Position: Mellon-Research Fellow based at the Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape
Background: Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur is currently a Mellon-Research Fellow based at the Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town, South Africa. He is also the lecturer of the LLM module on Children’s Rights and the Law at UWC. Previously, he has worked as a Legal Officer for the African Child Policy Forum and as a part-time lecturer in two private academic institutions in Addis Ababa. Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur has been invited as a guest lecturer in academic institutions in Africa and Europe, has been awarded research fellowships by the Universities of Utrecht and Groningen (Netherlands) and Abo Akademi (Finland), and presented in national and international conferences. He has also undertaken work for some intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. He received his LLB from the Addis Ababa University, a LLM from the University of Pretoria (the Centre for Human Rights), and a Doctorate in Law from the University of the Western Cape. He has been closely involved in the work of the African Committee since 2002.
Contact Information:
http://www.acerwc.org/experts/
Position: Assistant Scientist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Murray has expertise in children, adolescents, and families. Dr. Murray is highly trained in numerous evidence-based treatments, with a particular specialty in researching and treating trauma and grief. Research interests include the treatment of HIV-affected children who have experienced trauma and/or grief, assessment of mental and behavioral health, as well as training on, adapting and testing evidence-based mental health interventions in low-resource environments. Two current projects include working with NGOs and government ministries in Zambia to integrate mental health assessment and treatment into existing HIV-care infrastructures and evaluate their effectiveness, and in Cambodia on the implementation of an evidence-based treatment for trafficked youth.
Position: Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Research Director of the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital
Background: Nelson’s research interests are broadly concerned with developmental cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary field that requires expertise in developmental neuroscience and developmental psychology. His specific interests are concerned with the effects of early experience on brain and behavioral development, particularly as such experience influences the development of memory and the development of the ability to recognize faces. Nelson studies both typically developing children and children at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, and he employs behavioral, electrophysiological (ERP), and metabolic (MRI) tools in his research.
The Nelson Laboratory conducts research on a variety of problems in developmental cognitive neuroscience. One line of research concerns typical and atypical memory development. Results collected over the past few years in healthy infants suggest that some forms of explicit memory (subserved by the medial temporal lobe) come “on-line” sometime after six months of life and undergo a reorganization as children approach one year of age. Infants who have suffered a number of pre- or perinatal insults appear to show delayed and/or atypical development. In some cases we continue to follow these infants into childhood; in others we focus on children who experienced early brain injury.
A second theme of the Nelson Lab is concerned with infants’ and children’s ability to recognize faces and facial emotion. Based on the assumption that the neural architecture underlying face processing becomes specialized with experience viewing faces, much of the work being conducted focuses on the role of experience in face processing. We juxtapose our work with typically developing infants and children with infants at risk for developing autism and children who already meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder. As is the case with our research on memory, a subset of our studies on face processing is done in collaboration with colleagues around the Boston area.
A final and dominant theme of the lab is concerned with the role of experience in influencing the course of brain development. Here our work focuses not only on typical experiences but as well, children exposed to early biological and psychosocial adversity. A case in point concerns an ambitious study in Bucharest, Romania, in which we are examining the effects of early institutionalization on brain and behavioral development.
Contact:
1 Autumn Street, 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617.355.0401
Email: Charles.nelson@childrens.harvard.edu
OVC Wellbeing Content:
Child transitions from residential facilities to other communities: predictors of child wellbeing
Position: Associate Professor in Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center and a Senior Research Fellow in Health Policy at Duke University.
Background:
Karen O’Donnell, Ph.D., is a child psychologist with a background in child development and Pediatric HIV. Her research interests are in early development risk: drug exposure, HIV infection, and iodine deficiency. She has ongoing research in developmental outcomes of children exposed prenatally to drugs and alcohol.
Education: Ph.D., University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, 1983
Current Projects: Dr. O’Donnell is currently working on a variety of project through the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). Her current CHPIR projects include: Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Child Status Index (CSI), and Malawi Orphans and Vulnerable Children Evaluation (MOVE).
Contact Information:
odonn002@mc.duke.edu
2812 Erwin Road, Suite 403; Durham, NC 27705-4594
OVC Wellbeing Content:
Correlates of Poor Health among Orphans and Abandoned Children in Less Wealthy Countries: The Importance of Caregiver Health
More than the loss of a parent: Potentially traumatic events among orphaned and abandoned children
Child work and labour among orphaned and abandoned children in five low and middle income countries
Prevalence and predictors of HIV-related stigma among institutional- and community-based caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children living in five less-wealthy countries
A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations
DGHI study finds child labor is prevalent among orphans
Position: Associate Research Professor at Duke University
Background: Jan Ostermann, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Professor in Duke University’s Global Health Institute. Dr. Ostermann is a health services and population health researcher who specializes in analytic techniques for longitudinal and complex survey designs. Dr. Ostermann led the research design for the multi-year, five country orphan research, and residing in Tanzania for 5 years.
