Our Faculty

Our faculty members have diverse interests and backgrounds and are available to collaborate with students in courses and on dissertations with work that is important to them.

Joy Voyles Browne, PhD, PCNS-BC, IMH-E (IV) Infant Mental Health, Infant Assessment, Reflective Practice and Consulting

Dr. Browne’s professional background is as a Pediatric/ Developmental Psychologist, Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Infant Mental Health Clinical Mentor. She is also director of WONDERbabies, including the BABIES and PreSTEPS program for early intervention professionals, the Fragile Infant Feeding Institute and Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education—US. She chairs the Gravens Interprofessional Consensus Panel on IFCDC in Intensive Care. Dr. Browne’s main field of research is in neurodevelopmental supportive care, parent support and infant feeding.

Milagros Cordero, PhD Occupational Therapist, Tomatis, Individual Differences

Pediatrics - Parent coaching - Cultural influences With over 45 years experience, Dr. Cordero is still ‘playing’ as her daily work. Her passions include not only her work with children and young adults, providing occupational therapy services with a Floortime/DIR approach, but supporting and coaching parents and caretakers. Other areas of interest that have been part of her studies include cultural influences and family systems. Dr. Cordero is very interested in mentorship to students and looks forward to establishing this relationship

Gerry Costa, PhD, DIR-C, IMH-E (IV) – Clinical Mentor Autism Spectrum Disorders, Developmental Approaches to ASD Interventions Infant and Early Childhood Trauma

MBA, OTR/L, CNT IECD Program Director JENENE CRAIG, PHD Infant /early childhood mental health, change agent, progressive leadership, NICU and non-profit higher education, Advocacy.

Dr. Craig received her PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Development, with emphasis in Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, from Fielding Graduate University in 2015. She received her BS in Occupational Therapy in 1982 and her MBA in Business Administration in 1988, sustaining a long career in the field of Occupational Therapy.

Scan the QR code to view a video of Jenene’s doctoral journey

NINA NEWMAN, PHD Clinical Psychologist, Infant, Early Childhood, and Families

Dr. Newman has extensive experience working with children, parents, and families in clinical, assessment, and research settings. She has a deep background in social emotional development, attachment, neuropsychology, brain development, executive functions, learning differences, and pediatric traumatic brain injury as well as a strong interest in culture.

Corinne G. Catalano, PhD, IMHM Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health, Inclusive Education, Autism Spectrum Disorder

Dr. Catalano is the Assistant Director for Consultation Services at the Montclair State University Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health. She has over 20 years of experience working with early childhood professionals on creating high quality, inclusive care and education environments for young children and their families. Her research and teaching focus on educating children with autism spectrum disorder and the interdisciplinary knowledge this requires.

Jenny Edwards, PhD Research Methods, Invitational Education, Cognitive Coaching

Marnisha Henry, EdD Developmental Disabilities, Human Services, Advocacy

Kathi Kamm, PhD Infant Mental Health Specialist, Neurodevelopment Assessment, Sensory Motor Development

Lorraine Ehlers-Flint, PhD Clinical Psychologist, DIR Floortime®TM, Supervision and Consultation

Lorraine Ehlers-Flint, PhD, is a clinical and developmental psychologist with extensive experience working with children and families in private settings, schools, hospitals, and community agencies in cross-cultural contexts. She is the co-founder and co-director of Collaborative™, which provides developmental interprofessional services for children and families, as well as professional development training. Dr. Ehlers-Flint is a consultant for professionals serving children with complex and diverse developmental profiles in the US, Europe, and in Latin America. She is a DIRFloortime® Expert Level Training Leader of the certificate program of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL.com). Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Ehlers-Flint is in private practice in San Francisco and New York. She is bilingual and bicultural.

Andra Munger, PhD Visual/Spatial Intervention, DIR Floortime®™ Waldorf Schools

Josh Feder, MD Child and family psychiatry, DIR, psychopharmacology, research, advocacy, autism and trauma

Joshua D. Feder, MD is a child and family psychiatrist in Solana Beach, California and Editor in Chief of the Carlat Child Psychiatry Report, lead author of the Child Medication Fact Book for Psychiatric Practice and co-author of the upcoming edition of Drug Metabolism. Dr. Feder runs a research incubator at Fielding Graduate University program in Infant and Early Childhood Development and does clinical research with UCSD and SDSU. Dr. Feder’s research includes work developing blended developmentalbehavioral programs for autism and resilience building for children living in areas impacted by armed conflict. Dr. Feder is on the faculty of The Interdisciplinary Network on Development and Learning (ICDL) and Profectum. He serves as Medical Director in the SymPlay division at Quicksilver Software, Inc., developing technology to support relationship-based interventions, is active in legislative and policy advocacy, and he has travelled extensively as a Senior Associate Member of the International Network on Peace Building with Young Children. Dr. Feder’s work and podcasts are available at joshuafedermd.com.

