Featured Fellowship Articles and Blog Posts
December 2018
Archived Blog Posts
June 2018: Doris Duke Action Response Team (DDART): A Fellow Generated Interdisciplinary, Action-Oriented Project By: Cohort Six fellows Christina DeNard, Andi Eastman, Lindsay Huffhines, Kate Stepleton, and Lindsey Weil
May 2018: The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Breastfeeding Outcomes By: Cohort Six fellow Lindsey Bullinger
November 2017: Teachers’ Perceptions of Childcare and Preschool Expulsion By: Cohort Two fellow Emily Bosk, Karin Martin, and Denise Bailey
September 2017: Economic Reform is About More than Money; It’s About Strengthening Families By: Cohort Five fellows Charlotte Heleniak, Nathanael Okpych, Jared W. Parrish, Cassandra Robertson, and Emily Warren
August 2017: Minimum Wages and Child Well-Being By: Cohort Six fellow Lindsey Bullinger and Cohort One fellow Kerri Raissian
July 2017: Our Children Under Attack: The Failure of the U.S. Immigration System to Protect Child Well-Being By: Cohort Two fellow Megan Finno-Velasquez
April 2017: Economic Insecurity and Child Physical Harm By: Cohort Four fellows Aislinn Conrad-Hiebner and Katherine Pashchall
January 2017: Disability and Childbirth By: Cohort Four fellows Leah Gjertson, Leah Cheatham, Meredith Matone, Daniel Busso, and Erin Marsh
Fall 2017
Doris Duke Fellows Updates
Doris Duke Fellows disseminate their research findings to a variety of audiences in traditional and non-traditional ways to support the translation of research into policy and practice initiatives focused on child well-being.
Read on to learn of the exciting updates from Doris Duke Fellows this fall!

Katie Maguire-Jack
Katie Maguire-Jack, a Cohort One fellow, along with her colleagues at The Ohio State University College of Social Work, secured a $3-million grant to address substance abuse in Ohio. Funded by the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the grant will support regional partnership intervention activities in two counties in Ohio to reduce child abuse and neglect among families who struggle with substance use. The intervention activities are evidence-based or evidence-informed strategies, including family drug treatment court and medication-assisted treatment, peer recovery supporters, and parenting and support for kinship providers

Lindsey Bullinger
In September, Lindsey Bullinger, a Cohort Six fellow, presented at a webinar hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts titled, “Do Public Assistance Asset Limits Influence Program Costs and Family Financial Security?”

Aditi Srivastav
Aditi Srivastav, a Cohort Seven fellow, served as the editor of a recently-published special publication on Adverse Childhood Experiences in Academic Pediatrics.

Wendy Ellis

Christina Padilla
Christina Padilla, a Cohort Seven fellow, recently co-authored a research brief with the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families titled, “The Development and Home Environments of Low-Income Hispanic Children: Kindergarten to Third Grade.” In September, Christina also presented at the National Head Start Association's "Parents as Leaders" Training Program in a session titled, "Parents' Role as Their Child's First Teacher" to a group of Head Start professionals and parents.

Jennifer Mortensen

Katie Paschall
In partnership with Jennifer Mortensen, a Cohort Three fellow, Katie Paschall, a Cohort Four fellow, recently authored a publication with Doris Duke Fellowships Academic Mentors, Melissa Barnett and Ann Mastergeorge, in Infant Mental Health Journal entitled, “Family conflict moderates early parent-child behavioral transactions.” The article uses Early Head Start data to understand how early exposure to conflict, or hostility, in the home negatively alters parent-child relationships in toddlerhood.

Amanda Van Scoyoc
Amanda Van Scoyoc, a Cohort Four fellow, was recently awarded a Visionary Grant through the American Psychological Foundation along with Amanda Lowell, another Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale. The American Psychological Foundation Visionary Grant seeks to seed innovation through supporting projects and programs that use psychology to solve social problems. Amanda and her collaborators applied in the priority area of "reducing stigma and prejudice to promote unity and harmony." Their application, "Understanding Stigma Surrounding Pregnant Women with Substance Use Disorders" was designed to identify the beliefs that underlie and perpetuate stigma, and that are activated when discussing mothers who struggle with substance use problems during pregnancy. This study is designed to be the first step toward a programmatic research effort designed to change public discourse about pregnant women with addictions and garner support towards enhanced policy for this under-served population. Dr. Linda Mayes is the mentor of this project, and the project is strongly influenced by and supported by the Yale Child Study Center's current partnership with the Frameworks Institute.