Education:
Ph.D., University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, 2000
M.S., Health Policy& Management, University at Albany, Albany, NY, 1996
B.A. (equiv.), Business Admin/Economics, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany, 1994
Current Projects: Dr. Ostermann is currently working on a variety of projects through the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR) at Duke University. His current projects include: Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) and feasibility of discrete choice experiments to determine preferences for alternative HIV testing options
Contact Information:
Email: jan.ostermann@gmail.com
Mail: 2812 Erwin Road, Suite 403; Durham, NC 27705-4594
OVC Wellbeing Content:
Correlates of Poor Health among Orphans and Abandoned Children in Less Wealthy Countries: The Importance of Caregiver Health
More than the loss of a parent: Potentially traumatic events among orphaned and abandoned children
Child work and labour among orphaned and abandoned children in five low and middle income countries
Prevalence and predictors of HIV-related stigma among institutional- and community-based caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children living in five less-wealthy countries
A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations
A conceptual framework for the targeting and evaluation of UNICEF-supported pro-equity programmes
A Brief Assessment of Learning for Orphaned and Abandoned Children in Low and Middle Income Countries
Malawi Orphans and Vulnerable Children Evaluation (MOVE)
Cambodia Orphan Project Evaluation (COPE)
Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO): Longitudinal study of orphaned and abandoned children (OAC) from ages 6-12 to ages 15-21 living in 6 diverse settings
Child transitions from residential facilities to other communities: predictors of child wellbeing
News articles:
Duke study recently released finds orphans in need of protection
Study finds orphanages are viable option for some children
Protective mental health services critical for orphans worldwide
DGHI study finds child labour is prevalent among orphans
Study finds less reported HIV-related stigma against orphans in institutional care
Patricia Paul-Carson, MSW, was the former manager of Intercountry Adoption Services for the Canadian government and consulted with UNICEF and the Cambodian government on developing an intercountry adoption system. She is responsible for communications for Child Haven International Children’s Home in India.
Position: Head and Associate Professor of the Center of Child Psychiatry and Social Pediatrics in Vilnius University
Background: Dainius Puras M.D. is the Head and Associate Professor of the Center of Child Psychiatry and Social Pediatrics in Vilnius University. He is also teaching public mental health and health policy in the Medical Faculty and in the Institute of International Relations and Policy Studies of Vilnius university. Dr. Puras was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Psychiatric Association and was the first President of this Association in 1990-1992. He initiated the Lithuanian Welfare Society for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and the Child Development Center in Vilnius. Dr. Puras was a Dean of Medical Faculty of Vilnius University in 2000-2002. He has served as an expert and a consultant for governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations in 12 countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the fields of mental health policy and services, child and adolescent mental health, deinstitutionalization and development of community based services for children, youth and families at risk. Dr. Puras is the Chairman of the Board of Human Rights Monitoring Institute in Lithuania. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Global Initiative on Psychiatry. In 2007, Dr. Puras was elected and serves as a member and expert of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Main areas of interest: human rights and mental health; balancing within the bioposychosocial paradigm; development of modern mental health policies with focus on deinstitutionalization and integration of mental health services in general health and social policies; prevention of violence and suicidal behavior as public health problems; child and adolescent mental health; promotion of resilience and other protective factors in children, families and communities.
Position: Visiting Fellow, School of Geography, Politics & Sociology – New Castle University
Background: Dr. Selmen first came to Newcastle University in 1968 and was Head of Department of Social Policy 1994-1999. He took early retirement in 2002 and have held a Visiting Fellowship since then. His early research concentrated on human fertility behaviour and more recently he has focused his interests on the issue of teenage pregnancy, carrying out two studies of the education of young mothers for DfES. Today his main area of research is international adoption on which he has published widely. He is currently Chair of the Network for Intercountry Adoption and a Trustee of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
Research Interests: intercountry adoption; the demography of adoption; teenage pregnancy and motherhood;
Otherexpertise: comparative social policy; demographic change and public policy;
Current work: trends in international adoption 1998-2006
Future research: comparison of adoption policy in Spain and the UK; intercountry adoption from Ethiopia
Contact Information:
Email: peter.selman@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 284 3488
Position: Concordia University Research Chair in Psychology (Tier 1) and Director of the Centre de Recherche en Développement Humain (CRDH)
Background:
Dr. Lisa Serbin’s present research involves a continuation of her longitudinal projects on child development and developmental psychopathology, women’s health, and the social and environmental factors in the transfer of health and developmental risk from parent to child.
Dr. Serbin is a native of New York City. She was educated entirely in the United States, receiving her B.A. in Psychology from Reed College in Portland, Oregon and her Ph.D. in Psychology (Clinical) from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She moved to Montreal in 1978 to join Concordia’s Psychology department. Dr. Serbin is currently the Director of the renowned Centre de recherche en développement humain (CRDH), a research ‘centre of excellence’ funded under Quebec’s Regroupements stratégiques program, which is headquartered at Concordia’s Loyola campus.
After twenty-five years as a faculty member at Concordia, Dr. Serbin has established herself as one of the University’s stars in research. Some of her more important achievements include:
• Overseeing the expansion of CRDH in 2004, which involved the incorporation of thirty-five new researchers from five institutions and nine disciplines and was the result of further funding success with the Regroupements stratégiques program.
• Carrying out a series of widely cited studies on children’s concepts of gender and gender roles, and their relation to gender-role behaviour from early childhood to adolescence.
• Conducting The Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, through which Dr. Serbin and her co-investigators have established the negative long-term consequences of aggressive behaviour in girls, and identified specific processes involved in the transfer of health risk between generations within disadvantaged populations.
• Being named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in both the Developmental Psychology and Psychology of Women divisions, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association.
• Receiving the Concordia University Research Award in 1998, for which she held the title of Senior Concordia University Research Fellow for one year.
Contact Information:
lisa.serbin@concordia.ca
