Read, the Advisory Board of Leyendo Juntos-a National Reach Out and Read initiative, as well as on the Advisory Board of Reach Out and Read of Greater NY.
Following her passion and interest in early relational health, Aristy alongside her team, developed a prenatal educational program called, My Reading Promise, which encourages the pregnant patients to start bonding with their babies by talking, reading and singing to them. Aristy is also a Parent Leader in the Family Network Collaborative for Nurture Connection, which seeks to advance and promote Early Relational Health so that all families can experience the joy and lifelong health benefits that come from strong, positive, and nurturing relationships in early childhood.
In an effort to continue spreading the message to all areas of the hospital, Aristy and her team, launched a new program in the NNICU at her site called, Our Story Begins. This early-literacy initiative encourages families within the NNICU to utilize their voice to support bonding, language and cognitive development. Nurses provide books to the families upon admission and discharge as well as for every month the baby is hospitalized. In addition to the books, nurses educate families on the benefits of voice stimulation for their babies’ growth and development.
In 2018, Aristy was awarded the prestigious Joan H. Tisch Prize from Hunter College. Aristy has a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from Hunter College.
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Tyson Barker, PhD
Chief Science and Innovation Officer
Institute for Child Success
Dr. Tyson Barker is Chief of Science and Innovation at the Institute for Child Success. Dr. Barker directs the ICS efforts to support improved measurement and evaluation of programs and policies supporting early childhood development with the overarching goal of empowering organizations to better identify what works about their program and why. Dr. Barker received his PhD in Human Development from University of Maryland, and MA in Special Education from University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Randall Baylor
Project Lead
Children’s National
Randall Baylor is a Project Lead with Children’s National, as well as a member of the Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN), Healthy Steps, and Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI) within Washington, DC. Additionally, Randall also is the Executive Director of Hope and Healing Incorporated, a 501(c) nonprofit organization in Washington, DC specialized at working with marginalized and disadvantaged communities to level the opportunity playing field. Randall specializes in care coordination, resource logistics, parent navigation, and specialty medical referrals mostly encompassing the reduction of adverse childhood experiences and social determinants of health through innovative and non-traditional informative approaches.
Mr. Baylor’s professional journey has been committed to working with marginalized children and adults through influential work within: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Youth and Adult Behavioral Health, and Child and Family Advocacy. As a lifetime Washingtonian this work has assisted in empowering District of Columbia residents with information to promote life enhancement. Currently, Mr. Baylor has orchestrated and managed the redesign of the early intervention referral system within Washington DC through strategic partnership and citywide collaboration.
Randall has developed a longstanding relationship with key stakeholders within the District of Columbia, including, but not limited to, and surrounding areas encompassing empowering and equipping District of Columbia residents with information and skills to succeed in life.
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Catherine Beane
Senior Director of Public Policy
Reach Out and Read
As Reach Out and Read’s new Senior Director of Public Policy, Catherine Beane leads federal and guides Affiliate advocacy efforts, fostering relationships with policymakers, shaping public policy, and equipping Affiliates with the tools to navigate complex political landscapes across geographies. Her work is central to advancing our Public Policy Agenda and the long-term vision of scaling Reach Out and Read through public investments and pathways.
Advocating, organizing, and mobilizing in support of policies that enhance the health and well-being of children and expand opportunity for marginalized communities are at the heart of Catherine’s 25+-year career. A strategic advocate, she previously held leadership positions with YWCA USA, the Children’s Defense Fund, and FoodCorps and policy roles with the National Education Association and social justice organizations. Catherine began her career providing direct service as a trial attorney in civil rights cases and representing indigent youth and adults in juvenile and criminal proceedings. She earned her B.A. from Emory University and her J.D. from the Catholic University of America.
Joining the Reach Out and Read team marks a full-circle moment for Catherine. Growing up in Southwest Louisiana, she spent many a day helping in her dad’s pediatric clinic, and now she’s bringing her passion for education policy, early learning, and advocacy into an organization that shares her roots in pediatric care. Outside of the office, Catherine enjoys spending time with her husband and sons, is an enthusiastic gardener, and cooks a mean pot of gumbo.
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Dr. Alsan Bellard, MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer, Pediatrician
Alsan joined the Community of Hope in May 2021. He has been serving in health care leadership since 2005. He previously served as the Medical Director of the Children’s Health Center at THEARC and prior to that he served as the Health Services Administrator for DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. As Chief Medical Officer, he oversees the effective management of Community of Hope’s three community health centers and is responsible for managing clinical operations, liaising between the administration and medical staff, and ensuring that patients receive the highest standard of medical care. As a pediatrician, he also sees patients at our Conway Health and Resource Center.
Alsan completed his Pediatrics Residency at the Children’s National Medical Center. He is Board Certified in General Pediatrics and received his MD from Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and MBA in Medical Services Management from John Hopkins’ Carey School of Business.
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Brenda Blasingame, MA
Founder & Managing Director
Interconnected Alchemy
Brenda Blasingame is a social sector consultant and a co-founder of the newly emerging organization Interconnected Alchemy. She has decades of experience working on public health issues such as child abuse prevention, tobacco prevention, homelessness, psycho-social well-being, MCH and birth equity. She has over two decades of experience focused specifically on early childhood systems development working across issue areas and sectors. She has worked at the executive and senior management level and her experience spans working in three sectors: non-profit, government and philanthropy at the local, state, and national levels.
