Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach

Consensus

Download PDF

Paperback - $85.50
Ebook - $67.49

Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood.

Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity.

Additional materials

Publication information

620 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49338-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49339-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25466

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Import this citation to:

Jennifer E. DeVoe

Jennifer E. DeVoe, M.D., D.Phil, is Chair of and Saultz Endowed Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). As a practicing family physician and doctorally trained health services researcher, Dr. DeVoe studies access to health care, disparities in care, and the impact of practice and policy interventions on vulnerable populations. Her research portfolio spans both OHSU Family Medicine and OCHIN, Inc., a national community health information network based in Portland, OR. Dr. DeVoe leads a multidisciplinary research team with expertise in informatics, sociology, epidemiology, biostatistics, economics, primary care, mental health, health-services research, clinical medicine, health-care disparities and anthropology. Dr. DeVoe is Senior Research Advisor at OCHIN where she previously served as Chief Research Officer and as Executive Director of the OCHIN practice-based research network of community health centers from 2010-2016. Dr. DeVoe serves as a Principal Investigator (PI) or co-Investigator on numerous research studies funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI); the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, with nearly $20 million in active grant funding. She also serves as co-PI of the ADVANCE Clinical Data Research Network, part of PCORnet, which is 'horizontally' integrating electronic health record data, creating a unique community laboratory for including disadvantaged and vulnerable patients across the country. She holds joint appointments in the OHSU Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology and at Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for Health Research. She also serves on the National Core Team for Family Medicine for America's Health Board of Directors and is past president of the North American Primary Care Research Group. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014. Dr. DeVoe served as a NAM Puffer/ABFM Anniversary fellow from 2012-2014, and she served on the National Academies Committee on Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care for Adults from 2015–2016. Dr. DeVoe earned her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1999. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar in 1996, she also earned an MPhil and DPhil from Oxford University in 1998 and 2001, respectively. She completed her family medicine residency at OHSU in 2004 and earned an MCR from OHSU in 2010.

Nadine Burke Harris

Nadine Burke Harris, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, is the CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness. She is a pioneer in the field of medicine, dedicated to changing the way society responds to one of the most serious, expensive, and widespread public health crises of our time: childhood trauma. As founder and CEO of the Center, Dr. Burke Harris has brought this critical work to stages at the Mayo Clinic, American Academy of Pediatrics, Aspen Institute, and the Partnership for a Healthier America. Her TED Talk, “How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime,” has been viewed more than 3.8 million times. Her work has been profiled in best-selling books including “How Children Succeed” by Paul Tough and “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance, as well as in Jamie Redford’s feature film, “Resilience.” It has also been featured on CNN and Fox News, and in USA Today, NPR, and the New York Times. Dr. Burke Harris recently wrote a book on the issue of childhood adversity and health called “The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity” that was released in January 2018. Dr. Burke Harris is the recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Heinz Award for the Human Condition. Additionally, she serves as an expert advisor to the Too Small to Fail initiative, and as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics National Advisory Board for Screening.

Elizabeth E. Davis

Elizabeth E. Davis, Ph.D., is a Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota and recently served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Financing Early Care and Education with a Highly Qualified Workforce. Dr. Davis conducts research in economics and public policy related to low-income families, child care and early education, and low-wage and rural labor markets in the U.S. Her recent research has focused on disparities in access to high-quality child care, including development of new measures of access that are family-centered and take cost, proximity and quality into account. Other studies on early childhood topics have examined the role of child care subsidies in families’ decisions about employment and the type, quality and stability of child care arrangements. In related work, she has examined the dynamics of participation in the child care subsidy programs in Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon and advised state and federal agencies on child care subsidy policy. Other research has examined the impact of local competition on wages and job turnover in the retail food industry, income equality, and the relationship between local labor market conditions and employment outcomes for disadvantaged workers. Dr. Davis earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Cynthia Garcia Coll

Cynthia Garcia Coll, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Clinical Ph.D. program and Associate Director of the Institutional Center for Scientific Research at Albizu University in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior to that she was the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor at Brown University. Her research focuses on the interplay of sociocultural and biological influences on child development, with particular emphasis on at-risk and minority populations.She received her PhD in Personality and Developmental Psychology from Harvard University. Dr. García Coll has served on the editorial boards of leading academic journals, including been the senior editor of Child Development and Developmental Psychology. .She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and has received awards from Tufts and Brown University, the Society for Research on Developmental Pediatrics, the Association of Psychologists of Puerto Rico and SRCD. She has been on the governing boards of SRCD, the Society for the Study of Human Development and the Foundation of Child Development, and served as member and chair of the Scholars program at the WT Grant Foundation. Her research has been funded by NIH, the McArthur Foundation, the WT Grant Foundation and Spencer Foundation.

