Julia Coffman, MS
Linda M. Espinosa Ph.D.
Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D.
Harvey Karp, M.D.
Joan Lombardi, Ph.D.
John Love, Ph.D.
Donald Lee Shifrin, M.D.
Susan S. Stepleton, Ph.D.
Richard Weinberg, Ph.D.
Marc Weissbluth, M.D.

Julia Coffman is an evaluation and strategy consultant to nonprofit organizations and foundations. For the past 12 years Julia has worked with the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), a research and evaluation organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. HFRP helps foundations, nonprofits, and policymakers develop and evaluate strategies to promote the well being of children, youth, families, and their communities. Julia leads HFRP’s evaluation work, which includes conducting evaluations of foundation-funded initiatives and publishing The Evaluation Exchange, a nationally-renowned periodical on emerging evaluation strategies and issues.

Linda M. Espinosa is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri and most recently the Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. She has had experience as a preschool teacher, child care center director, elementary school principal, central office administrator, State program director, and corporate Vice President of Education. Her practical experience and research interests focus on the design and evaluation of optimal learning environments for young children who are at risk for school failure. Dr. Espinosa is currently on the Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and a Commissioner for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accreditation Standards and Criteria Commission. Her current research interests the professional development and teacher preparation systems and their relationship to effective early childhood teaching practices. Dr. Espinosa has worked extensively with low-income Hispanic/Latino children and families throughout the state of California. She developed and directed the Family Focus for School Success program in Redwood City, California which has received state and national recognition. She has published many articles and training manuals on how to establish effective support services for low income, minority families and second language acquisition. She is the past Treasurer of the NAEYC Governing Board and participated on the National Academy of Sciences Research Roundtable on Head Start. She has recently completed a three year study of the effectiveness of technology in supporting primary school reform and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Board Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy project and a contributing author to “Eager to Learn.” She completed her B.A. at the University of Washington, her Ed.M. at Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Chicago.

Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor in the Department of Psychology at Temple University, where she serves as Director of the Infant Language Laboratory. Kathy received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. at University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hirsh-Pasek has written 9 books. Her popular press book with Dr. Roberta Golinkoff entitled How Babies Talk, New York: Dutton/Penguin (2000) received wide acclaim and has been translated into Italian, German, French and Spanish. Her recent book, Einstein Never used Flashcards: How children really learn and why they need to play more and memorize less, (Rodale Books) won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. The book speaks to ways in which scientific findings in the child development literature can translate into educational practice. Professor Hirsh-Pasek has published 100 professional articles and has given over 80 invited lectures around the world. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and Human Development. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society and serves as the Associate Editor of Child Development, the leading journal in her field and as treasurer of the International Society for Infant Studies.

Kathy has a strong interest in bridging the gap between research and application. To that end, she served as an investigator on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, is on the Advisory Board for CIVITAS and their Born Learning Series and is on the research council for America's Promise, an organization started by Colin Powell. She has been a spokesperson on early development for national magazines and newspapers (The NY Times, People, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Parent's Magazine, Parenting etc.) radio and television (The View, Good Morning America, 20/20, NPR, ABC News, CBS Morning Show), and is an advisor for Sesame Workshop, Fisher Price Toys, Highlights, K'NEX, The Cartoon Network, and a host of Children's Museums across North America. Finally, she is co-founder of An Ethical Start, a curricular program in moral development for children ages 3 through 5. This program, created for the Jewish Community Centers of North America was funded by Stephen Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation.

Dr. Harvey Karp, M.D. is a nationally renowned pediatrician and child development specialist. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Over the past 20 years, he has taught thousands of parents, from working moms to superstars like Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer and Pierce Brosnan his secrets for making children happy.

Dr. Karp has appeared numerous times on Good Morning America, The Dr. Phil Show, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, Lifetime Channel, numerous national radio programs and his work has been featured by the Associated Press and Time, Newsweek, and People Magazine. He is also an authority on children's environmental health and on breastfeeding. Dr. Karp has a private practice in Santa Monica, CA.

Joan Lombardi, Ph.D. served as the associate commissioner for child care in the Department of Health and Human Services under Donna Shalala and Bill Clinton. As associate commissioner, Joan headed the Child Care Bureau which was part of the Administration for Children and Families.

Prior to her appointment, Dr. Lombardi served in the Bureau on Head Start and Chaired the Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion. She was also a senior policy associate for the National Association of State Boards of Education and co-authored Right From the Start, the report of the National School Readiness and Caring Communities Task Force. She is a senior advisor to national organizations such as Families and Work Institute, Zero to Three, National Head Start, and Children's Defense Fund. She is the author of Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities.

John Love is a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research with more than 30 years of experience conducting research, program evaluations, and policy studies with early care and education and family programs. He recently completed seven years as co-project director of the national evaluation of the Early Head Start program for the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He currently provides leadership for three early childhood studies, including a study for the Head Start Bureau to assess the implementation of Head Start's new National Reporting System, a five-year evaluation of the U.S. Department of Education's Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) program, and continues his involvement with Early Head Start through MPR's Data Coordinating and Analysis Center for the pre-kindergarten longitudinal research. An important element over the past decade has been research on the roles of fathers in their children's lives (and in their programs) in the context of Head Start and Early Head Start.

