Educators explore interdisciplinary approaches to brain development

The Tufts University Center for Children will sponsor its first conference of 2003, "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Brain Development in Children," which will take place February 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Coolidge Room, Ballou Hall, on the Medford/Somerville campus.

The conference aims to promote an interdisciplinary discussion of the different perspectives and approaches in research and teaching in this area. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and co-author of From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development.

Shonkoff's research focuses on early childhood policy, particularly as it relates to vulnerable children and families. Prior to becoming the dean of the Heller School in 1994, he was an academic pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Shonkoff's keynote will be followed by an interactive panel session featuring Tufts faculty from Arts & Sciences, medicine and nutrition. Members of the panel include Johanna Dwyer, professor at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; Dr. Karen Miller, assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine; and Maryanne Wolf, professor of child development and director of the Tufts Center for Reading and Language Research. Provost Jamshed Bharucha, whose research interests are in cognitive neuroscience, will respond to the panel discussion and share the university perspective.

Advance registration is available by e-mailing tucc@tufts.edu There will be no other registration necessary. For more information, contact Jackie Calahong at (617) 627-4375 or e-mail jackie.calahong@tufts.edu