Leveraging Science to Advance Social Justice

How can cutting-edge science about children’s health and development address vexing problems like poverty and violence?

Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., founding director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, will explore the topic in a Presidential Colloquium on “Leveraging 21st-Century Science to Advance Social Justice” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, in Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall. The event is open to the public at no charge.

Since 2006, Shonkoff has led Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, whose mission is to drive science-based innovation that achieves breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. He also chairs the JPB Research Network on Toxic Stress, which is developing new ways to assess the biological, bio-behavioral and health consequences of excessive stress. In 2011, he launched Frontiers of Innovation to support the lifelong health of young children and families experiencing significant adversity.

Shonkoff is a chaired professor at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and at the Graduate School of Education; he also is professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Additional information is available online.