Dr. Love has been engaged in early childhood research since the late 1960s, and conducted his first large-scale program evaluation for the Office of Child Development (now ACYF)—to assess the implementation and impacts of the Home Start Demonstration Program (1972-1976). Since that time, he has directed and contributed to numerous evaluations, was deputy director of the Head Start Measures Project to develop new instruments for use in Head Start evaluations (ACYF, 1980-1983), led a task order providing support in the first phase of the Head Start Quality Research Centers (1995-1997), and contributed to ACYF's first report related to the Head Start Performance Measures.

Dr. Love has also been committed to understanding the environments in which children develop and learn. He is the author of a comprehensive review of the child care research literature and has conducted a number of studies of child care, including one in the context of Early Head Start that resulted in an important policy report on the role of the program in influencing child care use and quality.

A developmental psychologist by training, Dr. Love has extensive experience in measuring and evaluating children's development and well-being throughout the period from infancy into the early elementary grades. He has a special interest in expanding the often narrow perspectives of school readiness, and has worked extensively with federal, state, and community-level groups on issues of conceptualizing and assessing all the ways in which it is important for children to be ready to succeed in school. He has applied his knowledge of early childhood measurement in studies of Head Start and Early Head Start, Even Start, Title I preschool programs, state pre-kindergarten programs, and child care. He works with the California State Department of Education's Child Development Division on a project to validate the state's “Desired Results” framework of developmental indicators, which will be used in a statewide system to chart children's progress from infancy through age 14. Dr. Love is experienced in reporting results to audiences of parents, program directors and staff, funding agencies, congressional committee staff, state and local school administrators and teachers, and research colleagues. He has served on numerous advisory panels, including the Technical Work Group on Head Start Performance Measures (1995), the Advisory Committee for Head Start Research and Evaluation (1999), and (currently) the Commission on NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Donald Lee Shifrin, M.D. is a board certified pediatrician and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine in Seattle. He has practiced in Bellevue for 29 years.

He received his medical degree from Georgetown University in 1974. A three year residency and then a fourth year as Chief Pediatric Resident immediately followed at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and currently serves as Chair of their National Committee on Communications, which recognizes and evaluates the impact of the many positive and negative messages communicated to children by the media. The Committee formulates Academy policy statements, and promotes education and advocacy related to the impact of these messages on the health of infants, children, and young adults. He has lectured and conducted workshops for both parents and professionals concerning children and media.

Dr. Shifrin has had TV experience for two years as the pediatrician-in-studio for the KIRO's Seattle Morning television show, 7-Live.(Off air in 1999)

For the past 10 years he has been the voice of the Academy's Chicago based daily CBS radio spots, "A Minute for Kids." His interviews on the effects of media and media exposure on the social, mental, and physical health of toddlers, children, and adolescents have appeared in, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek. He has been a featured guest on the Parent’s Journal weekly radio program with Bobbi Conner.

He was the co-editor of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Parent Magazine, Healthy Kids, before it ceased publication in 2001.

Susan S. Stepleton, president and CEO, Ph.D., has a diverse and active background in human service, nonprofit management and public policy. Prior to coming to Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC), she was with Edgewood Children's Center in St. Louis, a social service agency providing treatment, education and prevention services to families and children, where she spent 20 years, including 12 years as executive director. She also administered the Salvation Army Hope Center for more than six years.

Stepleton holds a variety of highly visible offices at the state, regional and national levels. She is currently co-chair of the National Advisory Committee for Family Support and Family Preservation for the Child Welfare League of America, where she serves on the National Advisory Council of Executives and the Advisory Committee on Public Policy. In these activities she is involved in standard setting and program innovations. Stepleton also chairs the Dean's Professional Advisory Committee of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work (Washington University). She is formerly a trustee of the Pittsburgh-based National Center for Juvenile Justice.

Stepleton holds three master's degrees (German Studies, Business Administration and Social Work) and a Ph.D. in public policy analysis focusing on nonprofit management and governance. She has administered two nonprofit businesses over the last 20 years and has a special interest in nonprofit governance and fundraising. Her long practice in the public policy arena includes a strong network in the areas of economic, social and political policies and trends and their implications for children and parents. In addition to other recognitions, Stepleton was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Webster University in 1993 and the Reinhold Niebuhr Servanthood award from Eden Theological Seminary in 1996.

Richard Weinberg, Ph.D. is professor of psychology and adjunct professor of psychology and educational psychology at the University of Minnesota. He is also director of the Institute of Child Development and co-director of the Irving B. Harris Training Center for Infants and Toddler Development. For many years, Dr. Weinberg directed the School Psychology training program.

Dr. Weinberg has authored many books including child development text books and a volume on observing young children in early childhood settings. He has served on the National Advisory Board of Baby Talk Magazine and is the former associate editor of Contemporary Psychology. He serves on the Board of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society and has received a Distinguished Contribution Award from the Society. Rich also serves on the national board of Kinder Care and a number of other boards.

Marc Weissbluth, M.D., has been a pediatrician for over 25 years. Dr. Weissbluth is a leading researcher on sleep and children. He frequently publishes articles on sleep and lectures extensively. Dr. Weissbluth is also the author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and Sweet Baby: How to Soothe your Newborn.

Dr. Weissbluth is a professor of clinical pediatrics at Northwestern School of Medicine.