Dr. Carol Crill Russell oversees research and quality assurance for all research, education and training programs at Invest in Kids. She has spent over 35 years working in both research and community settings as a social worker, researcher, policymaker, strategist and administrator. Her passion is translating research into plain language for parents and frontline professionals. Dr. Russell is the designer of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures research demonstration project and the author and editor of several key industry publications, including, most recently, The State of Knowledge about Prevention/Early Intervention, Parenting in the Beginning Years: Priorities for Investment, and Parent Education: What is Required to Build the Skills that Parents Need to Raise Healthy Children. Dr. Russell earned a B.A. in Psychology from Manchester College, a Master of Science in Sociology from Indiana University, and a Master of Social Work and a Ph.D. in Social Work and Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her career began with frontline work in hospitals and centres for children and adults with severe physical and mental health disabilities. She then moved into social survey research at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan where she was also selected as a Fellow in the prestigious Bush Program in Child Development and Social Policy. In 1990, Dr. Russell joined the Ministry of Community and Social Services for the Government of Ontario as the Senior Research and Policy Advisor for Children’s Services. For almost a decade, she initiated and monitored population-based prevention and early intervention research initiatives. During her career, Dr. Russell has been honoured with several prominent awards, including her most recent Research and Development Grant from the Lawson Foundation for 2001-2005. Dr. Russell is currently an expert advisor for: the Services Research Committee of the National Centre of Excellence on Early Child Development; the Evaluation Advisory Group for Ontario’s Healthy Babies, Healthy Children program; and the Core Research Team for the Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project. Back to Media Centre
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