Dr. Jeff Linkenbach is the Director & Research Scientist at The Montana Institute. Dr. Linkenbach holds a doctorate of education with a focus on community education, and a master’s degree in counseling and has over 30 years of experience in the field of public health leadership. Jeff is also a co-investigator of the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) and is on staff at the HOPE Center at Tufts School of Medicine. He has developed national award-winning research-based programs to change norms. Dr. Linkenbach founded for the Center for Health & Safety Culture at the Western Transportation Institute; as well as the founder of the National Conference on The Social Norms Approach to Prevention; and the Montana Summer Institutes on Positive Community Norms. www.montanainstitute.com

Christina D. Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH is a Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she advances a new integrated Science of Thriving to promote early and lifelong health of children, youth, families and communities. She is the founding director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative and leads the National Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health and a range of projects to promote relationship-centered and data driven partnerships to improve policy, practice and equitable positive health outcomes for children, families and communities. She advances a positive construct of health and led and works to implement a collaboratively endorsed national agenda to address childhood trauma and promote healing and flourishing through research, advocacy and teaching. She writes poetry, dances and believes that attuned connection with our selves, life and others is the source of our creativity and joy.

Judy Langford is retired from the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, DC and continues to serve as a Senior Fellow. She was the originator and national director for Strengthening Families, a family development framework adopted in multiple disciplines, jurisdictions and agencies to promote healthy child development and prevent adverse childhood experiences. She served as a leader for the federal Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood (funded by the Children’s Bureau in the Administration on Children Youth and Families). Other experience includes the management team for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections Initiative and roles as an advisor for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Pew Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Casey Family Programs.

Dr. Baraka D. Floyd graduated from the Morehouse School of Medicine in 2011 and completed her pediatric residency at Stanford School of Medicine. She is a pediatrician at Stanford School of Medicine, Medical Director of the Peninsula Family Advocacy Program: A Medical Legal Partnership (FAP) and practices at an FQHC. Dr. Floyd is also a member of the Stanford Pediatrics Advancing Anti-Racism Coalition (SPAARC) Leadership Team charged with addressing racism via 7 key areas ranging from community engagement to training. At the FQHC where she practices, Dr. Floyd has built systems for maternal depression, integrated behavioral health, educational supports, adverse childhood experiences, and screening for and holistically addressing SDOH.Parallel to her local efforts, Dr. Floyd serves as a medical consultant for DULCE (Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone) and MLPB (formerly Medical Legal Partnership|Boston), Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) Core Faculty, and co-chairs a new Pediatric Academic Societies’ Maternal Child Health Special Interest Group, all focused on working with patients, families, and care teams to address SDOH and build on existing strengths to chart a path to success and reduce toxic stress.

Melissa T. Merrick, PhD, is President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America). Previously, Dr. Merrick was a senior epidemiologist at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta. She is recognized as one of the country’s foremost experts on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Dr. Merrick successfully leverages her significant clinical and research experiences to communicate and disseminate the critical public health importance of preventing early adversity to key stakeholders with diverse priorities, backgrounds, and knowledge, including legislators, business and civic leaders, and members of the academic and medical communities. She is one of the principal architects of Thriving Families, Safer Children: A National Commitment to Well-being, an effort that aims to reshape child welfare in the United States by focusing explicitly on equity and prevention. Dr. Merrick received her BA in psychology, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, joint doctoral program in clinical psychology.

Jamie Morrison Ward is the owner of Curricula Concepts, Inc. She earned her B.S. in Early Childhood Education and M.S. in Reading from the University of Central Arkansas. Jamie has over 20 years of experience in early care and education in a variety of roles. Currently, her focus is on training early educators and caregivers on the importance of engaging families and health and wellness for young children and adults. She is a consultant for Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. She is the President of the Arkansas Association for Infant Mental Health, Past President and Policy Chair of the AR Early Childhood Association, and the current AECA representative to the Southern Early Childhood Association. For self-care, her favorite things are hanging with her dog, Lucy, and CrossFit!

David W Willis, MD serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy and is a national expert in pediatrics, early childhood systems, early relational health and early childhood mental health. At CSSP he helps to advance the growing intersection of child health transformation and early childhood system building with a social justice emphasis and an early relational health frame. Prior to coming to CSSP, Dr. Willis served as the Inaugural Executive Director of the Perigee Fund in Seattle, the Division Director of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems in HRSA under the Obama administration, and a 30+ year developmental-behavioral pediatric clinician in Portland, Oregon. He received his MD from Thomas Jefferson University.

Corey B. Best is first, a dedicated father who recently founded “Mining for Gold.” He is originally from Washington, DC who now resides in Florida. This is where Corey began his transformation into adaptive leadership training, systems building, authentic family engagement, race equity, promoting protective factors, social equality, and highlighting “good enough parenting” for those impacted by the child welfare system. Corey has utilized his platform as a Community Curator to re-build child and family serving systems that are responsive to sharing power among constituents with a laser focus on preventing and dismantling all forms of racism.

Over the past 35 years, Kay Johnson has become nationally recognized for her work in maternal and child health, as an advocate, researcher, and consultant. Reducing the impact of poverty and racism and increasing access for women and children are two of her lifelong goals. Kay is president of Johnson Group Consulting. Her expertise encompasses a wide range of issues. Kay's work at the Children’s Defense Fund, March of Dimes, George Washington University, and Johnson Group have helped to shape the direction of MCH and Medicaid policy since 1984. Prior to her policy career, Kay worked with families in early care and education. She is a consultant-advisor to the HOPE national resource center.

JANE ELLEN STEVENS is founder and publisher of ACEs Connection, comprising the social network PACEsConnection.com and the news site ACEsTooHigh.com. The sites focus on the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACES), and how people and organizations are implementing health-centered, resilience-building practices based on that science. The network’s supporters include the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, Genentech, and St. David’s Foundation. Stevens has been a health, science and technology journalist for more than 35 years. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and National Geographic. She began reporting about PACES science in 2005. She has lived and worked in Kenya and Indonesia, and has been to Antarctica — in the winter — three times on reporting fellowships.