Speaker Biographies

Mary Claire Heffron, PhD
Mary Claire Heffron, PhD, is the Clinical Director of the Early Childhood Mental Health Program (ECMH) of Children's Hospital, Oakland (CHO), where she has clinical oversight of the ECMH, the community-based Harris Early Childhood Mental Health Training Program, and the CHO Consultation and Training Team. She graduated from the Wright Institute (1996).

Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD
Dr. Ghosh Ippen is Associate Research Director of the Child Trauma Research Program at the University of California, San Francisco and the Early Trauma Treatment Network, a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). She has worked on seven longitudinal studies and has conducted treatment outcome research on the effectiveness of psychosocial intervention programs with Spanish-speaking children and parents. She is co-author of Losing a Parent to Death: Guidelines for the Treatment of Traumatic Bereavement in Infancy and Early Childhood (2003), director of the NCTSN Measure Review Database, and producer and director of Vale la Pena Recordar, a Spanish language video on childhood traumatic grief. As a first-generation East Indian/Japanese American, she is committed to examining how culture and context affect perception and mental health systems. She authored the chapter "The sociocultural context of infant mental health: Towards contextually congruent intervention," which is part of the 3rd edition of the Handbook of Infant Mental Health, and co-authored the chapter "Rainbow of tears, souls full of hope: Cultural issues related to young children and trauma," which discusses the importance of incorporating a cultural focus when working with young children who have experienced trauma. She serves as the co-chair of the Cultural Competence Consortium of the NCTSN. In her spare time she bakes pies with her 7-year old son. She is on a mission to bake 1000 pies in her lifetime and a pie in each of the 50 states.

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD
Dr. Bruce D. Perry is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, a not-for-profit organization based in Houston (www.ChildTrauma.org) and adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions.

Dr. Perry was on the faculty of the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University of Chicago School Of Medicine from 1988 to 1991. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Perry served as the Trammell Research Professor of Child Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. During this time, Dr. Perry also was Chief of Psychiatry for Texas Children's Hospital and Vice-Chairman for Research within the Department of Psychiatry. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Perry served as the Medical Director for Provincial Programs in Children's Mental Health for the Alberta Mental Health Board. He continues to serve as a Senior Consultant to the Ministry of Children’s Services in Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Perry has conducted both basic neuroscience and clinical research. His neuroscience research has examined the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain development, the neurobiology of human neuropsychiatric disorders, the neurophysiology of traumatic life events and basic mechanisms related to the development of neurotransmitter receptors inthe brain. His clinical research and practice has focused on high-risk children examining long-term cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and physiological effects of neglect and trauma in children, adolescents and adults. This work has been instrumental in describing how childhood experiences, including neglect and traumatic stress, change the biology of the brain – and, thereby, the health of the child.

His clinical research over the last ten years has been focused on integrating concepts of developmental neuroscience and child development into clinical practices. This work has resulted in the development of innovative clinical practices and programs working with maltreated and traumatized children, most prominently the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). The ChildTrauma Academy has multiple partners in various sectors of the community and has created many programs in context of public-private partnerships with the goal of promoting positive change within the primary institutions that work with high risk children such as child protective services, mental health, public education and juvenile justice.

His experience as a clinician and a researcher with traumatized children has led many community and governmental agencies to consult Dr. Perry following high-profile incidents involving traumatized children such as the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine school shootings, the September 11th terrorist attacks, Katrina hurricane, the FLDS polygamist sect and most recently, the earthquake in Haiti. Dr. Perry is the author of over 300 journal articles, book chapters and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including the
T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award, the Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare and the Alberta Centennial Medal.

He has presented about child maltreatment, children's mental health, neurodevelopment and youth violence in a variety of venues including policy-making bodies such as the White House Summit on Violence, the California Assembly and U.S. House Committee on Education. Dr. Perry has been featured in a wide range of media including National Public Radio, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS News and the Oprah Winfrey Show. His work has been featured in documentaries produced by Dateline NBC, 20/20, the BBC, Nightline, CBC, PBS, as well as a dozen international documentaries. Many print media have highlighted the clinical and research activities of Dr. Perry including a Pulitzer-prize winning series in the Chicago Tribune, US News and World Report, Time, Newsweek, Forbes ASAP, Washington Post, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Dr. Perry, a native of Bismarck, North Dakota, was an undergraduate at Stanford University and Amherst College. He attended medical and graduate school at Northwestern University, receiving both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Perry completed a residency in general psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The University of Chicago.

Stephanie Covington, PhD, LCSW
Dr. Stephanie S. Covington is a nationally recognized clinician, author, organizational consultant, and lecturer. She is a pioneer in the field of women's issues, addiction, and recovery. She has developed an innovative, gender-responsive, and trauma-informed approach to the treatment needs of women and girls that results in effective services in public, private, and institutional settings.

Her presentations, staff-development seminars, and technical assistance focus on systems change and the development of caring, compassionate, and empowering therapeutic environments. They provide professionals an opportunity to learn new skills for dealing with personal, institutional, and societal changes and are always in demand, both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Covington's clients include the Betty Ford Treatment Center, the Hanley Center, Pine Grove Women's Center, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in Washington, D.C., the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and numerous other treatment and correctional settings. Dr. Covington was a workshop chair for the women's treatment improvement protocol (TIP) and the trauma TIP (published by CSAT) and is the co-author of a three-year research project, Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders, for the National Institute of Corrections. This publication received the University of Cincinnati Award for its outstanding contribution to the field of corrections in the U.S. and Canada.

Educated at Columbia University and the Union Institute, Dr. Covington has served on the faculties of the University of Southern California, San Diego State University, and the California School of Professional Psychology, and she is a former chair of the Women's Committee of the International Council on Alcoholism and Addiction. She is a board-certified Diplomat of the National Association of Social Workers, the American Board of Sexology, and the American Board of Medical Psychotherapists, and is a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She also serves on the Advisory Council for Women's Services for the federal agency SAMHSA. She is the featured consultant and therapist on the Oprah Winfrey Network docu-reality show entitled Breaking Down the Bars.

Dr. Covington is based in La Jolla, California, where she is co-director of the Institute for Relational Development and the Center for Gender and Justice, which seeks to expand gender-responsive policies and practices for females who are under criminal justice supervision.

Tonier Cain
Tonier Cain is a consumer advocate who has spoken nationally on trauma, incarceration, and recovery. She has served as a member of the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with a Mental Illness (PAIMI) Council, a federally-required advisory body that reviews and guides work funded under the PAIMI grant and, in conjunction with the Board, sets and approves annual program priorities. She has also worked as a case manager and Director of Advocacy Services for a private non-profit in Annapolis, MD. Ms. Cain is featured in the documentary "Behind Closed Doors: Trauma Survivors and the Psychiatric System". Ms. Cain is the team leader for the National Center for Trauma Informed Care which provides consultation, technical assistance, and training to revolutionize the way mental health and human services are organized, delivered and managed, while furthering the understanding of trauma-informed practices through education and outreach. Ms Cain is the subject in "Healing Neen", a documentary based on her life as she moved through multiple systems of care.