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Callee Boulware
Regional Executive Director
Reach Out and Read Carolinas/DC/Maryland/Virginia
Callee Boulware has served as Executive Director of Reach Out and Read in the Carolinas beginning in 2001. Over the past 24 years, the Reach Out and Read regional team has expanded our reach to more than 840 clinical locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., serving children birth to 5 years old in more than 1.8 million well-child visits each year. Callee leads a staff of more than 22 committed regional team members, is a member of the Reach Out and Read National Senior Leadership Team, and works with the local, state, regional, and national partners to build Reach Out and Read throughout the region.
Callee received her Master’s in Business Administration from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and is deeply committed to making Reach Out and Read a strong, sustainable reality for all children across the Carolinas. She is also a member of Leadership NC Class XXIV, an Advisory Board member of Capita, and a Riley Institute DLI graduate. She lives on a farm in Central, SC with her husband and 2 daughters.
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Amber Bouslaugh
Parent Leader
Hello Building Alaska Babies with You (BABY)
Raising Our Children with Kindness Mat-Su
Amber has immersed herself into early relational health concepts since the birth of her son. She’s been deeply involved in the community’s efforts to expand awareness and education around early relational health principles and has providing valuable perspectives and insights to advance the community’s efforts. Amber holds a Peer Support certificate and is passionate about uplifting other’s voices; she’s currently attending school in hopes of one day helping bring a prison nursery program to Alaska. Amber is a mom to one boy and enjoys theatrically reading books to him and is looking forward to introducing him to the snow-boarding culture this winter.
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Eliot Brenner
Executive Director and Trustee
Klingenstein Philanthropies
Eliot is Executive Director and Trustee of the Klingenstein Philanthropies. Prior to this, he held leadership positions at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut. Eliot is a licensed clinical psychologist and has maintained a small private practice for more than 20 years. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yale University and his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Chicago.
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Rahil Briggs, PsyD
National Director
HealthySteps
Rahil D. Briggs, PsyD, is the National Director of HealthySteps, a program of ZERO TO THREE. HealthySteps is an evidence-based, team-based pediatric primary care program that promotes the health, well-being and school readiness of babies and toddlers, with an emphasis on families in low-income communities. Since 2018, she has overseen the dramatic growth of HealthySteps to over 350 sites across the country, reaching more than half a million children and their families.
Dr. Briggs comes to this role after a successful career at Montefiore in New York, where she grew the HealthySteps footprint from one to 21 practices. She is also the founder and former director of Pediatric Behavioral Health Services at Montefiore, one of the nation’s largest integrated pediatric behavioral health services. This work was recognized with the 2018 Health Care Delivery Award from the Academic Pediatric Association.
Dr. Briggs is the editor of Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care, published by Springer (2016) and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate work at Duke University (magna cum laude) and her doctoral work at New York University.
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Lori Brooks
Chief External Affairs Officer
Reach Out and Read
As Chief External Affairs Officer, Lori Brooks shapes the direction, visibility, and perceived value of the Reach Out and Read brand. She and the External Affairs team craft, refine, and implement top-level marketing, communications, public policy, and partnership strategies to elevate Reach Out and Read’s identity and impact. Team X leads Reach Out and Read’s federal and Affiliate advocacy efforts and creates strategies, messaging, resources, and training to turn Reach Out and Read stakeholders into brand ambassadors.
Lori is an experienced leader in strategic communications, marketing, and nonprofit management with deep expertise in crisis communications, brand management, and media relations. In her recent role as Senior Director of Communications and Marketing for Oklahoma Contemporary, she led the team behind the brand of the nonprofit arts center as it built a $30 million new campus and leapt onto the national stage. Her resume includes The Albuquerque Tribune and The Seattle Times, the University of Oklahoma, the nonprofit College Media Association, and work with journalists and media professionals nationwide.
With a degree in news communications from the University of Oklahoma, Lori is a born storyteller, writer, and editor with work that ranges from international magazine covers and millions of monthly impressions to supporting underserved communities and elevating marginalized voices.
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Dr. Dominique Charlot-Swilley
Psychologist and Assistant Professor
Georgetown University’s Thrive Center
Dr. Dominique Charlot-Swilley is a psychologist and Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s Thrive Center, with over 25 years of experience in pediatric and early childhood settings. She focuses on intervention science promoting early relational health and provider wellbeing. She developed CPR² (Compassion, Practice, Relationship & Restoration), a wellness intervention for providers. Dr. Charlot-Swilley led the clinical implementation of Washington, D.C.’s first HealthySteps program and serves on the Zero to Three HealthySteps National Advisory Committee and FAN/AAP Advisory Board. She is co-director of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Family Leadership certificate program and contributing author to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)report on advancing early relational health.
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Jessica Clarkson, LCSW
Associate Director of Raising Our Children with Kindness Mat-Su
Mat-Su Health Foundation
Jessica has been a champion for children and families throughout her career, spending the last three years at Raising Our Children with Kindness (R.O.C.K.) Mat-Su. Her career has been dedicated to the welfare of children and families in Alaska, with a background in social work, child welfare, mental health, and child and adolescent development. Jessica brings passion, heart, and a holistic lens to everything she does—always thinking deeply about how systems change and relationships intersect to strengthen family resilience and reducing child maltreatment. She’s a mom to three boys and enjoys hiking, berry picking, and cross-country skiing.
