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People

The Fast Track Project was designed by the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, which has grown to include, in alphabetical order, Karen L. Bierman, Pennsylvania State University; John D. Coie, Duke University; Daniel Max Crowley, Pennsylvania State University; Kenneth A. Dodge, Duke University; Mark T. Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University; John E. Lochman, University of Alabama; Robert J. McMahon, Simon Fraser University; and Ellen E. Pinderhughes, Tufts University.

Principal Investigators

KAREN L. BIERMAN, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Phone: (814) 863-7002
Email: kb2@psu.edu
Abstract: Karen Bierman, Ph.D.is an Evan Pugh University Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies and Director of the Child Study Center at the Pennsylvania State University. Her 35+ year research career has focused on social-emotional development and children at risk, with an emphasis on the design and evaluation of school-based and community-focused programs that promote social-emotional competence and school readiness, and that reduce aggression and violence. Dr. Bierman directed the Pennsylvania site of the Fast Track Program during the first 18 years of the project. Currently, she directs a longitudinal study evaluating the long-term impact of early school-based and family-focused preventive interventions designed to enhance school success (Head Start REDI) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She also directs a study evaluating an intervention designed to enhance parent engagement in children's school success at the transition into elementary school (GoPals), which is funded by the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES).

JOHN D. COIE, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Duke University

PI CoiePhone:  (919) 660-5742
Email: john.coie@duke.edu
Abstract: John D. Coie, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Psychology: Social and Health Sciences at Duke University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 and an M.A. in mathematics at the University of Illinois. He has an honorary PhD from the University of Montreal, and had an NIMH Career Research Scientist award from 1990 to 2000. He chaired the NIMH grant review panel on prevention research. The primary focus of Dr. Coie's research has been on the development and prevention of serious antisocial behavior. He retired from Duke in 2000, but continues to be involved with the Fast Track project. He has also developed and co-managed a program in Santa Barbara for providing non-English speaking Hispanic children with computer-based English language and reading training. Within 6 years, this program reduced basic illiteracy by 85%. He continues to be active in programs designed to reduce violence and recidivism in the community.

DANIEL MAX CROWLEY, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

PI CrowleyPhone: (814) 867-6471
Email: dmc397@psu.edu
Abstract: Max Crowley, Ph.D.is an Associate Professor of Human Development, Family Studies, and Public Policy and holds the Edna Bennett Pierce Faculty Fellow Endowed Professorship at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Crowley directs the PSU Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, a transdisciplinary center focused on optimizing and improving public and private investments in health and societal wellbeing. Dr. Crowley's work sits at the intersection of prevention science, social policy, and public finance. To accomplish this, his work aims to (1) strengthen methods for benefit-cost analyses of preventive interventions, (2) optimize prevention strategies' impact, and (3) develop best practices for how to translate these investments into evidence-based policies. In this manner, he seeks to not only understand the costs and benefits of prevention, but to improve interventions and encourage evidence-based investment and dissemination. Dr. Crowley is a Principal Investigator on grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as the W.T. Grant, Annie E. Casey, Laura & John Arnold, Robert Wood Johnson, NASDAQ, Wells Fargo, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundations. Dr. Crowley has received national awards recognizing his scholarship from the National Institutes of Health, National Bureau of Economic Research, Society for Prevention Research, Association for Public Policy & Management, Research Society on Alcoholism, and National Prevention Science Coalition.

KENNETH A. DODGE, Ph.D., Duke University

Ken DodgePhone: (919) 613-9303
E-mail: dodge@duke.edu
Abstract: Kenneth A. Dodge, Ph.D.is the William McDougall Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He is also a faculty fellow at the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, which he founded in 1999.Dodge is a leading scholar in the development and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors. His work provides a model for understanding how some young children grow up to engage in aggression and violence and provides a framework for intervening early to prevent the costly consequences of violence for children and their communities.Dodge led the research and development of the Family Connects model, an evidence-based and successfully demonstrated program that connects parents of newborns to the community resources they need through postpartum nurse home visits. The model has been shown to improve maternal and child health outcomes, including lowering rates of Child Protective Services investigations for suspected child abuse or neglect. Dodge has published more than 500 scientific articles which have been cited more than 128,000 times.

MARK T. GREENBERG, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Matt GreenbergPhone: (814) 777-0897
E-mail: mxg47@psu.edu
Abstract: Mark Greenberg,Ph.D. is the Emeritus Bennett Chair of Prevention Science at PennsylvaniaState University. He is the author of over 350 journal articles and book chapters on the development of well-being, learning,and the effects of prevention efforts on children and families. He is a Founding Board Member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association. One of his current interests is how to help nurture awareness and compassion in our society. He is the Chairperson of the Board of CREATE, a non-profit devoted to improving the quality of schooling and the lives of teachers and students (www.createforeducation.org).