KATHLEEN A. PLATZMAN, PHD DIR approaches to Infant Mental Health

Kathy is a Licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. Her private practice, Floortime Atlanta, is multi-disciplinary and focuses on both assessment and treatment of individuals with a wide range of developmental disabilities and challenges and their families. She has been trained in compatible approaches such as EMDR and Brainspotting. Her research focus has been on prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol and their long term developmental effects. She received her doctorate in 1983 from the University of Chicago.

Ira Glovinsky, PhD Specialization in the emergence of mood disorders in infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children

Dr. Glovinsky has worked in the area of pediatric mood disturbances for over 30 years. He has published two books with Dr. Stanley Greenspan on mood disorders in young children. He is currently doing research on the development of interoception in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and how interoception can be incorporated into therapy with parents and young children. He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan in Special Education and is a fully licensed psychologist. Susan Stillman, EdD Social Emotional Learning Practices for Educators Emotional Intelligence Skills and Practices for Well-Being and Balance

Suzanne McKann, PhD, LCPCMD-S, NCSP, Diplomate, ACTAcademy of Cognitive Therapy Neuropsychology, Qualitative Research Methodology, and Educational and Psychological Assessment of children and adults. Research: Interests and projects: Neuropsychological disorders, Educational and psychological assessments, Tourette’s Syndrome, Epilepsy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Phenomenology, creativity in Chinese children, Aging, and issues in acculturation. Dr. McKann has supported over 20 doctoral students on a wide range of qualitative dissertation topics as the Research Faculty member.

MARY G. WARREN PHD, IMH-E® Infant Mental Health Mentor, Culture, Law/Policy/Advocacy

Dr. Warren has state (AZ) and national experience in administrative and policy work in healthcare and early childhood systems. She has degrees in Anthropology, Education, Counseling, and Sociology and a strong interest in how culture influences parenting and early childhood education.

Deborah Sussman, PhD DIR Floortime®™ Caregiver/child interaction during play and functional activities, sensory motor processing, co/self-regulation, integrating developmental theory and clinical intervention through mentoring

Debbie has been a practicing Occupational Therapist working with adults and children for over thirty-nine years. She has a clinical practice in both New York and California. Her interest is in supporting the emotions and regulation of caregivers and children during functional activities. She specializes in sensory processing disorders and parentchild interactions. Debbie provides educational programs to parents, educators, and therapists. Debbie is a coowner of Collaborative® with Dr. Lorraine Ehlers-Flint. The Collaborative Approach offers full support to caregivers and children with daily life, emotional regulation, and social interactions. Debbie is a certified DIR/Floortime Expert Trainer Leader through the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders, certified in the Self-Reg-Facilitators Certificate Program through the Mehrit Centre, and is a core faculty member in the IECD program at Fielding Graduate University. She graduated from Boston University, Sargent College in 1981 and received her PhD at Fielding Graduate University IECD program in 2016. Her dissertation research focused on the morning routine with an emphasis on the parent’s experience.

Michelle Vanchu-Orosco, PhD Data, Research, and Evaluation Survey Design and Methodology Beginning, Intermediate, and Multivariate Statistics

Gina Veloni PhD, MN, RN, IMH-E ® Reflective Practice, Maternal-child Health Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

MARVA L. LEWIS, PHD Sociocultural influences on parent-infant attachment and multicultural relationships

Dr. Lewis brings over two decades of clinical practice in child welfare and community infant mental health teams and serves as a national consultant to Zero to Three, Infant-Toddler Court Teams for children in foster care. Her basic and applied research on mother-daughter haircombing interaction and intergenerational biopsychosocial stressors of historical trauma of slavery, to provide scientific evidence for strengthsbased, culturally valid assessment and parent group intervention tools