Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
Plenary Session
Thursday, September 30, 2010
10:00 am - 12:00 pm

  

Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, a not-for-profit organization based in Houston that promotes innovations in service, research and education in child maltreatment and childhood trauma (www.ChildTraumaAcademy.org). Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog:What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love and Healing, a popular book based on his work with maltreated children. Over the last twenty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions.

Dr. Perry was on the faculty of the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University Of Chicago School Of Medicine from 1988 to 1991. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Perry served as the Trammell Research Professor of Child Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. During this time, Dr. Perry also was Chief of Psychiatry for Texas Children's Hospital and Vice-Chairman for Research within the Department of Psychiatry. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Perry served as the Medical Director for Provincial Programs in Children's Mental Health for the Alberta Mental Health Board. He continues to serve as a Senior Consultant to the Ministry of Children’s Services in Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Perry has conducted both basic neuroscience and clinical research. His neuroscience research has examined the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain development, the neurobiology of human neuropsychiatric disorders, the neurophysiology of traumatic life events and basic mechanisms related to the development of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. His clinical research and practice has focused on high-risk children - examining long-term cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and physiological effects of neglect and trauma in children, adolescents and adults. This work has been instrumental in describing how childhood experiences, including neglect and traumatic stress, change the biology of the brain – and, thereby, the health of the child.

A focus of his clinical research over the last ten years has been focused on integrating concepts of developmental neuroscience and child development into clinical practices. This work has resulted in the development of innovative clinical practices and programs working with maltreated and traumatized children. The ChildTrauma Academy’s programs are in partnership with multiple sectors of the community and in context of public-private partnerships with the goal of promoting positive change within the primary institutions that work with high risk children such as child protective services, mental health, public education and juvenile justice.

His experience as a clinician and a researcher with traumatized children has led many community and governmental agencies to consult Dr. Perry following high-profile incidents involving traumatized children. These include the Branch Davidian siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine school shootings, the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Katrina and Rita hurricanes.

Dr. Perry is the author of over 300 journal articles, book chapters and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including the T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award, the Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare and the Alberta Centennial Medal.

He has presented about child maltreatment, children's mental health, neurodevelopment and youth violence in a variety of venues including policy-making bodies such as the White House Summit on Violence, the California Assembly and U.S. House Committee on Education. Dr. Perry has been featured in a wide range of media including National Public Radio, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS News and the Oprah Winfrey Show. His work has been featured in documentaries produced by Dateline NBC, 20/20, the BBC, Nightline, CBC, PBS, as well as dozen international documentaries. Many print media have highlighted the clinical and research activities of Dr. Perry including a Pulitzer-prize winning series in the Chicago Tribune, US News and World Report, Time, Newsweek, Forbes ASAP, Washington Post, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Dr. Perry, a native of Bismarck, North Dakota, was an undergraduate at Stanford University and Amherst College. He attended medical and graduate school at Northwestern University, receiving both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Perry completed a residency in general psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The University
of Chicago.

  

 

 
   

Andrew Bridge

Opening Keynote Speaker
Friday, October 1, 2010
8:30am - 10:00am

Children’s Rights Advocate and Expert on Foster Care- Andrew Bridge spent 11 years in the Los Angeles County foster care system and went on to earn a scholarship to Wesleyan, become a Fulbright Scholar, and graduate from Harvard Law School. His memoir Hope’s Boy (Hyperion) is the true account of Bridge’s life with his mother, a young mentally ill woman, of her efforts to keep and care for him, and of his life in foster care without her from the age of seven until 18.

He has spent the majority of his legal career representing impoverished children across the country, and is a devoted advocate and pioneer for children in foster care. Bridge’s work on behalf of foster children and improving the foster care system has garnered coverage in Time, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, in newspapers across the country, and on NBC National News. A seasoned speaker, he has given a multitude of talks at children’s organizations; such as Alliance for Children’s Rights, Casey Foundation Children’s Conference, National Adoption Day; civil rights groups, such as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

Bridge is currently Director of the Child Welfare Initiative in Los Angeles. Established by a consortium of leading private foundations, individuals, and other philanthropic organizations, the Child Welfare Initiative focuses on the fundamental reform of our nation’s child welfare systems. Bridge began his advocacy career as a staff attorney at the Judge David L. Bazelon Center – a national civil rights litigation foundation in Washington, D.C. There, Bridge represented children throughout the State of Alabama.

In 1996, Bridge became the Executive Director/General Counsel of The Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles. As Executive Director, Bridge worked to expand the availability of legal services to Los Angeles County foster children, poor children, homeless children, children with HIV/AIDS or whose caretakers are dying of AIDS, children with special education needs, and children with mental or physical disabilities. While Executive Director, Bridge also chaired Los Angeles County’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, formed to investigate the safety and well-being of children in Los Angeles County’s care following the disappearance and death of hundreds of foster children.

Bridge also founded and became President of Los Angeles Appleseed. His work focused on going beyond traditional group home care with the establishment of a college preparatory residential academy aimed at providing adolescents in foster care with the highest possible education to prepare them for emancipation into adult life, and replacing existing “non-public schools” for children in foster care and delinquency group homes with charter schools that are tailored to students’ needs and that enroll children living in the community.

Bridge’s efforts led to the establishment of New Village Charter School. New Village is one of the first charter schools in the nation to focus on the needs of children in foster care and in the delinquency system. Specifically, the school prepares pregnant girls who live in state care, as well as girls in the community, grades 7-12, for college, post-secondary education, or skilled employment. A cancer survivor, Bridge now lives in Los Angeles.

Detective Mike Johnson
Closing General Session
Saturday, October 2, 2010
8:30am -9:30am

Mike Johnson is a native of San Antonio, Texas. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Mike Johnson joined the Plano Police Department in September 1982. Upon graduation from the Police Academy, he spent four months as an undercover narcotics officer. After being assigned to the Patrol division for fouryears, Johnson transferred to the Criminal Investigations division and began investigating child abuse in 1986.

He is currently assigned to the Juvenile division of the Plano Police Department. Detective Johnson is considered an ambassador for child advocacy. He is a founding member of the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center, and in 1996 he was named the Center’s “Child Advocate of the Year”. Mike was appointed to the National Board of Directors for the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) in 1998, and was President of the APSAC Texas State Chapter. In addition to serving on numerous national boards and task forces, including the National Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers, the Law Enforcement Subcommittee for several of APSAC’s National Colloquiums, and the Working Group for the establishment of the National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY), Johnson has been instrumental in helping shape Texas laws relating to child abuse. He has served on the Texas State Attorney General’s Sexual Offender Protocol Task Force and Senator Florence Shapiro’s Blue Ribbon committee to formulate the now instated “Ashley Laws.”

A well-known national speaker, he is now taking his message to the international arena, having been a featured speaker at ISPCAN’s (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) International Congress in Durban, South Africa, the International Association of Chiefs of Police Child Protection Summit, and the Norwegian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in Oslo, Norway. He frequently lectures at national and state conferences, and community programs focusing on multidisciplinary teams and their intervention in child maltreatment. He lives in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, with his wife and their three children.