J. Kevin Nugent, Dir. Prof. Psych

Kevin Nugent is the Founder and Director of the Brazelton Institute at Children’s Hospital in Boston and is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics.

He is also Professor of Child and Family Studies at the University of Massachusettes at Amherst.
Dr. Nugent was educated in Ireland and received his doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Boston College.

He has worked at the Children’s Hospital in Boston since 1978, conducting research on newborn behavior and early parent-infant relations http://www.brazelton-institute.com/ngntbio.html

Dr. Yvette Blanchard
Dr. Yvette Blanchard completed her undergraduate education and her Masters degree at the Université de Montréal (1982, 1988) and received her Doctorate degree from Boston University (1995). She is currently Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Hartford where she teaches courses in scientific inquiry and pediatric physical therapy.

Dr. Blanchard conducted her doctoral work at the Child Development Unit where she studied the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on neurobehavioral functioning. It is while at the CDU that she trained and certified on the NBAS and later became the lead NBAS trainer for the Brazelton Institute. With her colleagues from the Brazelton Institute, she has developed the Newborn Behavioral Observation (NBO) instrument and has co-authored “Understanding Newborn Behavior and Early Relationships: The Newborn Behavioral Observation (NBO) System Handbook” published by Brookes.

Her specific contribution to this work has been in the development of the NBO system for use with high-risk infants and their families with a focus on assisting the work of early intervention providers. http://www.brazelton-institute.com/blanchbio.html

Suzann K. Campbell, PhD
Professor Emerita, Physical Therapy

Dr. Suzann Campbell completed her Master’s in Physical Therapy and her PhD in Neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (1968, 1973). She worked as a Professor at The University of Illinois at Chicago from 1987 until 2008 and is at present Professor Emerita.

She has received several honors, among others UIC University Scholar Award for excellence in research (2002). Her current research is a study of the effects of exercise for premature infants with perinatal brain injury on motor outcomes and brain development as measured with MRI.” Her earlier research addresses prediction of motor performance impairment in children at high risk for developmental deviance because of prenatal and perinatal medical problems, efficacy of physical therapy in preventing and ameliorating motor dysfunction in high risk infants and development and validation of a scale for assessing motor performance in premature and other high risk newborns – the Test of Infant Motor Performance. (TIMP–see www.thetimp.com) She is editor in chief of the textbook “Physical Therapy for Children”.

Audrey van der Meer
Prof. In Developmental Psychology. Psychological Institute. NTNU

Audrey’s main focus of research is on Developmental Neuropsychology. She has a background in human movement science and in psychology, and is interested in how babies and young children control their actions on the basis of perceptual information.

This general research question is currently being studied in the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratorium in three different project areas.
First, brain activity is studied with high-density EEG (128-256 electrodes), the only apparatus of its kind in Norway, allowing us to study brain development in infants and young children with the help of sophisticated BESA (brain electrical source analysis) software.
Second, perceptuo-motor development is studied in normal babies. In a series of studies it is investigated what kind of perceptual information is used by young babies when carrying out various fundamental tasks such as looking, reaching, and maintaining balance.

Also, babies and children who are neurologically at risk of brain damage are studied. This research focuses on various populations (premature birth, visual impairment, CP, DCD, etc.). In the baby research, we concentrate on fundamental, early-developing skills such as sucking and reaching so as to provide an early diagnosis of brain damage. With the older children, we try to gain insight in the nature of their handicap. The results will be used in devising new forms of therapy.
Third, there is ongoing research with adults with motor problems (stroke, Parkinson’s, visual handicap and whiplash) investigating how extra control information might improve these patients’ production of movements.

Dr. psychol. Kristin Schjelderup Mathiesen

Dr. psychol. Kristin Schjelderup Mathiesen has worked for many years in the field of prevention targeting mental health problems among children and their mothers. Long term work with research projects has brought knowledge informing preventive efforts.

Positions at different administrative levels have given her understanding of ways of implementing the knowledge. In 1992 she started the ongoing TOPP-study (Tracking Opportunities and Problems), a longitudinal study of early stages, developmental pathways and courses of children developing mental health problems and social skills. She has built up the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the Division of Mental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health where she now works as the Director.

Birgitta Wickberg, Ph.D Psycol.

Associate Professor in Psychology, University of Gothenburg and Consultant
Psychologist in Primary care, Antenatal and Child Health Care, County
Council of South Bohuslän.

Ph.D thesis “Postnatal depression, prevalence, identification and
treatment” (1996). Member of Marcé Internationel Society Executive
Committee.

Area of research: Postnatal depression, early identification and treatment
in Child Health Care, as well as the management of depression in Antenatal
Health Care