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Shayla Collins
Rain or Shine Consulting
Shayla Collins is a devoted wife and a mother of two young Boys. Both of her children were born with disabilities. She quickly learned that she would not only have to be a fierce advocate for herself & her family, but for all families who are thrust into a multitude of difficult to navigate systems. In addition to owning her own business Rain or Shine Consulting, she works at the University of WA (UW) Center for Child and Family Well-Being as a facilitator of mindfulness, the UW CoLab on a project focused on behavioral health & the UW Institute for Human Development and Disability with Washington State Medical Home Partnerships Project. Shayla also has strong partnerships with several community and national organizations supporting Family Engagement. She enjoys reading, eating delicious vegetarian cuisine and antique shopping.
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Mark Del Monte, JD
Chief Executive Officer/
Executive Vice President
American Academy of Pediatrics
Mark Del Monte, JD serves as the CEO/Executive Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In this capacity, Mark leads a strong executive team for the organization which serves 67,000 pediatrician, pediatric medical subspecialist, and pediatric surgical specialist members. Prior to this role, Mark served as the AAP’s Chief Deputy and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and External Affairs where he directed the organization’s communications, public relations and advocacy activities.
Before joining the AAP’s Washington, DC office in 2005, Mark served as Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families, a national organization advocating for children and families with HIV/AIDS. Mark began his career working as a lawyer in his home state of California, providing direct legal services to low-income children and families affected by HIV.
Mark holds a law degree from the University of California (Berkeley) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Gonzaga University.
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John Duby, MD, FAAP
Physician member
AAP Bright Futures Advisory Team
John Duby, MD, FAAP has extensive experience in supporting implementation of Bright Futures in the practice setting and currently serves as a physician member of the AAP Bright Futures Advisory Team. Previously, he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Community Health at Dayton Children’s Hospital. A graduate of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, he completed his pediatric residency at Baylor College of Medicine and a fellowship in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. He chaired the AAP Task Force on the Vision of Pediatrics 2020, is a Past President of the Ohio Chapter- AAP and of the Society for Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. He and his wife, Sara Guerrero-Duby, MD, FAAP, are retired and live in Long Grove, Illinois near their children and grandchildren.
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Bryn Fortune
National consultant
Bryn Fortune raised two daughters with special health needs. She is a national consultant with 37 years of experience in the role of building equity driven parent/caregiver collaboration frameworks for system change. Ms. Fortune has expertise in implementation designs that can be applied at the programmatic, organizational, local, state, or national level. She supported the HRSA funded Education Development Center in the production of a Parent Leadership Toolkit for Home Visiting Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN), lead the production of the nationally recognized Michigan publication, “Stepping Up and Speaking Out” and designed the framework, “Building Equity Driven Parent Collaboration Systems”.
Bryn serves as a content expert and partner for the design, coordination, and facilitation for the Nurture Connection Early Relational Health Family Network Collaborative and a member of the National Home Visiting Advisory Network. Currently Bryn provides design, consultation, and coaching, to the MatSu Health Foundation of Alaska, the Pott’s Family Foundation of Oklahoma, the Maryland Philanthropy Network and Michigan’s Department of Public Health Home Visiting Unit that support the development of authentic parent/caregiver partnerships.
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Monique Fountain Hanna, MD, MPH, MBA
Interim Director of State Services
BUILD
Monique Fountain Hanna, MD, MPH, MBA currently serves as Director of State Services for the BUILD Initiative, which partners with states to strengthen early childhood systems. BUILD works with state and community leaders—together with families—to promote child- and family-serving systems that ensure young children thrive and learn. Dr. Fountain Hanna brings more than 23 years of experience transforming public health systems, advancing health equity, and improving outcomes for infants, children, and families. A U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officer, she has held multiple leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including Chief Medical Officer and Continuous Quality Improvement/Health Equity Advisor for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). She also served as Senior Regional Medical Consultant and Project Officer for MIECHV, the Medical Home for CYSHCN, Autism, Youth Transition, and the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Program.
A graduate of Spelman College, Dr. Fountain Hanna earned her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed a fellowship in preventive medicine along with dual master’s degrees in public health and business administration at Johns Hopkins University. She is a wife, mother to three active teenage children, and an active member of her community. She believes and lives out the words: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
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Lynette Fraga, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read’s new CEO, Dr. Lynette M. Fraga, is a mission-driven executive with over 30 years’ experience working at the intersection of nonprofit leadership and change management; racial, social, and economic justice; identity and inclusion; and human-centered designed solutions. Prior to Reach Out and Read, Dr. Fraga was the Founder and CEO of Fiercely Forward, LLC, a strategic consulting and executive coaching practice that helped leaders from every seat navigate the complexities of social, organizational, personal, and professional change through big and small transitions and crises.
For 10 years, Dr. Fraga served as CEO of Child Care Aware of America, an influential national advocacy nonprofit and network of 400 state and local nonprofits that deliver child care services and other family supports. She has worked in a range of community-based and national nonprofits, including 11 years at ZERO TO THREE, whose mission is to ensure all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. Dr. Fraga served in multiple leadership roles for the organization, including Chief Program Officer. She has also worked in the fields of higher education, family partnership, child welfare and family violence prevention/ support, juvenile justice, military child care, and social entrepreneurship.
In addition to her experience in the C-suite, Dr. Fraga has served on a multitude of committees and advisory groups focused on the earliest years of life, health and wellness, climate, and other critical issues impacting communities and families. She has also served on the Boards of Directors of several nonprofits, including current service on the boards of Generations United, Let’s Grow Kids, and The Campagna Center.
Dr. Fraga graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education and Rehabilitation and a Master of Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. She completed her doctorate from Kansas State University in Family Life Education and Consultation.