Iheoma U. Iruka

Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is the Chief Research Innovation Officer and Director of The Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation at HighScope Educational Research Foundation. Prior to joining HighScope, she was at the Buffet Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka’s research focuses on determining how early experiences impact poor and ethnic minority children’s learning and development, and the role of the family and education environments and systems. She is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of low-income, ethnic minority, and immigrant children, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. She is co-PI for the IES-funded Early Learning Network, Nebraska Site, a large scale and far reaching study aimed at identifying malleable factors that support early learning in preschool through Grade 3, and may be effective at closing the achievement gap for students who are disadvantaged. In particular, she has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, public policies, and publications geared towards early education practitioners and policymakers. She has served on numerous national boards and committee, including the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council’s Committee on Supporting Parents of Young Children and the National Research Conference on Early Childhood. Dr. Iruka has a B.A. in psychology from Temple University, M.A. in psychology from Boston University, and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, Florida.

Pat R. Levitt

Pat Levitt, Ph.D., is Professor of Pediatrics, Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the W.M. Keck Provost Professor in Neurogenetic at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He is the Chief Scientific Officer for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Levitt has held leadership positions at University of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Southern California. In 2013, Dr. Levitt was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Named a McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002, Dr. Levitt also was a MERIT awardee from the National Institute of Mental Health and served as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council for the National Institute of Mental Health. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), serving as the Neuroscience Section Chair in 2015-2015, and an elected member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a policy council that brings the best research from child development and neuroscience to assist policy makers and business leaders in making wise program investment decisions. He is a member of scientific advisory boards for several foundations and university programs, and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Mind, Brain and Education, and on several editorial boards. Dr. Levitt’s research program includes basic and clinical studies to identify the genetic and environmental factors that assure healthy development of brain architecture that controls learning, emotional and social behavior. His clinical research studies address how toxic stress responses in infants and toddlers may be detected as early as possible for promoting resilience and better prevention and intervention, and studies of children with autism who also have co-occurring medical conditions, such as gastrointestinal disorders. Dr. Levitt has published 295 scientific papers and hundreds of academic and public presentations. Dr. Levitt received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago, Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Neuroscience at Yale University.

Michael C. Lu

Michael C. Lu, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., is Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic, Student, and Faculty Affairs at George Washington (GW) University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Prior to joining GW, Dr. Lu was the Director of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure, Dr. Lu transformed key federal programs in maternal and child health, launched major initiatives to reduce maternal, infant, and child mortality in the U.S., and was awarded the prestigious Herbert H. Humphrey Award for Service to America. Dr. Lu joined the federal government from UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, where he held a joint faculty appointment in obstetrics-gynecology and community health sciences for nearly 15 years. He was best known for his research on racial-ethnic disparities in birth outcomes, and his leadership in developing, testing, and translating a theory on the origins of maternal and child health disparities based on the life course perspective. Dr. Lu has served on two National Academies committees (when it was formerly the Institute of Medicine): the Committee to Reexamine IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines and the Committee on Understanding Premature Birth and Assuring Health Outcomes. Dr. Lu received his bachelor’s degrees in political science and human biology from Stanford University, master’s degrees in health and medical sciences and public health from UC Berkeley, medical degree from UC San Francisco, and residency training in obstetrics and gynecology from UC Irvine.

