Francine C. Rosenberg Memorial Lecture Series
25th Annual Lecture
Dr. Dana Suskind
Pediatric Otolaryngologist
Pediatric Otolaryngologist
“A Doctor’s Prescription for
Thriving Kids: Supported Parents”
Monday, May 1 | 7 p.m.
Harris Center
Free and Open to the Public
Thriving Kids: Supported Parents”
Monday, May 1 | 7 p.m.
Harris Center
Free and Open to the Public
Dr. Dana Suskind is a pediatric surgeon and social scientist who specializes in helping parents, caregivers and communities optimize children’s foundational brain development. She will outline blueprints—informed by neuroscience—that we can follow individually and collectively to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. And she will show how the success of children depends on support for their parents, thus making the case for investing in, championing and celebrating the caretakers who are raising our next generation.
Specifically, Dr. Suskind is a pediatric otolaryngologist who specializes in hearing loss and cochlear implantation. She directs the University of Chicago Medicine’s Pediatric Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implant program.
Recognized as a national thought leader in early language development, Dr. Suskind has dedicated her research and clinical life to optimizing foundational brain development and preventing early cognitive disparities and their lifelong impact. She is founder and co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, which aims to create a population-level shift in the knowledge and behavior of parents and caregivers to optimize the foundational brain development in children from birth to five years of age, particularly those born into poverty.
Her book Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain was published in 2015.
Dr. Suskind has received several awards for her work, including the Weizmann Women for Science Vision and Impact award, the SENTAC Gray Humanitarian Award, the LENA Research Foundation Making a Difference Award, the Chairman’s Award from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2018 and the John D. Arnold, MD Mentor Award for Sustained Excellence from the Pritzker School of Medicine.
The Francine C. Rosenberg Memorial Lecture Series was created to honor the memory of one of Parker’s most dedicated and effective volunteers, Francine C. Rosenberg. In Francine’s memory, the Lecture Series is dedicated to exposing Parker and the extended community to innovative views, philosophies and teachings relevant to the education of our children and how we live our lives. Previous guest lecturers include Judith Viorst; John Gottman, PhD; Beverly Daniel Tatum; Maria Trozzi; Alvin Rosenfeld, MD; Edward Hallowell, MD; Wendy Mogel, PhD; Robert Evans, EdD; Michael J. Gelb; Ruth J. Simmons, PhD; Sir Ken Robinson, PhD; James P. Steyer; Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot; Michael Thompson, PhD; Kenneth Ginsbugh, MD, MS Ed; Paul Tough; Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair; Dr. Bruce Perry; Julie Lythcott-Haims; Eric Liu; Dr. Shauna Shapiro; Rami Nashashibi; Michelle Gielan; and Brian Levenson.
Francis W. Parker School educates students to think and act with empathy, courage and clarity as responsible citizens and leaders in a diverse democratic society and global community.