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Geeta Grover, MD
Affiliate Medical Director
Reach Out and Read Orange County
Dr. Geeta Grover is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at University of California, Irvine (UCI) and a board-certified Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician practicing at the UCI Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. She is also an attending physician for the teaching clinics at CHOC Children’s Hospital and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and Reach Out and Read, Affiliate Medical Director, Orange County.
Dr. Grover did her undergraduate studies in Psychology at Stanford University and received her Doctor of Medicine from University of California, Irvine. She completed both her internship and residency in Pediatrics, as well as a fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She has been a practicing pediatrician in Orange County for over 30 years.
As a pediatrician, Dr. Grover’s professional interests focus on ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Learning Disabilities. She is passionate about health equity and addressing social drivers of health, especially housing and food insecurity, and opportunities gaps in education that impact children’s abilities to achieve their fullest potential. At the core of all the work she does both in her clinical practice as well as within the community is her passion for children’s reading development. She writes and speaks about the impact that reading proficiency has on helping to close the achievement gap. Ultimately, she strives to support children in breaking out of the cycles of poverty and homelessness that impact their families.
Dr. Grover is active in her community with both professional and community nonprofit organizations. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She is a committee member for the AAP National Council on Early Childhood, Council on Community Pediatrics, and the Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and a member of the Reach Out and Read National Books Committee. On a local level, she is an active member of the AAP Orange County (AAP-OC) Chapter where she serves as the Medical Director for the Reach Out and Read Orange County Affiliate, Advisory Board Member of Clinic in the Park, and Chair of the Social Drivers of Health Working Group. She was awarded the AAP-OC Chapter Pediatrician of the year award in 2025. Since 2019, she has served on the Board of Directors of Illumination Foundation, spearheading initiatives that increase access to quality health care and educational opportunities for children actively experiencing homelessness. Previously, she has served as a mentor and an advisory board member for Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano College Mentoring Program from 2017-2023, and from 2021-2023, served on the Board of Directors for Serving Kids Hope. She is grateful for the support of her husband, daughter, extended family and friends who enthusiastically partner with her on her community outreach work.
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Janice Greundel, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Co-Founder
CT 359 Network
Janice Gruendel is co-founder of the CT 359 Network and CT Voices for Children, now celebrating its 30th year advocating for better policy and outcomes for children and youth. She has a long history in Connecticut’s senior executive service, including with child welfare, public health, developmental disabilities and corrections. She also served as Senior Early Childhood Advisor to former Governor Jodi M. Rell. She currently works as a guide and consultant. Prior assignments include Bridgeport Prospers, Pickens County SC First Steps, Two Gen Colorado, the Institute for Child Success, Public Consulting Group and the Edward Zigler Center at Yale University. Gruendel holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in education from Rutgers, and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Yale.
Her lived experience is marked by both joy and trauma. Her husband of 53 years recently passed away and she was also a young military widow with an infant and toddler while stationed in Japan. Joy lives in their three sons, their wives and children, ranging in age from 16 to 26 years.
Gruendel talks from the heart about her deep worry for the families and children of this nation and around the globe. “We are losing our moral compass for justice as a nation. Dismantling “government as a service to people” will leave our communities, families, their children and our grandchildren in physical danger, mental anguish and poor health. At a time and in a world where we must focus both on mitigating harm and building forward, crafting a policy pathway with our legislative partners to focus on the youngest among us, promoting healthy births, on target development at three, kindergarten readiness, and early school success – and equity for all.”
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Trude Haecker, MD
Board Chair, Reach Out and Read
Medical Director, International Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Medical Advisory Committee Member
Trude Haecker, M.D. the Medical Director of Global Patient Services at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, oversees all medical care for CHOP’s international patients upon acceptance to discharge. In this role, Dr. Haecker coordinates with CHOP faculty, referring physicians and patients and families to provide excellent pediatric healthcare. Dr. Haecker has over 20 years of experience as a physician at CHOP. She has worked to establish CHOP’s ambulatory centers and CHOP’s primary care center network. She is also the Medical Director of CHOP’s Reach Out and Read Program.
Dr. Trude Haecker has been the Medical Director of Reach Out and Read Greater Philadelphia since the Affiliate’s establishment in October 2002. A general pediatrician well versed in the developmental issues of young children, Dr. Haecker first brought Reach Out and Read to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in 1996.
Dr. Haecker’s outpatient practice focuses on the comprehensive care of children born prematurely. She has vast experience with chronic medical conditions, developmental delays and care coordination and has written extensively in the area of medical and developmental care of young children in foster care.
Dr. Haecker is also Medical Director of Global Patient Services at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2018, Dr. Haecker was elected as the Vice President of the Pennsylvania Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Patsy Hampton
Deputy Director
Nurture Connection
Patsy Hampton specializes in leading system-related projects in the areas of early childhood system building, with an emphasis on health and development. She is responsible for managing collaborative projects, providing well-established and proven effective strategies in the areas of early childhood system building, child health, cross-sector development and collaboration, and coordination of training and technical assistance activities. The recognition that strong, positive and nurturing early relationships build healthier, more connected communities is central to all of her work. She currently serves as Deputy Director of Nurture Connection a network that promotes strong, positive, and nurturing early relationships to build healthier, more connected communities located at the Georgetown University Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities. She previously served as Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), where she directed the Early Childhood Learning and Innovation Network for Communities (EC-LINC) and the adaptation and spread of DULCE (Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone).