Suniya S. Luthar

Suniya S. Luthar, Ph.D., is Foundation Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and Professor Emerita, Columbia University’s Teachers College. Dr. Luthar's research involves vulnerability and resilience among various populations including youth in poverty, families affected by mental illness, mothers under stress, and teens in high-achieving, affluent communities (who reflect high rates of symptoms relative to national norms). Previously, she served on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and the Child Study Center at Yale University. Between 1997 and 2013, she was Professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she also served as Senior Advisor to the Provost (2011-2013). Dr. Luthar has served as Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology and Development and Psychopathology, as Chair of a grant review study section at the National Institutes of Health and member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research on Child Development. At the American Psychological Association (APA), she has served on the Committee on Socioeconomic Status and its Council of Representatives, and is currently President Elect of Division 7 (Developmental). Dr. Luthar received both her B.S. and M.S. from Lady Irwin College at Delhi University in 1978 and 1980 respectively, and her Ph.D. (Distinction) in Developmental/Clinical Psychology from Yale University in 1990.

Amy R. McGee

Amy Rohling McGee, M.S.W., has served as the president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO), a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit organization that provides information and analysis to state policymakers, since 2010. Her prior public sector experience includes work in the executive branch of state government focused on policy related to issues such as health insurance, health system improvement, health information technology, and Medicaid; and service in the state legislature as a Legislative Service Commission intern in the mid-1990s. Private sector experience includes five years as the executive director of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics, representing health clinics that served the uninsured, primarily through volunteers, and several years in a management position at FIRSTLINK (now HandsOn Central Ohio). Ms. McGee earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from The Ohio State University. She has received the Business First “Forty Under Forty” award and The Ohio State University Alumni Association William Oxley Thompson award.

Myra Parker

Myra Parker, Ph.D., J.D., (Mandan-Hidatsa-Cree) is an assistant professor in the Center for the Studies of Health and Risk Behavior in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in the University of Washington School of Medicine. She also works at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington School of Social Work. Dr. Parker has worked for over ten years on tribal public health program implementation, and coordination with tribal communities in Arizona, Idaho, and Washington, as well as with tribal colleges and universities across the United States. She has over five years experience in tribal public health research. Prior to embarking on a career in research, Dr. Parker worked for five years in the policy arena within Arizona state government, in tribal governments, and with tribal working groups at the state and national level. Her research experience in public health involves community based participatory research, cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions, and disparities research. She received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections Junior Investigator grant in 2011, one year into her post-doctoral fellowship. Dr. Parker’s research in this project focused on alcohol related fatalities and tribal cross-jurisdictional agreements with local non-Native communities. She has provided trainings to tribal health department staff, tribal research teams, and urban Indian service delivery teams. She has also provided indigenous health research training to University of Washington students from undergraduates through PhD students. As an enrolled member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, she is aware of the historical health practices and misconduct perpetuated on tribes in the United States, as well as other minority and disenfranchised populations. Her background in law and policy has informed a broader understanding of the principles of ethics as well as honed her skills in identifying methods to address the disparities in research control and access through the use of formalized agreements. She has experience in working with tribes in their ongoing efforts to balance the collective rights of communities and individuals. Dr. Parker received her bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University. She received a J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in 2001, with an emphasis in federal Indian law. She received her master’s degree in public health from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman School of Public Health at the University of Arizona in 2002. Dr. Parker graduated with a doctorate in health services from the University of Washington School of Public Health in 2010.

James M. Perrin

James M. Perrin, M.D., is professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and former director of the Division of General Pediatrics at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children and associate chair of pediatrics for research at MGH. His research has examined asthma, middle ear disease, children’s hospitalization, health insurance, and childhood chronic illness and disabilities, with recent emphases on epidemiology of childhood chronic illness and organization of services for the care of children and adolescents with chronic health conditions. Dr. Perrin holds the John C. Robinson Chair in Pediatrics and founded the MGH Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy, a multidisciplinary research and training center with an active fellowship program in general pediatrics, and directed the center for over 15 years. He is former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, former chair of its Committee on Children with Disabilities, past president of the Ambulatory (Academic) Pediatric Association, and founding editor-in-chief of its journal, Academic Pediatrics. He also directed the Evidence Working Group reporting to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau for the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children. Dr. Perrin was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. He currently serves on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families and has previously served on the National Academies Committee on Improving Health Outcomes for Children with Disabilities and the Committee to Evaluate Supplemental Security Income Disability Program for Children with Mental Disorders. Dr. Perrin earned his A.B. from Harvard College and his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He had his residency and fellowship training at the University of Rochester.

