National Scientific Council
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
What is the NSCDC?
This multidisciplinary, multi-university collaboration 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 translates science that transcends political partisanship, reinforces the influence of cultural context, and recognizes the complementary responsibilities of family, community, workplace, and government to promote child well-being.
Building on its role as the science engine for applied work at the Center on the Developing Child since the Center was founded in 2006, the Council will contribute its expertise to help drive the Connecting Science and Community initiative. Having articulated the core concepts of ECD 2.0 in its most recent Working Papers (see below), the Council will ensure the scientific accuracy of new materials designed to apply these concepts in place-based work. In addition, the Council is continuing to explore the frontiers of 21st-century science and refresh its portfolio of products as new knowledge expands our understanding of how early experiences affect the origins of child development and lifelong health.
Building on its role as the science engine for applied work at the Center on the Developing Child since the Center was founded in 2006, the Council will contribute its expertise to help drive the Connecting Science and Community initiative. Having articulated the core concepts of ECD 2.0 in its most recent Working Papers (see below), the Council will ensure the scientific accuracy of new materials designed to apply these concepts in place-based work. In addition, the Council is continuing to explore the frontiers of 21st-century science and refresh its portfolio of products as new knowledge expands our understanding of how early experiences affect the origins of child development and lifelong health.
Latest Papers
Members of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D.
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, Ph.D.
Science Co-Director
Chief Scientific Officer, 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, Ph.D
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, Ph.D.
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, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor, School of Education, University of California, Irvine
Damien Fair, PA-C, Ph.D.
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, Ph.D.
Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University, Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Takao K. Hensch, Ph.D.
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, M.D.
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, M.D., Ph.D.
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, Sc.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
David R. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H.
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, M.N.M.
Affiliated Council Member
Associate Director, National Conference of State Legislatures