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Megan Heavrin
Senior Manager, Early Childhood Healthy Development
American Academy of Pediatrics
Ms. Heavrin serves as a Senior Manager, Early Childhood Healthy Development at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She directs a team that works on upstream, macro changes for pediatric clinical transformation to optimize family-centered, relational health care delivery of the 16 recommended well-child visits from prenatal through early childhood. In her nearly 6 years at AAP, her work at AAP has directly improved well-child visits and rates of screening, referral, and follow-up in over 300 clinical practices in 18 states. Prior to joining AAP, she led design, implementation, and sustainability of community-based clinical interventions across 800 YMCA associations for chronic disease prevention at the YMCA’s national office, YMCA of the USA. Before the Y, she worked as a consultant to the United States Navy (USN) to integrate emergency medical services from the USN Bureau of Medicine into USN Fire and Emergency Services.
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Erin Henry
Chief Development Officer
Reach Out and Read
Erin Henry leads the overall fundraising efforts as Chief Development Officer for Reach Out and Read’s National Center. In addition to supporting Reach Out and Read’s day to day development needs, Erin and her team, identify strategic funding and partnership opportunities for the National Center and collaborate with affiliates throughout the country in the quest to create a world where every child is read to every day.
For the past two decades, Erin spent much of her career as a fundraiser for academic medicine, working primarily in corporate and foundation relations, strategic partnerships, and events for Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Lahey Clinic, and Tufts Medical Center. She is a former member of the Board of Governors for the Human Rights Campaign and has served on numerous fundraising panels through the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Massachusetts and Essex County Community Foundation. She graduated with a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and spent a year learning nonprofit management at AmeriCorps*VISTA at Jumpstart for Young Children in New York.
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Ira Hillman
Strategy Leading, Bonding
Einhorn Collaborative
Einhorn Collaborative is a national foundation working to advance the science and practice of social connection and social cohesion in America. Ira Hillman leads Einhorn Collaborative’s Bonding strategy, supporting collectives of funders and programs that promote early relational health. Strong, positive, and nurturing relationships between babies and parents from birth build the foundation for developing mutually supportive, nurturing relationships throughout life. Prior to joining Einhorn Collaborative in 2014, Ira spent more than two decades in the nonprofit sector, working with organizations in health care, the arts, higher education, and advocacy to transform their operations, develop new strategies, and build collaborations. He is the Chair of the Early Relational Health Funders Community and serves on the boards of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund. Ira lives in New York City with his husband Jeremy and their two children. He has visited all 50 states – a project he completed soon after his 50th birthday. Next up, seven continents by his 70th birthday!
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Becky Jaques Hasak
Director, Early Childhood
Valhalla Foundation
Becky works on Valhalla’s early childhood portfolio. In this role, she informs strategy development and grant recommendations and manages a portfolio of grantees, providing strategic coaching and thought partnership to accelerate their results.
Prior to Valhalla, Becky provided capacity-building support to a portfolio of early childhood grantee organizations at Tipping Point Community. She also served as the Senior Program Director at Health+ Studio, a social impact agency working to strengthen the impact of mission-driven organizations. Previously, Becky held the position of Managing Director of The FIND Program at the University of Oregon and spent eight years at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. She began her career in financial services as a marketing associate for ING Direct Bank Australia.
Becky received a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Miami University.
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Perri Klass, MD, FAAP
National Medical Director,
Reach Out and Read
Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics, New York University
Perri Klass, MD, FAAP, led the National Center from 1993 to 2006, during which time Reach Out and Read grew from a single program into a national network of more than 3,000 program sites. She is a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University, where she works in the pediatric clinic at Bellevue Hospital.
Klass received her M.D. from Harvard University and completed her training in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, and in pediatric infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital. She received the 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics Education Award for her work with Reach Out and Read, and the 2011 Alvarez Award from the American Medical Writers Association. She writes frequently about children’s issues, including the weekly “The Checkup” column for the New York Times.
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Lambrina Kless, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Reach Out and Read
As Chief Operating Officer of Reach Out and Read, Lambrina Kless leads the national network in developing and refining the systems and processes needed to drive programmatic excellence. Lambrina brings extensive leadership, program strategy and design experience with national organizations, most recently as Chief Program Officer for the National Center for Teacher Residencies, and National Director of Learning and Innovation at Teach Plus. Lambrina completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, and her PhD in Administration and Policy Analysis, with a minor in Quantitative Methods, from Stanford University.
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Dr. Dina Joy Lieser
Senior Advisor and Strategic Consultant
Child and Adolescent Health
Measurement Initiative
Dr. Dina Joy Lieser is a pediatrician and systems leader whose work bridges vision and action to advance early and lifelong flourishing. With more than two decades of leadership spanning clinical, academic, state, and federal roles, she integrates pediatrics, maternal and child health, and two-generation, whole-family approaches to strengthen the nation’s capacity for sustainable well-being.
As Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Systems and Strategy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA/MCHB), Dr. Lieser guided transformative policy, program, and partnership development, including strategic coordination within the Bureau and across federal agencies, that shaped national policy and practice. Her leadership informed Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS), Transforming Pediatrics for Early Childhood (TPEC), the Federal Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact effort, and the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) during its period of exponential growth. She was recognized nationally for advancing cross-agency collaboration, upstream innovation, and sustainable systems design that elevated comprehensive early childhood and family well-being at scale.
She now serves as a Senior Advisor and Strategic Consultant with the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), advancing the science and implementation of flourishing—aligning data, policy, and practice to promote relational health, prevention, and lifelong well-being. Through her consulting practice, she partners nationally, statewide, and locally to support strategic planning, practice transformation, and cross-sector collaboration, helping to create sustainable, integrated, upstream systems of care.
