Dr. Alexandra M. Ingram completed her education and training in clinical psychology at Arizona State University, as well as clinical internship in health service and postdoctoral fellowship in couples and family psychology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Jackson, MS and Charleston, SC. Her research and clinical focus include children and families affected by adversity (e.g., divorce, bereavement, severe mental illness) and interventions to promote resilience and recovery from developmental, interpersonal, and systems-based approaches. She looks forward to continuing dissemination of published research and access to clinical interventions for at-risk groups in her current role as project director of AC Groups.

Kimber Bogard, PhD, is the Senior Officer of Planning and Advancement and Director of the Innovation to Incubation Program at the National Academy of Medicine. In these roles, she leads planning efforts and catalyzes internal and external partnerships and collaborations to bridge Academies’ consensus recommendations with implementation, to have a greater impact on health. She was formerly directed the Board on Children, Youth and Families at the Academies and before that, was Associate Director of the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at New York University. Kimber received her PhD in applied developmental psychology from Fordham University, and she holds a master’s degree from Columbia University-Teachers College.

Elise Geithner is a pediatric acute care nurse with a background in pediatric palliative care, home hospice, and children with chronic illness. She is currently studying to be a pediatric nurse practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include compassion fatigue in pediatric medical professionals, supporting the needs of children with chronic critical illness in the hospital and at home, and early integration of palliative care in treatment plans for children with life-limiting conditions. She completed her BA in Human Biology at Stanford University/ She earned her BS in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a Graduate Certificate in Pediatric Palliative Care from the University of Washington's Palliative Care Training Center.

 

Janae Peters completed her clinical social work training at the Smith College School for Social Work. She is an educator who actively integrates clinical social work into all aspects of the educational environment. She spends most of her time working with high school students at the Mastery School of Hawken, and with graduate students at Smith College School for Social Work. Additionally, she is actively engaged in the pilot stages of founding Prolific Shifts, a cohort space for Black educators and leaders to engage in personal and professional development. In every realm, she has engaged a relational and process oriented approach to learning with and supporting others, and has a highest goal of understanding how different social, political, historical, and environmental contexts influence our capacities for learning, growth, and transformation.

Amber Cunnings has been a Marriage and Family Therapist and art therapist for over 10 years. She provides AC groups because she believes that this approach creates more resilient and resourced people in the world which can only lead to good things! Amber has worked in various settings from inpatient hospitals to private practice and has a lot of humor, truth telling, story telling, and space holding that she can use to create the best possible group experience for anyone signing up. She attended Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California where she received her Master's degree. She currently owns her own practice based in the metro Detroit area of Michigan.

Dr. Juliao is a fully licensed health psychologist who owns an integrative mental healthcare practice with multiple locations in southeast Michigan. Professionally, Dr. Juliao has spent over 20 years working as a clinician, a business owner/leader, and an instructor at several universities, including Columbia University, Oakland University, and the University of Michigan. Dr. Juliao's early research interests included women's multiple roles via a lens of health and wellbeing. Growing out of her research, all aspects of her clinical work and teaching have continued to focus on integrative health, trauma, vulnerability, shame, energy psychology, and a whole person perspective, which has resulted in a lifetime of advanced education and certification in healing modalities inclusive of those speciality areas.

Susan Budinger is a developmental scientist dedicated to fostering the well-being of women and children through science-based interventions, and as such, she supported the formation of the science-based AC Groups. Budinger is a founder of Rodel, a group of non-profits dedicated to improving public education and the quality of elected leadership in the U.S. Before their formation, she was a director of Rodel, Inc., manufacturers of products used in semiconductor production. Budinger is vice chair of Rodel Delaware and the Rodel Leadership Institute. She is also a board member of the Hoffman Institute Foundation and a past member of the boards of the Arizona Community Foundation, the Arizona Early Education Funds, and Phoenix Country Day School. Budinger has a M.A. in developmental psychology from Arizona State University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Hamilton College.

With a graduate training in Child Development, Rina Gill is an independent consultant on social development and communication issues. Her career spanned more than 40 years with the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF). She was Associate Director, Policy & Planning, at UNICEF New York where she provided strategic leadership to ensure the integration of human rights principles, gender equality, and disability inclusiveness across UNICEF's global initiatives. Rina also served as Chief of Communication for Development at UNICEF headquarters. Before joining UNICEF, she worked for the National Planning Commission of India overseeing programs for working class mothers' children, and as an internationally awarded documentary filmmaker. Since retiring, Rina Gill has provided pro-bono support to several nonprofit groups to strengthen their advocacy and institutional management skills.

Dr. Jenny Reese is the Section Head of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Well-being, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine. In addition to her clinical work as a hospitalist, she is also the Medical Director for Provider Well-being, Children's Hospital Colorado, leading work promoting well-being for health care providers at Children's Hospital Colorado, and Department of Pediatrics. This work focuses on understanding and mitigating burnout and promoting resilience for health care providers, including research interests in quality improvement. She enjoys facilitating workshops and public speaking on these topics.

Dr. Megan Smith’s areas of expertise include maternal mental health, postpartum depression, childhood poverty, and community-based interventions. Megan received her MPH degree at the Yale University School of Public Health, and her doctoral degree in Maternal and Child Health at Boston University School of Public Health. While an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and in the Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine, she created an innovative community-based program: the Mental health Outreach for MotherS (MOMS) Partnership. She remains involved with the MOMS program as Founder and Director, and is currently working to transform systems of mental health care for low-income women at the state level, with a focus on reducing mental health inequities related to race, ethnicity and poverty. Megan serves as Principal Investigator on studies ranging from the epidemiology of depressive and anxiety disorders in the perinatal period to the use of mobile health technology to reduce depression in mothers.

Dr. Erika A. Thomas-Collins is a Doctoral Limited License Psychologist and Licensed Professional Counselor. She received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the Michigan School of Psychology and her Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Phoenix. She is also a Nationally Certified Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and Approved Clinical Supervisor. Dr. Erika has been working in mental health since 2008, obtaining experience in case management, home-based therapy, individual, couples, family, and group therapy, psychiatric hospital intake, and supervision/ management. In 2013 Dr. Erika established her own private practice in New Haven, Michigan. Dr. Erika’s area of interest and dissertation research was focused on racial identity development for Multiracial individuals. Her areas of clinical specialty include mood disorders, borderline personality disorder, and PTSD/trauma.