Michael Silverstein, M.D., MPH, is the George Hazard Crooker University professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health and the director of Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. As a clinical pediatrician, Dr. Silverstein worked primarily in Boston Medical Center’s inpatient pediatric service before moving to Brown and turning to public health full time. He also saw patients in the outpatient primary care setting and taught residents and medical students in pediatrics.

Dr. Silverstein’s research focuses on mental health services for children and families. His primary interest is the prevention of depression among mothers experiencing social disadvantage and caregivers of vulnerable children. Dr. Silverstein and his research team have conducted community-based trials with Head Start preschool programs in both Seattle and Boston and depression prevention trials in medical settings among mothers of preterm infants and children with autism spectrum disorder. He has also conducted comparative effectiveness research to determine optimal systems of care for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder residing in urban areas, treatment pathways for screen-detected parents with depression, and systems to address food insecurity. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Silverstein earned his bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard College and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington, where he also obtained his master’s in public health and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program.

Dr. Silverstein has been a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force since 2016. He was appointed chair of the Task Force in March 2025. He served as vice chair from March 2023 to March 2025.

In April 2015, Dr. Phyllis Dennery, Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Pediatrics, took the lead for pediatric care, teaching, and research at the Lifespan health system and Alpert Medical School. She serves as pediatrician-in‑chief and medical director at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, as well as chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Brown. Dr. Dennery’s research, consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health for 24 years, addresses lung problems and other medical conditions among newborns. She has served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality (SACIM) and advocated for a Center for Health Disparities while serving at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Tuuli is the Chace-Joukowsky Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants Hospital. A board certified Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician, his research is focused on the prediction and prevention of adverse obstetric outcomes. He employs large cohort studies, randomized clinical trials and meta-analysis to generate evidence for managing obstetric problems including preventing of surgical site infection after cesarean delivery, management of labor, and optimizing management of medical complications in pregnancy. He currently leads two NIH funded multicenter trials on intravenous versus oral iron for treatment of anemia in pregnancy in the U.S. and use of a novel intrauterine negative pressure device for the management of postpartum hemorrhage in Ghana. His has 215 publications in high impact journals including the NEJM, JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics. Dr. Tuuli earned his Medical Degree from the University of Ghana Medical School in 2001. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, earning a Master of Public Health degree in 2003 with concentration in maternal and child health. He completed residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Emory University in 2008, and fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Washington University in 2011. Dr. Tuuli completed the Business of Medicine Physician MBA program at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 2020.

Dr. Parade is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University and Director of Early Childhood Research at E. P. Bradley Hospital. Dr. Parade conducts research focused on the biological and behavioral mechanisms through which childhood stress and trauma impact mental and physical health outcomes across the lifespan. Her research also focuses on the implementation and evaluation of community based interventions to prevent child maltreatment and violence exposure. The majority of this work is focused on infants and young children, as well as families in the prenatal and postpartum periods.  

Dr. Parade received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2010, and completed a NIMH T32 postdoctoral fellowship in child mental health at Brown before joining the faculty in 2012.