Clinton Boyd, Jr.
Clinton Boyd, Jr., a Cohort Six fellow, recently presented with his Policy Mentor, Dr. Waldo Johnson at a Power of Fathers event collaborative hosted by Children’s Home + Aid; Family Focus; Fathers, Families, and Healthy Communities; and Metropolitan Family Services. During their session, they conveyed current and past research efforts to measure the impact of fathers on the development of children; what the research reveals; what gaps exist, and recommendations for how to set up these types of research efforts and evaluations.

Catherine Kuhns
Catherine Kuhns, a Cohort Seven fellow, was chosen to receive the Emerging Professional - Undergraduate Degree Award from Pennsylvania State University's College of Heath and Human Development. To be considered for the Emerging Professional Undergraduate Degree Award, an individual must have received an undergraduate degree in the last ten years, achieved outstanding professional excellence (e.g. research, education, leadership, and practice) in a CHHD area of expertise, and demonstrated exemplary community service.

Byron Powell
Byron Powell, a Cohort Two fellow, recently received a Clinical Loan Repayment Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Additionally, he has two new publications in Implementation Science: “Psychometric assessment of three newly developed implementation outcome measures,” and “Toward criteria for pragmatic measurement in implementation research and practice: A stakeholder-driven approach using concept mapping” (In Press).

Megan Hayes Piel
Megan Hayes Piel, a Cohort Three fellow, recently published an article in the Journal of Family Social Work titled, “Responsive engagement in mental health services for foster youth transitioning to adulthood.”
Spring 2017
"To The Citizens Of The United States: Our Children Need Your Protection"
Fellows' Op-Ed Published in the Huffington Post
A small group of fellows from Cohort Six recently published an op-ed piece in The Huffington Post titled, "To The Citizens Of The United States: Our Children Need Your Protection." The piece is addressed to fellow U.S. citizens and asks them to engage politically and encourage their Congressional representatives to support initiatives that help all children, regardless of background, reach their full potential.
Cohort Six Fellows Julia Fleckman, Melissa Marquardt, Alison Giovanelli, Rachel Katz, and Jennifer Daer Shields collaborated on the piece as part of their small group participation as Doris Duke Fellows. This op-ed is an exciting example of fellows engaging with research to inform policy, a unique feature of the Doris Duke Fellowships.
Fall 2016
Doris Duke Fellowships Small Group Projects:
The Results of Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Doris Duke fellows participate in a number of different learning activities during their time in the fellowship, including webinars, in-person meetings, and group projects. Fellows in each cohort are organized into smaller groups based on common research interests or population interests, and fellowship staff members strive to make each "small group" as interdisciplinary as possible. While fellows work together for their active years in the fellowship, many continue to collaborate after completing their doctoral programs.
The goals of the small group are to facilitate relationship-building among the fellows; advance the development of a learning community; provide opportunities to share work, ask questions, and seek advice from a variety of disciplines and perspectives; and complete a minimum of one collaborative project (i.e., written product).
Cohort Four Fellows Rosemary Bernstein, Aislinn Conrad-Hiebner, Brianna Lemmons, Abigail Ross, and Chelsea Smith were grouped together based on their common research interests in parenting. For their small group project, this group of fellows presented a poster at the annual colloquium of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC). "Child Maltreatment in Stressful Circumstances: Implications for Parenting in Diverse Families" explores the increasing diversity of family environments and the connection between parenting and the risk and protective factors associated with child abuse in three diverse, high-risk populations: military spouses, non-resident African American fathers, and low-income urban families.
Summer 2016
Services Matter:
How Housing and Services Can End Family Homelessness
WEBINAR
Cohort Five fellow Jenna Montgomery Armstrong and her policy mentor, Dr. Carmela DeCandia, co-presented on the intersection of research and policy for families without homes. The webinar focused on the characteristics of families experiencing homelessness, the effects of homelessness on child functioning, and what is known about the role service provision plays in supporting these families.
PRESENTERS
Dr. Carmela DeCandia, Policy Mentor, Advisory Committee Chair for the Bassuk Center on Homeless and Vulnerable Children and Youth (cj@drdecandia.com); Jenna Montgomery Armstrong, Cohort Five Fellow, North Carolina State University (jmmontg2@ncsu.edu).