3 - Key Opportunities for Collaboration with Other Maternal and Child Health and Early Childhood Programs

Lynlee Tanner Stapleton, Ph.D. serves as a public health analyst for the Early Childhood Systems team in the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau. In this role, she leads policy, technical assistance, and measurement work related to early childhood programming and is the project officer for the Infant-Toddler Court Program. Lynlee brings a combination of research, clinical assessment and treatment, and federal program experience to her work, and is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in child development, perinatal and early childhood mental health, and family processes. She has also led innovation programming, collaborative co-creation and program design, organizational change, and service delivery improvement efforts. Prior to HRSA, she previously worked at the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Lynlee received her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA, with minor concentrations in Quantitative Methods and Health.

Dina is Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Systems and Strategy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) in the Division of Home Visiting  and Early Childhood Systems. In that role she informs program development and policy around early childhood systems. She participates actively in federal partnership development aimed at improving the coordination and collective impact of programs at the federal level to catalyze state systems development and improve early developmental health and family well-being. She contributes to building strategic partnerships in the field and providing subject matter expertise in support of MCHB’s vision of an America where all mothers, children, and families are thriving and reach their full potential.  

Prior to joining HRSA, Dr. Lieser served as Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ National Council on Early Childhood. Dr. Lieser held clinical and pediatric academic leadership positions as well as nonprofit state systems leadership positions focused on practice and policy change to build bridges between the health and broader early childhood system to achieve population impact in health, well-being, and education outcomes.  

Rachel Herzfeldt-Kamprath, MSPPM, Team Lead for Policy and Communications Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems (DHVECS) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Kate Taft, MPH, has over a decade of experience working on issues that affect children's health, such as early childhood development, healthy weight, mental health, and injury prevention, at the public health and individual levels. As the Associate Director for Child and Adolescent Health at AMCHP, she leads and supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of program activities related to child and adolescent health, including children and youth with special health care needs. As part of AMCHP’s Early Childhood Systems Coordination team, she implements technical assistance and expertise to promote collaboration among Title V, MIECHV and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems programs. Ms. Taft has an MPH with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health from George Washington University, and a BA in Psychology from the College of William and Mary.

Maura Leahy, MPH, brings nearly a decade of public health experience in both state academic institutions and the national, nonprofit level. Ms. Leahy is skilled in curriculum and resource development, social media and communications, and e-learning development. She is also an expert in topics related to child and adolescent health, including adolescent sexual health, maternal and childhood lead poisoning prevention, and early childhood systems collaboration. Ms. Leahy centers her values of health equity and elevating lived experience throughout her portfolio of work and is passionate about supporting MCH professionals to make their work accessible to all MCH populations while working with individuals and communities most impacted by inequities.