National Scientific Council

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child

What is the National Scientific Council?

This multidisciplinary group of world-renowned researchers, along with experts in policy and communications, is committed to closing the gap between what we know and what we do to promote cognitive, linguistic, social, and emotional development, as well as sound physical and mental health, for all young children. Established in 2003, the Council communicates science that transcends political partisanship and recognizes the complementary responsibilities of family, community, workplace, and government to promote child well-being.

Building on its long-standing role as a science engine for the Center on the Developing Child, the Council will partner with Connecting Science + Community to ensure that the science of child development is communicated clearly and accurately in ways that are actionable. Its members will continue to mine the frontiers of 21st-century science for policy and practice implications as new knowledge expands our understanding of early influences on child development and lifelong health.

Learn more about the Council

Latest Papers

Working Paper 15

Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined

Working Paper 15 InBrief

InBrief | Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined

Working Paper 16

Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development

Working Paper 17

A World of Differences: The Science of Human Variation Can Drive Early Childhood Policies and Programs to Bigger Impacts

Working Paper 17 InBrief

InBrief | A World of Differences: The Science of Human Variation Can Drive Early Childhood Policies and Programs to Bigger Impacts

Members of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child

Jack P. Shonkoff, MD

Chair

Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Graduate School of Education; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital; Founding Director, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Pat Levitt, PhD

Science Co-Director

Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President, and Director, The Saban Research Institute; Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics, Program in Developmental Neuroscience & Neurogenetics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; W.M. Keck Provost Professor in Neurogenetics Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

Nathan A. Fox, PhD

Science Co-Director

Distinguished University Professor, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Director, Child Development Lab, University of Maryland

Judy L. Cameron, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Obstetrics and Gynecology Reproductive Sciences, Clinical and Translational Science, and Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh; Director, Pitt Science Outreach; Director, Working for Kids: Building Skills; Senior Scientist, Affiliate Scientist and Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center

Greg J. Duncan, PhD

Distinguished Professor, School of Education, University of California, Irvine

Damien Fair, PA-C, PhD

Redleaf Endowed Director, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain; Professor, Institute of Child Development, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School

Megan R. Gunnar, PhD

Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University, Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota

Takao K. Hensch, PhD

Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor, Neurology, Harvard Medical School at Boston Children’s Hospital; Director, Child Brain Development; Director, WPI-IRCN (UTIAS); Director, NIMH Silvio Conte Center for Brain Science, Harvard University

Fernando D. Martinez, MD

Regents Professor and Swift-McNear Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center; Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Director, BIO5 Institute; Professor, Genetics – GIDP, The University of Arizona

Patrícia Pelufo Silveira, MD, PhD

Scientific Director, Genomics and Epigenetics Pillar Ludmer Center for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health; Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University

Natalie Slopen, ScD

Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

David R. Williams, PhD, MPH

Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology, Harvard University

Jenna Bannon, MNM

Affiliated Council Member

Associate Director, National Conference of State Legislatures