Members of our professional advisory board serve the foundation on a voluntary basis.
Rebecca Born is the founder and director of Connections, a resource center for female survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the greater Cincinnati area. She has piloted The Quest, a program utilized in two local Juvenile Detention Facilities assisting female adolescents who have been sexually abused. In 2005, under the leadership of Ms. Born, Connections received the Maurice McCrackin Outstanding Organization Award for working in the field of social justice. Ms. Born has developed and launched Be the Scream, an education and advocacy program. She has served on the Board of Directors of Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati, and served a term as Board President. A licensed independent social worker, Ms. Born has presented at numerous national conferences.
Vincent J. Felitti, MD, is co-Principal Investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, ongoing collaborative research between Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control. A 1962 graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School, Dr. Felitti is an internist who founded the Department of Preventive Medicine for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, California in 1975; he served as Chief of Preventive Medicine until 2001. Under Dr. Felitti’s leadership, the Health Appraisal Division of the Department provided comprehensive, biopsychosocial medical evaluation to over one million people. During his career, he developed major health-risk abatement programs for obesity, smoking cessation, hemochromatosis, and somatization disorders. These programs are provided to over 1,000 patients per month in San Diego. Dr. Felitti is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California and a Fellow of The American College of Physicians.
Dr. Norman received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Russian from Vassar College, her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island, and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Stanford University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of San Diego/V.A. San Diego Healthcare Systems. After receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Norman completed a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on neurobiology of trauma in women at UCSD. Dr. Norman is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in behavioral medicine, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies, and the treatment of anxiety and trauma-related disorders. Dr. Norman’s research primarily involves etiology, assessment, and treatment of co-occurring PTSD and alcohol and/or substance use disorders. Dr. Norman holds a k-award from NIAAA to develop a psychotherapeutic treatment for victims of intimate partner violence who are experiencing PTSD symptoms and have an alcohol use disorder. Other interests include the impact of psychological trauma on treatment outcomes for dually diagnosed patients, physical health and functioning in PTSD spectrum disorders, and treatment of anxiety disorders in primary care.
Kathleen Hart is a full professor in the Department of Psychology of Xavier University in Cincinnati. Dr. Hart works with undergraduate and graduate students as well as maintaining a private practice at Xavier University in which she performs neuropsychological assessment for children and adults. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Psychology, the American Academy of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, the American Psychological Society, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, the Ohio Psychological Association, the Southeastern Psychological Association, and has been past president of the Cincinnati Psychological Association. She has served on the executive board of the Mental Health Association of Cincinnati and is active in Boys’ Hope/Girls’ Hope of Cincinnati. She has served on many university committees and has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles in medical journals. She has written chapters in seven textbooks on psychological aspects of adolescence and has given numerous workshops throughout the United States.
Jane Leserman is a full professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, University of North Carolina. She is a member of the American Psychosomatic Society, the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She is on the editorial board of three medical journals, Behavioral Medicine, International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and Psychosomatic Medicine. She is consulting reviewer for seven medical journals and has been principal investigator in two major grants from NIH and NIMH. She has written two books in her field and has authored over 200 articles and abstracts in peer-reviewed medical journals. Dr. Leserman has given numerous presentations throughout the United States. Her special interests include research in psychoneuroimmunology, behavioral medicine, methods/statistics, women’s health, stress and trauma including sexual and physical abuse.
Beth Boyd is a licensed social worker who is director of Center for Children and Families, a Cincinnati support center for victims of sexual abuse and their families. She also maintains a small private practice of individual, family, couple and group therapy. For the past ten years, she has been in charge of A Voice, a treatment program for sexually-abused children. In 2002 she received the Voices in Action award for pioneering work in childhood sexual abuse treatment. This is a national organization, which serves as a source of support and resources for survivors of sexual abuse. In 2006 she received a Be the Scream Award for the service provider who exemplified genuine responsiveness to the issue of childhood sexual abuse.
Kimberly Kroeger-Geoppinger, is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of Pediatrics, The Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavior Analysis, the Autism Society of America, and the Ohio Autism Consortium for Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Kroeger-Geoppinger has been on several local and state committees involving autism treatment and has presented papers at several national and regional meetings. She has taught courses at Xavier University and at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnati. She has been the principal investigator in two research grants and has been the co-author in chapters of two psychological textbooks. She has authored several research articles in peer-reviewed journals. In 2003 she was named “Autism Service Provider of the Year” by the Autism Society of Cincinnati and in 2004 she was awarded the Dissertation of the Year Award by the Cincinnati Psychological Association. She also received the "FEAT of GC Achievement Award" by the Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Greater Cincinnati.
Dr. Erica Pearl is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She received her doctorate from Xavier University and completed pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships with an emphasis in treating and assessing child abuse. She currently provides training and consultation to clinicians in the area of evidence-based treatments for traumatized families for the Trauma Treatment Training Center, a joint collaborative of the Mayerson Center for Safe & Healthy Children and the Childhood Trust. She trains Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, traumatic bereavement, and Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement, a program for non-clinical providers who interact with traumatized children. Her clinical interests include interventions for exposure to child maltreatment, battering, and neglect, dissociative disorders, and Cognitive Processing Therapy for sexual abuse survivors. She has been a volunteer for the Council on Child Abuse of Southern Ohio, a non-profit child abuse prevention agency since 1990, worked as a research assistant at Ohio University for the Sexual Assault Risk Reduction Project, and began clinical work with survivors of sexual abuse during graduate school. She is currently a co-investigator on a study involving the dissemination of evidence-based treatments for treating trauma. Dr. Pearl serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Family Violence and is a member of the American Professional Society for the Abuse of Children, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and the American Psychological Association, Division of Child, Youth and Family Services.