Laurie Brotman

Dr. Laurie Miller Brotman is the Bezos Family Foundation professor of early childhood development and professor in the departments of population health and child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Brotman is the founding and current director of the Center for Early Childhood Health and Development, guided by values of equity, evidence and excellence.  Through culturally responsive, family-centered programs, community-engaged research and research practice partnerships with public systems, the Center aims to inform evidence-based policies and practices in support of equitable health and education outcomes for children and families.  The Center is home to several innovative two-generation initiatives for children and families from historically disinvested neighborhoods. Founded by Dr. Brotman more than two decades ago, ParentCorps (weareparentcorps.org) transforms the pre-kindergarten experience by helping schools partner with families to build a future where all children thrive.  Together Growing Strong was established in 2017 as a philanthropic partnership between the Bezos Family Foundation and NYU Langone to develop a community-partnered model to enhance the health, wellbeing and development of young children and their families in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.   Dr. Brotman earned a BS in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University, and a PhD in Clinical Developmental Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Brotman completed an NIMH post-doctoral research fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University and joined the faculty at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 1998.  In recognition of her scholarship, Dr. Brotman received the Community, Culture, and Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research and the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Cornell University. Under her leadership, the Center for Early Childhood Health and Development received an Equity Leadership award from Courageous Conversations about Race.