Dr. Caroline Kistin is a pediatrician and health services researcher. Her work to date has been funded by grants from NIH, PCORI, CDC, and the USDA. Many of her primary studies have focused on family mental health and the prevention of child maltreatment specifically, and more broadly on developing and testing family-focused and community-delivered interventions to improve both parent and child outcomes. Dr. Kistin has previously served as the Primary Investigator and Program Director for a T32-funded fellowship program through AHRQ, where she trained and mentored doctoral students and post-doctoral trainees in health services research, with a focus on health care quality, delivery, and health outcomes specific to low-income populations. 

Dr. Silverstein is the director of the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute and a George Hazard Crocker University Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at Brown University. Prior to joining Brown University in the Fall of 2021, Dr. Silverstein was associate professor of pediatrics, director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, and vice chair of research for the Department of Pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. He also worked as a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, New England’s largest safety net hospital. Since 2016, he has served as a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Silverstein’s research focuses on mental health services for children and families. His primary interest is the prevention of depression in at-risk mothers and mothers of vulnerable children.

A practicing physician, Ashish K. Jha, M.D., M.P.H., is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well has health policy research and practice. He has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and is now on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy makers. He comes to the Brown School of Public Health after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

Elizabeth Burke Bryant is a Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy & Practice at Brown University School of Public Health, based at the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. She is working to close disparities in maternal and child health, starting with family mental health, through policy and systems change. A child advocate with over 30 years of experience in advancing equitable policies and programs to improve the well-being of children, youth and families, she served as Executive Director of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, a children’s policy and research organization, from its founding in 1994 to 2022. Under her leadership, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT became the state’s premier child advocacy organization with a national reputation for its work to improve the health, education, early childhood development, economic security and safety of Rhode Island’s children with a core focus on equity and closing disparities by race, ethnicity and income. During her tenure, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT helped to achieve a nationally recognized RI Pre-K program, full-day kindergarten, near universal children’s health insurance coverage, a significant reduction in childhood lead poisoning, and reversal of a law that required 17-year-olds to be tried as adults and sent to adult prison. Prior positions included Director of Policy and Housing Court Prosecutor for the City of Providence, and Advisor to the Women’s Prison Mentoring Program. She received her BA from the University of Vermont and law degree from George Washington University Law School. She served as Co-Chair of the Partnership for America’s Children, Policy Advisor for the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, and Co-Chair of the Rhode Island Early Learning Council. She was named USA TODAY’s 2023 Woman of the Year for Rhode Island.

Marco Lima is an advocate, born and raised in Rhode Island. He currently attends Brown University and is concentrating in Public Health and Africana Studies. His advocacy began during the pandemic after seeing the inequities faced by many. Afterwards he focused on research, public policy, and creating solutions alongside organizations such as New Deal 4 Youth, Young Voices, and Every Hour Counts. More recently, he has worked on advocacy around youth well-being at the federal level. His efforts are grounded in the goal of creating a more equitable society for all BIPOC individuals. In doing so, he strives to uplift the voices and knowledge of youth who are experiencing challenges created as a byproduct of racism.