The Youth-Nex Advisory Board is a distinguished group of experts from a vast array of disciplines whose work includes emphases on youth — including law, medicine and pediatrics, brain biology, psychiatry and psychology. The advisory board plays a critical role in the center’s focus and mission to promote healthy youth development.
Pictured left to right: Mark Greenberg, Sharon Hostler, Laurence Steinberg, Karen Pittman, Patrick Tolan, Anne Holton, Russell Pate, Richard Bonnie.
Board Members
Richard J. Bonnie | Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law; Hunton & Williams Professor of Law; Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences; Director, Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy; Professor of Public Policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; University of Virginia
Richard Bonnie is an expert in the fields of criminal law and procedure, mental health and drug law, public health law, and bioethics. He is Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law, Hunton & Williams Research Professor, and Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University. While in law school, Bonnie was notes and decisions editor for the Virginia Law Review, and a member of the Order of the Coif and the Raven Society. Immediately following his graduation in 1969, he became assistant professor at Virginia for one year before a period of military service and service as associate director of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. He returned to the Law School in the fall of 1973 He became Director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy in 1979. Bonnie has been actively involved in public service throughout his academic career. He served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (1975‐80) and from 1979‐1985, he was Chairman of Virginia's State Human Rights Committee, which is responsible for protecting the rights of residents and clients of Virginia's public mental health and mental retardation services system. Bonnie served from 1981‐88 on the Advisory Board for the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards Project, from 2004‐2007 on the ABA Task Force on Mental Illness and the Death Penalty, and from 1988‐1996 on the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mental Health and the Law. He is currently chairing the Commonwealth of Virginia Commission of Mental Health Law Reform established by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2006. He is also currently participating in the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment as well as the Foundation's new Initiative on Law and Neuroscience.
Bonnie has served as an adviser to the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Psychiatry and Law since 1979, and also serves as an adviser to the Committee on Ethics, Law and Humanities of the American Academy of Neurology. Bonnie was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1991. He recently chaired an IOM/NRC committee on reducing tobacco use (2004‐07), and is serving on the NRC Committee on Law and Justice, as well as the governing board for the Division on the Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Bonnie has previously chaired IOM Committees on Underage Drinking (2002‐03), Injury Prevention and Control (1997‐98), and Opportunities in Drug Abuse Research (1995‐96), as well as an NRC panel on Elder Abuse and Neglect (2001‐02). Bonnie was vice‐chair of the IOM Committee on Preventing Nicotine Dependence in Children and Youths (1993‐94) and was a member of the IOM Committee on Increasing Rates of Organ Donation (2005‐06), the IOM Committee to Assess the System for Protection of Human Research Subjects (2000‐02), the IOM Committee to Assess the Science Base for Tobacco Harm Reduction (1999‐2001), and the National Research Council Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs (1998‐2001). In 2002 he was awarded the Yarmolinsky Medal for his extraordinary service to the IOM and the National Academies. He has been deeply interested in issues involving psychiatry and human rights. In 1989 he was a member of the U.S. Department of State delegation that assessed changes in the Soviet Union relating to political abuse of psychiatry and performed a similar mission for the World Psychiatric Association in 1991. In 1993 he became a member of the Advisory Board of the Network of Reformers in Psychiatry in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and was a member of the board of directors of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry from 1997‐2006. Bonnie is a fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation. He is a charter fellow of the College on the Problems of Drug Dependence and has served twice on the Board of Directors of the College. He is co‐chair of Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy (PLNDP), an organization established in 2004 as a "public health partnership" to promote evidence based policies relating to alcohol and other addictive drugs. He has received numerous awards, including the American Psychiatric Association's Isaac Ray Award in 1998 for his "contributions to forensic psychiatry and the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence" and a Special Presidential Commendation from the APA in 2003. He is also a distinguished honorary fellow of the American Psychology‐Law Society. He received the Thomas Jefferson Award, the University of Virginia’s highest honor, in 2007.