Natalie Slopen

Natalie Slopen, Sc.D., M.A., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Maryland, College Park School of Public Health. Dr. Slopen’s research focuses on social influences on health, health disparities, and psychological and biological mechanisms through which childhood experiences are embedded to increase risk for later chronic diseases. The overarching goal of her research is to identify processes and conditions that can be targeted by interventions in order to reduce health disparities and promote health over the life course. Dr. Slopen completed her Master of Arts in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, her Doctorate of Science in Social Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her postdoctoral fellowship training at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

Albert Wat

Albert Wat, M.A., is a Senior Policy Director at the Alliance for Early Success, where he supports the organization’s strategy and goals for early education, including increasing access to high-quality pre-k, improving the early learning workforce, and enhancing alignment with K-12 policies. Before joining the Alliance, Albert was a Senior Policy Analyst in the Education Division of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, where he helped governors’ staff and advisors improve their early care and education policies, from early childhood through third grade. Before NGA, Albert was the Research Manager at Pre-K Now, an advocacy campaign at the Pew Center on the States, where he authored a number of policy reports, managed research activities for the initiative, and provided analysis and information about the latest pre-k and early education research and policy developments to Pre-K Now staff and its network of state partners. In 2014, Albert served on the committee of the Institute of Medicine’s study on The Science of Children Birth to Age 8: Deepening and Broadening the Foundation for Success, which released the report, Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation in April 2015. He also serves on the board of the Council for Professional Recognition. Albert has worked with schools, school reform nonprofits, and community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, southeastern Michigan, and Washington, DC. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from Stanford University and a master’s in education policy from George Washington University.

Bill J. Wright

Bill J. Wright, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE), an organization devoted to conducting innovative health policy and health services research in support of health care transformation, with an emphasis on the social determinants of health. A sociologist whose primary emphasis in in longitudinal survey research in vulnerable or underserved populations, Dr. Wright has led the design and implementation of a numerous panel studies assessing the impacts of health systems and policy changes on historically underserved or excluded communities. Dr. Wright was a Principal Investigator on the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, the first randomized trial assessing the impacts of health insurance expansion, and currently oversees a portfolio of research on the impact of social needs and adversity on health and health care outcomes in vulnerable populations. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from South Dakota State University.

Log In

Sign in to access your saved publications, downloads, and email preferences.

Former MyNAP users: You'll need to reset your password on your first login to MyAcademies. Click "Forgot password" below to receive a reset link via email. Having trouble? Visit our FAQ page to contact support.

Members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine should log in through their respective Academy portals.

Email (required)
Password (required)

Don't have an account?

Register

Email (required)
New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters
I accept the terms of use
terms of use

Thank You

Thank you for creating a MyAcademies account!

Enjoy free access to thousands of National Academies' publications, a 10% discount off every purchase, and build your personal library.

Forgot Password

Enter the email address for your MyAcademies (formerly MyNAP) account to receive password reset instructions.

Reset Requested

We sent password reset instructions to your email . Follow the link in that email to create a new password. Didn't receive it? Check your spam folder or contact us for assistance.

Reset Password

New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters

Reset Password

Your password has been reset.

Log In

Verify email

Verify Your Email Address

We sent a verification link to your email. Please check your inbox (and spam folder) and follow the link to verify your email address. If you did not receive the email, you can request a new verification link below

Subscribe

First Name
Last Name
Email (required)
I agree to receive emails from the National Academies (required)

We respect your privacy and will never share your information.

Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach

Featured publication

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

Review of Methods in the Report on Carcinogens Handbook

National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Transit Cooperative Research Program

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Harm Reduction Services for People Who Use Drugs: Exploring Data Collection, Evidence Gaps, and Research Needs - A Workshop

Community Safety as a Social Determinant of Health: A Workshop

Strategic Plan and Blueprint for Addressing Thalassemia in the United States

Additional materials

Publication information

Suggested citation

My Academies

Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach

Dropdown items

Featured publication

Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

Review of Methods in the Report on Carcinogens Handbook

National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Transit Cooperative Research Program

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Harm Reduction Services for People Who Use Drugs: Exploring Data Collection, Evidence Gaps, and Research Needs - A Workshop

Community Safety as a Social Determinant of Health: A Workshop

Strategic Plan and Blueprint for Addressing Thalassemia in the United States