James Larson, Ph.D.,
is Professor of Psychology and Director of the School Psychology Training Program at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. He has more than 25 years’ experience with the study and treatment of anger-related behaviors in children and youth. Dr. Larson was a school psychologist with the Milwaukee Public Schools for 14 years and directed their violence prevention program. He also has extensive experience in the area of parent management training and is the co-author of Parent to Parent: A Video-augmented Training Program for the Prevention of Aggressive Behavior in Young Children and Helping School Children Cope with Anger: A Cognitive-behavioral Intervention. This book is designed for school and clinic-based practitioners who are working to reduce interpersonal violence among children. It provides the latest knowledge base on childhood aggression, the cognitive-behavioral principles underlying treatment, instructions for setting up and running the Anger Coping Program, and a session-by-session treatment manual." His most recent book is Think First: Addressing Aggressive Behavior in Secondary Schools.

Donald Meichenbaum, Ph.D.,,
is the Research Director of The Melissa Institute and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, School of Education. He is one of the founders of cognitive behavior therapy. North American clinicians voted Dr. Meichenbaum “one of the 10 most influential psychotherapists of the 20th century.” He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Clinical Division of the American Psychological Association in 2008. He has published extensively, and his most recent book is Treatment of Individuals with Anger-control Problems and Aggressive Behavior. Other books include Treating Adults with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Nurturing Independent Learners and Stress Inoculation Training. He is one of the founders of The Melissa Institute.

Guerda Nicolas, Ph.D.,
is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education at the University of Miami. As a multicultural (Haitian American) and multilingual psychologist (English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole) her research focuses on developing culturally effective mental health intervention for people of color, particularly immigrant children, adolescents and families. Concerned about women’s issues, depression, spirituality and social support networks of ethnic minorities, Dr. Nicolas is author of many articles and book chapters and is an invited presenter at national and international conferences. She is a member of the Caribbean Studies and 2009 president of the Haitian Studies Association.

Clifford O'Donnell, Ph.D.,
is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Community and Culture Psychology Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i. He has published on topics such as delinquency prevention, school violence, firearm deaths among children and youth, cultural-community psychology, and education and employment in community psychology. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Intermountain Centers for Human Development and consults to several youth mentoring programs that use his community-peer delinquency prevention model. His most recent book is Culture and Context in Human Behavior Change: Theory, Research, and Application (2005) with Lois Yamauchi. Professor O’Donnell received Fellow status in the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the American Psychological Association) in “Recognition of His Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Community Research and Action," an “Outstanding Professor” award from the University of Hawai'i Psi Chi, and the 2001 award from the Council of Program Directors in Community Research and Action for his “Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Community Research and Action.” He served as President of the Society for Community Research and Action in 2004-2005.

Debra Pepler, Ph.D., C. Psych.,.,
is Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University, Toronto, Ontario, and co-director of Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet), Canada’s national initiative for bullying prevention. She is an internationally recognized expert on bullying and childhood aggression and an authority on school-based interventions. She speaks widely to professional and community audiences and publishes extensively. Her major research program examines the antisocial behavior of children and adolescents, particularly in the school and peer contexts. The seminal aspect of this research comprised naturalistic observations of interactions among school-aged peers with remote microphones and video cameras. Her current research in this area examines aggression and victimization among adolescents, with a focus on the processes related to these problems over the lifespan. She is an author and co-editor of Understanding and Addressing Bullying: An International Perspective. She was honored with the Contribution to Knowledge award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada.

Isaac Prilleltensky, Ph.D.,
is Dean of the School of Education at the University of Miami. Prior to that he was Director of the Doctoral Program in Community Research and Action at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He was born in Argentina and has studied and worked in Israel, Canada, Australia and the United States. He has lectured widely in South America, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Prilleltensky is concerned with value-based ways of promoting personal, relational, and collective well-being. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of several books, including Community Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-Being, Doing Psychology Critically, Critical Psychology, Promoting Family Wellness and Preventing Child Maltreatment, and The Morals and Politics of Psychology. He recently completed with his wife, Dr. Ora Prilleltensky, a book entitled Promoting Well-Being: Linking Personal, Organizational, and Community Change .

Wendy K. Silverman, Ph.D.,
is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Child and Family Psychosocial Research Center at Florida International University. She has authored/co-edited four books and over 100 scientific articles. Her research on developing and evaluating evidence-based assessment and treatment procedures for use with children and adolescents with anxiety disorders been continuously funded for the past two decade by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In addition to conducting research, teaching, and mentoring students, she has served as Editor of Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Associate Editor of Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Past President of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (Division 53, American Psychological Association), and Chair of the NIMH grant review panel for Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Psychopharmacological Intervention Research.

Ron Slaby, Ph.D.,
is a developmental psychologist who serves as a Senior Scientist in both Education Development Center in Newton, MA and the Center on Media and Child Health in Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Slaby has helped shape our national and international agenda for preventing and treating violence by contributing to and connecting the evidence of research and the wisdom of practice. He coauthored a first national plan to prevent violence for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as two national reports on violence and youth for the American Psychological Association. He has investigated, developed, and applied many innovative and effective strategies and programs to prevent youth violence in the U.S. and in his consultations in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Pakistan, and Uruguay. As Associate Professor and Lecturer in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education for 25 years, Dr. Slaby taught the courses Growing Up in a Media World, as well as Preventing Violence in America, the nation’s first course devoted entirely to finding solutions to the problem of violence. Dr. Slaby has also advanced our understanding of media influences on children’s health. He has generated and evaluated media literacy programs, investigated remedies for media violence effects on children, and served as the educational advisor for many award-winning family television programs and feature films. His books and programs include: Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders: Thinking and Acting to Prevent Violence; Social Development in Young Children; Early Violence Prevention: Tools for Teachers of Young Children; Viewpoints: A Guide to Conflict Resolution and Decision Making for Adolescents; Eyes on Bullying: Preventing Bullying in the Lives of Children.

Dale Willows, Ph.D.,
is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She is also a registered psychologist. Dr. Willows is a renowned expert in the teaching of reading and preventing reading and writing difficulties in young children. She has devoted herself to implementing change in early literacy education through in-service professional development for primary grade teachers and school administrators. In addition to publishing extensively in journals and authoring numerous books and book chapters, she is frequently invited to present at academic and professional conferences. In 2001, Dr. Willows was honored as an Outstanding Educator by three Canadian school districts. Dr. Willows serves as the only international member of the National Reading Panel which was commissioned by the US Congress in 1998. She was invited to attend The White House Assembly on Reading in 2001.

Marleen Wong, LCSW, Ph.D.
is Assistant Dean and Clinical Professor of Field Education at the University of Southern California, School of Social Work. As the former Director of Mental Health and Crisis Intervention for the Los Angeles Unified School District, she has developed school crisis teams, mental health recovery programs, and training for school districts and law enforcement personnel in the United States, Canada, and Asia and is frequently consulted by the US DOE to assist with recovery for schools impacted by violence and disaster. She is the original community partner with RAND Health and the UCLA Health Services Research staff who developed and evaluated CBITS (Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools), an evidence-based program that uses skill-based, group intervention to relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and general anxiety among children exposed to trauma. She is also one of the authors of Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Students and Teachers: Listen, Protect, Connect (LPC), one of a family of public health strategies available on the public website of the US Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Wong has served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism and the IOM’s Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, which is charged with assessing national priorities and approaches to public health and medical practice, public policy, research, education, and training.