Mark T. Greenberg | Edna Peterson Bennett Endowed Chair in Prevention Research; Director, Prevention
Research Center; Professor of Human Development and Psychology Research; Pennsylvania State University
Mark Greenberg, Ph.D., is Director of The Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State. He is a senior investigator on a number of prevention projects involving early childhood interventions involving both schools and families. He is also a member of the leadership team of CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Dr. Greenberg is the author of more than 100 articles and chapters on development and understanding aggression, violence and externalizing disorders. Since 1981, he has been examining the effectiveness of school-based curricula (The PATHS Curriculum) to improve the social, emotional and cognitive competence of elementary-aged children. Since 1990, he has served as an investigator in Fast Track, a comprehensive program that aims to prevent violence and delinquency in families. Dr. Greenberg is the author of more than 200 journal articles and book chapters on developmental psychopathology, well-being, and the effects of prevention efforts on children and families. He consults with government agencies and foundations at the local, state, federal, and international levels on topics related to child development and mental health promotion. Awards and credentials include Distinguished Research Scientist Award of the Society for Prevention Research in 2002; and Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children Award from the Society for Research in Child Development in 2008.
Anne Holton | Consultant, Child Welfare Strategy Group, Annie E. Casey Foundation,
Former First Lady of Virginia, and Former Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge
Anne Holton has devoted her career to serving as an advocate for Virginia’s families and children. She joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Child Welfare Strategy Group as a consultant in January 2010. She has assisted engagement teams in various states particularly around issues relating to the judiciary and right-sizing congregate care, and has led a strategy workgroup exploring promising practices to prevent unnecessary out-of-home placements of teens due to complex behavior issues. Holton spent her prior professional career advocating for children and families in her home state of Virginia. From 1998-2005 she served as a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge. While on the bench, she founded and led a cross-agency collaboration to improve child welfare practice in her jurisdiction and served on the advisory committee to the state’s Court Improvement Program for child welfare. From 2006-2010 she served as the First Lady of Virginia, upon the election of her husband Tim Kaine as Virginia’s Governor. She launched her signature initiative in January of 2007, “For Keeps: Families for all Virginia Teens”, which focused on helping Virginia find and strengthen permanent families, particularly for older children in foster care or at risk of entering care. This work led her to a leadership role in the Children’s Services Transformation upon which Virginia embarked in late 2007, with the assistance of AECF’s Casey Strategic Consulting Group. This effort resulted in a dramatic increase in successfully placing and/or keeping at-risk children in permanent families. She practiced law for many years at the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society including serving as lead counsel in several successful nationwide and statewide class actions. She has a B.A. in economics from the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a law degree from Harvard University. Holton received the Annie E. Casey Foundation Families for Life Award of Distinction in 2008.
Sharon L. Hostler | Senior Associate Dean and Vice Provost for Faculty Development, University of Virginia;
McLemore Birdsong Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Sharon Hostler, M.D., is the McLemore Birdsong Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean at the School of Medicine and Vice Provost for Faculty Development for the University of Virginia. Hostler joined the faculty in 1970 where her career as a clinician educator has focused on: children with cancer; outreach to rural underserved children (Medical Director of the Children and Youth Project); transition tasks of adolescents with chronic illness and developmental disabilities (Division Chief of Developmental Pediatrics); outcomes of adolescents with severe head injury and spinal cord injury (Medical Director of the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation Center); the status of women students, house staff and faculty (Chair of the Committee on Women); the implementation of Family Centered Care in academic medical centers; and development of men and women faculty (Chair of the School of Medicine Promotion and Tenure Committee, Faculty Leadership Programs). She has served as Visiting Professor at schools throughout the United States, Canada, Israel, Costa Rica and Italy. Dr. Hostler has been nationally recognized for her work in Developmental Pediatrics as the Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals’ T. Barry Brazelton Lecturer, the Pele Chandler Lecturer and Visiting Professorships throughout the United States, Canada, Israel (Hadassah Hospital and Ben Gurion University), Costa Rica and Italy. Her 1990 Status of Women Report at the University of Virginia resulted in major restructuring of promotion and tenure guidelines, faculty development and academic reviews, as well as providing a model assessment process for other medical schools. In 2008, Hostler received the coveted Thomas Jefferson Award—the highest award given by the University of Virginia.
Russell R. Pate | Professor and Director, Children’s Physical Activity Research Group, University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health
Dr. Pate, a native of upstate New York, was educated at Springfield College (B.S., 1968) and the University of Oregon (M.S., 1973; Ph.D., 1974). In 1974 he joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina where he now serves as Professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health. He has held several administrative positions including Chair, Department of Exercise Science; Associate Dean for Research, Arnold School of Public Health; and Vice Provost for Health Sciences. Dr. Pate is an exercise physiologist with interests in physical activity and physical fitness in children and the health implications of physical activity. He has published more than 230 scholarly papers and has authored or edited three books. He served on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (2003-04), the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (2007-08), and an Institute of Medicine panel that developed guidelines on prevention of childhood obesity. He currently chairs the coordinating committee for the National Physical Activity Plan.
