AC21 - G1 - Policy Opportunities to Promote Social-Emotional Development by Leveraging Title V, Medicaid and the Medical Home

David W Willis, MD, FAAP is Professor of Pediatrics at Georgetown University, within the new Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities. There, he leads Nurture Connection, an impact network, to advance early relational health at the growing intersection of child health transformation and resilient community building in partnerships with families with a social justice commitment. He also is the current Co-Chair of National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Forum on Children’s Wellbeing.  Dr. Willis was previously a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Studies in Washington DC,  the Inaugural Executive Director of the Perigee Fund of Seattle, WA, the Division Director of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems at HRSA during the Obama Administration, and an early brain and child development clinician and leader in Oregon and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He currently lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife in close proximity to his oldest son's family.

Kay Johnson, MPH, MEd, is nationally recognized as a maternal and child health policy (MCH) analyst, advocate, and consultant. Her work at Children’s Defense Fund, March of Dimes, George Washington University, and Johnson Consulting have helped to shape the direction of MCH and Medicaid policy since 1984. Her expertise encompasses a wide range of women’s and children’s policies at the federal and state levels. Reducing poverty and racism and increasing access are two of her lifelong goals. 

Stephanie Doyle is a member of the Young Children and Their Families Team, supporting CSSP's work to prevent and mitigate the effects of toxic stress on children and families, with a focus on strengthening the role of families as leaders and advocates in early childhood systems. Stephanie is CSSP's lead content expert on quality improvement, helping the Early Childhood-LINC network use this approach. Before joining CSSP, she served as Project Director for the Defending Childhood Initiative at the Boston Public Health Commission, a US Department of Justice demonstration project to prevent and reduce the impact of childrens exposure to violence in homes, schools and communities. As part of that work, she led the design and implementation of a Trauma-Informed Early Education and Care Centers Breakthrough Series Collaborative that worked with Boston early care and education centers to use quality improvement methods to implement and adopt trauma-informed practices, policies and environments. Doyle is a graduate of Villanova University and earned a master's degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.