A former Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Early Childhood and Co-Director of Docs for Tots, and a current certified yoga teacher, she believes our shared calling is to ensure that every child and family can realize their fullest health and potential by moving upstream and creating systems designed for early and lifelong health and flourishing as the foundation of national well-being—a goal increasingly recognized as essential to our collective future.
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Jay Ludlum
Deputy Secretary
North Carolina Medicaid
Jay Ludlam is a nationally respected Medicaid executive who led North Carolina’s $10.2 billion transition to managed care, overseeing the procurement and oversight of commercial health plans, the development of value-based payment systems, and the integration of behavioral and social supports into plan contracts. His portfolio has included capitation rate development, managed care oversight, federal waiver negotiations, and financial alignment across multiple funding streams. Jay has worked at the intersection of state and federal policy, translating legislative and regulatory change into operational systems affecting millions of beneficiaries and billions in public spending. His experience provides a practical lens on how federal legislation, such as H.R. 1, affects state Medicaid programs, managed care organizations, and the broader healthcare financing landscape.
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Tish MacInnis
Alabama Strengthening Families Coordinator
Alabama Partnership for Children
Tish MacInnis earned a BS Education degree from the University of South Alabama. She is employed with Alabama Partnership for Children (APC) as the Alabama Strengthening Families Coordinator. Her responsibilities include the role as the state lead the area of promoting the Strengthening Families™ Initiative. She is a certified trainer by the National Alliance for the Children’s Trust Fund. The training is provided statewide for the curriculum of the Protective Factors of the Strengthening Families™ Initiative.
Tish created the Alabama Parent Leadership Network (APLN). In 2017, she co-created a curriculum for Parent Leadership. Parents across the state use the curriculum to train cohorts of parents as leaders in their families and communities.
She is an original parent member of the Nurture Connection Family Network Collaborative (FNC).
Tish is the Alabama Ambassador of the Center for Disease Control’s outreach program for Learn the Signs Act Early which aims to improve early identification of children with autism and other developmental disabilities so children and families can get the services and support they need.
She is passionate about improving statewide and local systems so that families have easy access to resources that can help their child and family become as strong as possible.
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Dr. Ebony Marcelle, DNP
Director of Midwifery
Ebony Marcelle, DNP is the Director of Midwifery at Community of Hope, which includes Family Health and Birth Center. Marcelle was previously administrative chief of midwifery service at Medstar Washington Hospital Center. She completed her nursing education at Georgetown University and Midwifery at Jefferson University and received her doctorate degree at Frontier University. She is a fellow of the American College of Nurse Midwives and adjunct faculty at Georgetown University.
Her advocacy work has included multiple congressional briefings creating awareness around the need for policy changes to reduce maternity care disparities. Known for her passion in midwifery and midwifery’s role in reproductive justice, Marcelle has built culturally aware clinical care models for under-resourced Black women. She serves on the boards of the National Association for the Advancement of Black Birth, March for Moms, and American Association of Birth Centers and is a member of the District of Columbia’s inaugural Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
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Mercedez Milling
Community Mental Health Worker
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Christian Minter
Perinatal Services Manager
Christian Minter (she/her) is the Perinatal Services Manager for group and support services on Community of Hope’s Maternal and Child Health team. She leads group health education and peer support programs for parents from pregnancy through the first year after birth. As a former librarian, she has supported literacy skills through public library reading programs and outreach to public schools. Christian received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Washington Bible College, and a master’s degree in library and information science from the Catholic University of America. She is currently pursuing a master’s in public health from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with a concentration in maternal and child health.
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Celina Nance
Early Childhood Programs Director
People’s Community Clinic in Austin, Texas
Celina Fuentes Nance, MSW is passionate about helping children and families thrive and has delivered case management and advocacy services to vulnerable populations in the Central Texas area for the past 20 years. As the Early Childhood Programs Director at People’s Community Clinic in Austin, she oversees programs that connect families with tools they need for healthy development- from literacy and school readiness to parent support and child development education.
As a sociologist, she has focused her studies on mental health service accessibility for undocumented citizens and has transitioned her knowledge of those barriers of access to care into providing services and programs in both clinical and community settings. By combining research and community resources, she has been able to offer parents a greater level of support and education to further help families and children succeed. Celina brings deep expertise in early childhood development, parent engagement, and program innovation and development. Her leadership has expanded early literacy initiative, integrated mental health supports into pediatric are, and fostered parentships that strengthen community resources.
At People’s, she has introduced programs for parents to help them understand that healthy brain development starts early in life and can be positively shaped by the strong emotional bond and connection between a parent and child. She hopes to continue this work with families and further improve her own understanding of the science of early childhood development to improve programs available at People’s Community Clinic and beyond.
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Dipesh Navsaria, MPH, MSLIS, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Human Development & Family Studies,
UW–Madison
Immediate Past Board Chair,
Reach Out and Read
Founding Medical Director,
Reach Out and Read Wisconsin
Immediate Past Chair,
AAP Council on Early Childhood
Bright Futures Guidelines
Advisory Group
Dipesh Navsaria, MPH, MSLIS, MD is a pediatrician working in the public interest. He blends the roles of physician, occasional children’s librarian, educator, public health professional and child health advocate. With graduate degrees in public health, children’s librarianship, physician assistant studies, and medicine, he brings a unique combination of interests and experience together.
He is a professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and Public Health, and a clinical professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the School of Human Ecology, both at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has practiced primary care pediatrics in a variety of settings with special interest in underserved populations, and continues to practice in outpatient settings. He also works regionally and nationally with Reach Out and Read, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 2022, he was appointed by the White House to the National Museum and Library Services Board, which ended abruptly in early 2025.
