Dr. Kathleen Baggett directs the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development, a University Research Center, embedded in the School of Public Health. She is an Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Behavior and a Second Century Initiative Scholar (2CI). Her research is on improving access to effective interventions for strengthening nurturing parenting and caregiving practices with infants and toddlers, especially for individuals with developmental disabilities and affected by minority health disparities. She directs federal research studies of interventions aimed at improving parent mood and strengthening  parenting practices that promote infant and toddler social-communication development. Her research support from the NIH, CDC, HRSA, and the U.S. Department of Education has supported the development and rigorous evaluation of mobile health interventions that employ remote coaching and consultation in early intervention, child care, family home, and community mental health settings.

Katy Miller Spinks, M.Ed, Project Coordinator of Assessment, recently completed a Certificate of Public Health at Georgia State University. Prior to joining the Mom & Baby Net project, she coordinated a multi-state randomized control trial in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development focused on braiding two evidence-based child maltreatment programs together. Katy earned her Bachelor of Science in Child Development and Master of Education in Child Studies from Vanderbilt University.

Alexandria Patterson, MPH, Project Coordinator of Intervention, completed her MPH at Georgia State University. Prior to becoming a project coordinator, she was a graduate research assistant in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development. Alexandria earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Brian Barger, Biostatistician, is a Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of  Public Health at Georgia State University where he serves as the Director of Research and Evaluation at Center for Leadership in Disability. Dr. Barger’s research focuses on community-based early identification of, and intervention for, infants and young children with developmental (e.g., autism) and mental health (e.g., anxiety) conditions. Dr. Barger is providing statistical support and aiding in the development of systematic reviews of the literature on parent child interaction therapies for infants and toddlers with autism.

Brooke DiPetrillo, MPH, is a doctoral student in the school of Public Health in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavior at Georgia State University. She was awarded a doctoral fellowship and works as a GRA on Dr. Baggett’s NIH R01 study: Reducing Maternal Depression and Promoting Infant Social-Emotional Health and Development. Brooke obtained her MPH from GSU in 2011. She has spent the last 10 years working for non-profits including CARE and ChildFund implementing community-based projects and grants in maternal and child health, parenting, early child development and youth employment. Her research interests include child maltreatment prevention, maternal stress and depression, responsive parenting and the use of technology to promote and capture data on behavior change.

Chloe Beacham, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in the College of Education and Human Development in the School Psychology program. She graduated from Georgia College and State University in 2016 and worked at the Marcus Autism Center as well as the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University prior to attending Georgia State University. Her research interests include early intervention services for children who are at-risk for developmental delays and infant-mother interactions on child development.  Additional research interests include assessments to inform treatment decisions and early identification of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.