Center on the Developing Child names Richmond Fellows

To support its goal of creating a new generation of leaders who have a broad perspective on the promotion of healthy child development and who recognize the need to bring strong scientific knowledge to bear on policies and programs that support the well-being of children, the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University today announced the recipients of its annual Julius B. Richmond Fellowships.

This school year, the Center will award Richmond Fellowships to support the research of four Harvard University doctoral students: David Deming, Deborah Stone, Malavika Subramanyam, and Adrienne Tierney.

David Deming will be a fourth-year doctoral student in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research will use the trajectory of student achievement over the life cycle to test hypotheses about the role of current knowledge in generating future achievement.

Deborah Stone is in her fifth year of doctoral study in the department of Society, Human Development and Health at the School of Public Health. Stone’s general research area of interest is on understanding the role of child maltreatment on life course health/mental health trajectories.

Malavika Subramanyam is a sixth year doctoral student in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at the School of Public Health. Subramanyam is majoring in Social Epidemiology and will conduct research on the influence of socioeconomic context in multiple domains and levels on the nutritional status of children under the age of five in India.

Adrienne Tierney is a fourth year doctoral student in the Human Development and Education program at the Graduate School of Education. She will conduct independent research on the neurocognitive development of children with autism as well as on developing sensitive neural assays that aid in early identification of autism in infants at risk for the disorder.

During the 2007-2008 academic year, the Center supported the research of three Harvard University doctoral students. The Fellowship is named for Julius B. Richmond who, until his death this past July, was the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy Emeritus in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

As a pioneer in public health and development in early childhood, Dr. Richmond was the first National
Director of Head Start in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson and served as Surgeon General in the Carter administration, where he was instrumental in leading the first public health campaign against the tobacco companies. Dr. Richmond cherished the fact that the Fellowship was established in his name. Since his death, the Center has renewed its dedication to promoting the professional development of young scientists.

“This year especially we are pleased to be able to honor Julius Richmond by supporting the research of future leaders in the field,” said Jack P. Shonkoff, Center director and Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development at the School of Publich Health and the Graduate School of Education. “The Center reflects his dream of a university-wide commitment to leveraging science to advance the healthy development of children. His vision and spirit will remain deeply infused in our work for a long time to come.”

The Richmond Fellowships are made possible through the support of the Foundation for Child Development and the Office of the Provost.