Karen Pittman | Co-founder, President and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment
A sociologist and recognized leader in youth development, Karen has had a distinguished career leading and creating innovative and effective program at the Urban Institute, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), the Academy for Educational Development where she served as vice president, founder and director of the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research and its spin-off, the National Training Institute for Community Youth Work. In January 1995, Ms. Pittman accepted a position with the Clinton Administration as director of the President's Crime Prevention Council where she worked with 13 Cabinet Secretaries to create a coordinated prevention agenda. In the fall of 1995, she joined the executive team of the International Youth Foundation (IYF), charged with helping the organization strengthen its program content and develop an evaluation strategy. In 1998, she and Rick Little, head of IYF, took a six-month leave of absence to work with General Colin Powell to create America’s Promise. In 1999, she returned to IYF to plant the seeds for what has become the Forum. A widely published author, Karen has written three books, dozens of articles on youth issues, is a regular columnist for Youth Today and a much in demand public speaker. Ms. Pittman has served on numerous boards and panels. Currently, she is a board member of the America's Promise Trustees Steering Committee and YouthBuild USA. Ms. Pittman is the 2002 recipient of the National Commission for African American Education Augustus F. Hawkins Service Award and the 2003 American Youth Policy Forum Decade of Service Award for Sustained Visionary Leadership in Advancing Youth Policy. She was named to the 2009 Nonprofit Times Power and Influence Top 50 list.
Laurence Steinberg | Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology Temple University; Advisory Board Member, The Allstate Foundation Teen Driving Program
Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading authorities on psychological development during adolescence; and one of the leading experts in the United States on adolescent brain biology. His research has focused on a range of topics, including adolescent brain development, risk-taking and decision-making, mental health, family relationships, after-school employment, school achievement and juvenile justice.
He is the Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology at Temple University, joining the faculty there in 1988. Steinberg taught previously at Cornell University, the University of California at Irvine, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and is currently Director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. Steinberg is President of the Division of Developmental Psychology of the American Psychological Association and Past-President of the Society for Research on Adolescence. He has been the recipient of numerous honors, including lifetime achievement awards from the Society for Research on Adolescence and the American Psychological Association and teaching awards from the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, and Temple University. In 2009, he was named the first recipient of the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize, one of the largest prizes ever awarded to a social scientist, for his contributions to improving the lives of young people and their families.
His work has been funded by a variety of public and private organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, the MacArthur Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Spencer Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Dr. Steinberg served as a member of the National Academies’ Board on Children, Youth, and Families and currently chairs the Academies’ Committee on the Science of Adolescence. He has been a frequent consultant to state and federal agencies and lawmakers on child labor, secondary education, and juvenile justice policy and was the lead scientist on the amicus curiae brief filed by the American Psychological Association in Roper v. Simmons, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the juvenile death penalty. He has also provided expert testimony and consultation in a number of legal cases involving adolescent brain and behavioral development.
Dr. Steinberg is the author of more than 300 articles and essays on growth and development during the teenage years, and the author or editor of 13 books, including Adolescence (McGraw-Hill), the leading college textbook on adolescent development, now in its 9th edition; When Teenagers Work: The Psychological and Social Costs of Adolescent Employment (with Ellen Greenberger; Basic Books); Crossing Paths: How Your Child's Adolescence Triggers Your Own Crisis (with Wendy Steinberg; Simon & Schuster); Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do (with Bradford Brown and Sanford Dornbusch; Simon & Schuster); the Handbook of Adolescent Psychology (co-edited with Richard Lerner; Wiley); Rethinking Juvenile Justice (with Elizabeth Scott; Harvard University Press); Development: Infancy Through Adolescence (with Deborah Vandell and Marc Bornstein; Wadsworth); Lifespan Development (with Marc Bornstein, Deborah Vandell, and Karen Rook; Wadsworth); You and Your Adolescent: The Essential Guide for Ages 10 to 25 (Simon & Schuster); and The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting (Simon & Schuster), which has been translated into ten languages. Dr. Steinberg is a frequent consultant on adolescent development for print and electronic media, including The New York Times and National Public Radio. He has also has written for many popular outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