Committed to understanding how basic science can translate into busy primary-care settings via population health concepts and policy initiatives — and also be incorporated into transdisciplinary approaches across multiple sectors and schools of thought — Dr Navsaria aims to educate the next generation of those who work with children and families in realizing how their professional roles include being involved in larger concepts of social policy and how they may affect the cognitive and socioemotional development of children for their future benefit. The various ways in which we can influence the environment around children and families — from the very micro to the most macro — to ensure they can flourish and thrive is at the heart of what he does.
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Hannah Ongman
National Director of Network
Reach Out and Read
Hannah Ongman (she/her/hers) serves as the National Director of Network for Reach Out and Read, offering targeted support, resource development, and quality improvement across Reach out and Read’s network of Affiliates. She has been with Reach Out and Read for eight and a half years, leading in a number of roles focused on relationship building, program support, and operations. As Director of Network, Hannah also provides logistical oversight for external Summits/Conferences hosted by Reach Out and Read, ensuring the best experience for attendees to pave the way for the important collaboration that these events facilitate. Hannah received her BS from Northwestern University in Human Development and Psychological Services and has a background in pediatric mental health care and early intervention for children with disabilities.
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Christine Page Lopez, DO, MPH, FAAP
Affiliate Medical Director
Reach Out and Read Virginia
Dr. Christine Page-Lopez is an associate medical director and general pediatrician at Neighborhood Health, a federal qualified community health center in Northern Virginia, where she works with a predominately immigrant patient population. Previously, she practiced at VHC Health Pediatrics, a pediatric community health center in Arlington, VA, and Unity Health Care, a FQHC in Washington, DC. Prior to her medical career, she did health policy work at the national level for NQF (National Quality Forum) and CAQH (Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare).
Dr. Page-Lopez participates in pediatric policy and advocacy at a state and national level. In Virginia, Dr. Page-Lopez is Reach Out and Read Virginia Affiliate Medical Director, a member of the Board of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and previously co-chair of the chapter’s Immigrant Child Health Committee. At a national level, Dr. Page-Lopez is on the inaugural executive committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Healthy Mental and Emotional Development/COHMED, with its focus on pediatric mental and emotional health and development.
Dr. Page-Lopez’s passion is to support and partner with her patients, and their families, to maximize their physical, mental, and emotional health so they can achieve their life goals. She has a particular focus on wellness, immigrant health, adverse and positive childhood experiences, mental and emotional health and social drivers of health.
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Amanda Perez
Senior Advocacy Manager
Amanda works on the advocacy team at ZERO TO THREE with key leadership over Strolling Thunder, a project amplifying the voices of families with infants and toddlers speaking to the policies babies need. She staffs the Strolling Thunder Family Advocacy Network, Strolling Thunder alumni who continue the fight. Amanda comes to her role with an MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University, and experience in working with families in child care, early intervention for children with developmental delays and disabilities and Early Head Start.
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Aisha Quarles, MD
General Pediatrician
Dr. Aisha Quarles-Fisher is a General Pediatrician with over a decade of experience and a passion for early childhood development and intervention. Introduced to Reach Out and Read during her pediatric rotations in medical school, she was inspired by the way it combined her love of books with promoting healthy child development. As an attending physician, she reinstated a Reach Out and Read site in Washington, D.C. and later served as the program’s Medical Director for the city. Guided by her lifelong love of reading, Dr. Quarles is dedicated to empowering families, supporting healthy development, and fostering a culture of literacy from infancy onward.
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Nikki Shearman, PhD
Chief of Research and Innovation
Reach Out and Read
Nikki Shearman is responsible for developing and implementing a research strategy and improvements to our program to position Reach Out and Read to achieve our Next Chapter vision of incorporating our model as a standard of pediatric primary care. As Chief of Research and Innovation, she leads her team in the improvement of our impact through innovation, in offering training and skill-building opportunities for clinicians implementing the Reach Out and Read program and in maintaining strong relationships with our medical leadership to bring the clinical voice into our strategy and advocacy. She also coordinates the strategy for research and evaluation that demonstrates Reach Out and Read’s impact. Nikki brings a combined experience of research, operational strategy, and communications to this position, starting with 10 years’ experience in medical research in laboratories in the UK, Japan and Germany, and publication of her work in international journals. Subsequently, Nikki worked within the management of a variety of non-profit organizations in the UK and the US. Nikki earned her PhD in cancer research from the University of Southampton, UK.
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Stephanie Smiley
Senior Director of Life Course Development
Healthy and Resilient Children, Youth, and Families Department
American Academy of Pediatrics
Stephanie Smiley, MA, is Senior Director of Life Course Development in the Healthy and Resilient Children, Youth, and Families Department at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She leads national efforts to promote child health, early development, and early relational health, including initiatives to strengthen developmental health systems, expand screening and surveillance, and support member-driven strategies that elevate the needs of young children and families.
Stephanie also supports work in the school health space to reduce chronic absenteeism by fostering communication between healthcare and education systems, and building local partnerships to improve community supports. She contributes to the advancement of Bright Futures, a set of theory-based, evidence-driven, and systems-oriented tools that guide culturally responsive interventions to improve child health across family, clinical, community, health system, and policy levels.