JOHN E. LOCHMAN, Ph.D., University of Alabama

PI Lochman

Phone: (205) 348-7678
E-mail: jlochman@gp.as.ua.edu
Abstract: John Lochman, Ph.D.is Saxon Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Alabama, and is Senior Fellow in the Alabama Life Research Institute. He was the Founding Director of the Center for Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems (now Center for Youth Development andIntervention) at UA. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1977, and from 1980-1998 served on the faculty at Duke University. He has authored more than 450 scientific articles, chapters and books, and this workhas primarily focused on the causes and consequences of aggressive and oppositional behavior in childhood, and on intervention research. His research focus in recent years has been on the optimization, adaptation and implementation of school-based interventions, on merged datasets to examine serious rare outcomes, and on children's long-term adjustment following major traumatic events. In addition to his prevention research on the Anger Coping and Coping Power programs, Dr. Lochman also is a co-principal investigator on a study of the preventive effects of the comprehensive, intensive Fast Track program. His research work has been funded by NIDA, NIMH, NICHD and NIMHD.

ROBERT J. MCMAHON, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University

PI McMahon

E-mail: robert_mcmahon@sfu.ca
Abstract: Robert McMahon, Ph.D.is Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, British Columbia), and the LEEF B.C. Leadership Chair in Proactive Approaches to Reducing Risk for Violence among Children and Youth. Dr. McMahon founded and directs the Institute for the Reduction of Youth Violence at SFU. He is also a senior scientist at the B.C. Children's Hospital Research Institute. His primary research and clinical interests concern the assessment, treatment, and prevention of conduct problems and other problem behavior in children and youth, especially in the context of the family. In addition to his role on the Fast Track project as a Principal Investigator, one of Dr. McMahon's responsibilities was the development and implementation of the family-based components of the Fast Track intervention. Dr. McMahon is co-author of Helping the Noncompliant Child: Family-Based Treatment for Oppositional Behavior(Guilford Press, 1981, 2003), and author of more than 260 scientific articles, books, chapters, and reviews. He is the past Editor-in-Chief (2007-2013) of the journal Prevention Science. Among other honors, Dr. McMahon is the recipient of the Trailblazer Award from the Parenting and Families Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (2011) and the Presidential Award from the Society for Prevention Research (2020).

PI PinderhughesPhone: (615) 627-4560
E-mail: ellen.pinderhughes@tufts.edu
Abstract: Ellen Pinderhughes, Ph.D. is Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University. A developmental and clinical psychologist, she studies contextual influences on and cultural processes in parenting among families facing different challenges. These circumstances include adoption, living in high-risk, low resource communities (including children at risk for conduct problems), and raising children as a sexual minorityparent. Her individual and collaborative studies/publications address Fast Track; the role of race, ethnicity and culture in parenting and youth outcomes among youth and families in marginalized communities; cultural socialization and preparation for biasamong transracial adoptive parents, and stigma in the lives and pathways to fatherhood among gay fathers. She has co-edited two journal special issues (Applied Developmental Science; New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development). A past William T. Grant Faculty Scholar, she was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Child Maltreatment Research, Policy and Practice for the Next Decade: Phase II that issued New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research. She is a member of several boards focused on enhancing the lives of marginalized youth and families through research and practice.

Current Team

YU BAI, Statistician III, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy

Phone: (919) 613-6408
E-mail: yb17@duke.edu
Office: 205C Rubenstein Hall

JENNIFER W. GODWIN, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy

Phone: (401) 644-6818
E-mail: jgodwin@duke.edu
Mailing Address: Barrington, RI

NATALIE GOULTER, Ph.D., University Research Associate, Simon Fraser University

Goulter

E-mail: ngoulter@sfu.ca

YOON SUN HUR, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor, Penn State University

YoonE-mail: yph5180@psu.edu

DAMON JONES, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor, Penn State University

Phone: (919) 613-4433
E-mail: dej10@psu.edu

MELISSA RICKS MARTIN, Fast Track/CDP Program Coordinator

Melissa MartinPhone: (919) 613-4571
Fax: (919) 668-6923
E-mail: melissa.r.martin@duke.edu
Office: Erwin Square Mill Building, Bay C, Room 213
Mailing Address: Duke Box 90539, Durham, NC 27708-0539

Previous Staff

  • PAMELA K. AHRENS (Data Center Director - Duke University)
  • JANICE BROWN (Site Coordinator - Vanderbilt University)
  • CHRISTINA CHRISTOPOULOS (Research Scientist and Site Coordinator - Duke University)
  • SHARON H. EATMON (Analyst Programmer II - Duke University)
  • ALISON FULLER (Site Coordinator - Vanderbilt University)
  • SANDY LAHN (Site Coordinator - University of Washington)
  • SANDRA STEWART (Site Coordinator - Penn State University)