Prior to joining the AAP in 2020, Stephanie spent 20 years at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, serving in leadership roles including Interim State Health Officer and Administrator for the Division of Public Health during the COVID-19 response. Her work emphasized multi-sector collaboration, strategic planning, and health equity.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
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Anna Strong, MPH, MPS
Executive Director
Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Anna Strong serves as the executive director of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In this role, she leads policy and advocacy initiatives and engages members and partners in programs that promote child health and quality pediatric care statewide. Her dedication to child well-being extends to previous roles, including Executive Director of Child Advocacy and Public Health at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Health Policy Director at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Anna was elected to serve on the Little Rock School District Board of Directors in 2023, representing Zone 5. She leads the board of directors for ForwARd Arkansas, and she received the Hendrix College Humanitarian Award in 2023. She holds a Master of Public Service from the Clinton School of Public Service and a Master of Public Health from the UAMS College of Public Health along with a degree in mathematics from Hendrix College. She and her husband and two young boys live in Little Rock.
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David Willis, MD, FAAP
Founder and Director
Nurture Connection
David W Willis, MD, FAAP is Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Georgetown University, within the new Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities. There, he leads Nurture Connection, an impact network, to advance early relational health at the growing intersection of child health transformation and resilient community building in partnerships with families with a social justice commitment. He also is the current Co-Chair of National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Forum on Children’s Wellbeing. Dr. Willis was previously a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policies in Washington DC, the Inaugural Executive Director of the Perigee Fund of Seattle, WA, the Division Director of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems at HRSA during the Obama Administration, and an early brain and child development clinician and leader in Oregon and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He currently lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife in close proximity to his oldest son’s family.
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Louis Appel, MD, MPH, FAAP
Director of Pediatrics
People’s Community Clinic in Austin, Texas
Claudia Aristy
Director, HELP Project and Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read
National Board of Directors,
Reach Out and Read
Parent Leader, Nurture Connection
Family Network Collaborative
Tyson Barker, PhD
Chief Science and Innovation Officer
Institute for Child Success
Randall Baylor
Project Lead
Children’s National
Catherine Beane
Senior Director of Public Policy
Reach Out and Read
Dr. Alsan Bellard, MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer, Pediatrician
Brenda Blasingame, MA
Founder & Managing Director
Interconnected Alchemy
Callee Boulware
Regional Executive Director
Reach Out and Read Carolinas/DC/Maryland/Virginia
Amber Bouslaugh
Parent Leader
Hello Building Alaska Babies with You (BABY)
Raising Our Children with Kindness Mat-Su
Eliot Brenner
Executive Director and Trustee
Klingenstein Philanthropies
Rahil Briggs, PsyD
National Director
HealthySteps
Lori Brooks
Chief External Affairs Officer
Reach Out and Read
Dr. Dominique Charlot-Swilley
Psychologist and Assistant Professor
Georgetown University’s Thrive Center
Jessica Clarkson, LCSW
Associate Director of Raising Our Children with Kindness Mat-Su
Mat-Su Health Foundation
Shayla Collins
Rain or Shine Consulting
Mark Del Monte, JD
Chief Executive Officer/
Executive Vice President
American Academy of Pediatrics
John Duby, MD, FAAP
Physician member
AAP Bright Futures Advisory Team
Bryn Fortune
National consultant
Monique Fountain Hanna, MD, MPH, MBA
Interim Director of State Services
BUILD
Lynette Fraga, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Reach Out and Read
Geeta Grover, MD
Affiliate Medical Director
Reach Out and Read Orange County
Janice Greundel, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Co-Founder
CT 359 Network
Trude Haecker, MD
Board Chair, Reach Out and Read
Medical Director, International Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Medical Advisory Committee Member
Patsy Hampton
Deputy Director
Nurture Connection
Megan Heavrin
Senior Manager, Early Childhood Healthy Development
American Academy of Pediatrics
Erin Henry
Chief Development Officer
Reach Out and Read
Ira Hillman
Strategy Leading, Bonding
Einhorn Collaborative
Becky Jaques Hasak
Director, Early Childhood
Valhalla Foundation
Perri Klass, MD, FAAP
National Medical Director,
Reach Out and Read
Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics, New York University
Lambrina Kless, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Reach Out and Read
Dr. Dina Joy Lieser
Senior Advisor and Strategic Consultant
Child and Adolescent Health
Measurement Initiative
Jay Ludlum
Deputy Secretary
North Carolina Medicaid
Tish MacInnis
Alabama Strengthening Families Coordinator
Alabama Partnership for Children
Dr. Ebony Marcelle, DNP
Director of Midwifery
Mercedez Milling
Community Mental Health Worker
Christian Minter
Perinatal Services Manager
Celina Nance
Early Childhood Programs Director
People’s Community Clinic in Austin, Texas
Dipesh Navsaria, MPH, MSLIS, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Human Development & Family Studies,
UW–Madison
Immediate Past Board Chair,
Reach Out and Read
Founding Medical Director,
Reach Out and Read Wisconsin
Immediate Past Chair,
AAP Council on Early Childhood
Bright Futures Guidelines
Advisory Group
Hannah Ongman
National Director of Network
Reach Out and Read
Christine Page Lopez, DO, MPH, FAAP
Affiliate Medical Director
Reach Out and Read Virginia
Amanda Perez
Senior Advocacy Manager
Aisha Quarles, MD
General Pediatrician
Nikki Shearman, PhD
Chief of Research and Innovation
Reach Out and Read
Stephanie Smiley
Senior Director of Life Course Development
Healthy and Resilient Children, Youth, and Families Department
American Academy of Pediatrics
Anna Strong, MPH, MPS
Executive Director
Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
David Willis, MD, FAAP
Founder and Director
Nurture Connection