- Rituals, routines, and body rhythms.
Overview
The 2019 Think Tank was held on October 28, 2019 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. As in prior years, it convened a group of 500 stakeholders from fields including education, business, philanthropy, and medicine who directly impacted policy and practice in early child development, and served as a platform to showcase cutting-edge research.
The 2019 Think Tank departed from its tradition of speakers largely in the area of neuroscience, with presenters consisting of a diverse group of medical doctors and researchers. The theme, “Rituals, Routines and Body Rhythms: The Simple and Profound Impacts of When We Eat, Sleep, and Play for Health Across the Lifespan” emphasized the importance of the circadian rhythm in everyday routines.
Desired Impact
The 2019 Think Tank provided participants with an understanding of the body’s natural rhythms and patterns to promote health and wellness. The speakers each explained, through the lens of their own area of expertise, how all of life is governed by rhythms and what happens when disruptions to rhythms occur. Specific topics included:
- The circadian clock: an internal system in each body organ that interacts with the timing of light and food to produce our daily rhythms
- Building a culture of health through routines, including bedtime routines
- Attention and attention bias
- Mindfulness and meditation in practice
- How music training impacts child development
- Parent-infant synchrony
- Sharing microbes with our surroundings
- Underwater diving as an avenue for stress reduction
Whole Child Awards were presented to Samuel Meisels, EdD (Visionary); David Schonfeld, MD (Medical); and Kathy Hirsch-Pasek, PhD (Community).
2019 Think Tank Speakers
Pat Levitt, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer at the Saban Research Institute, and Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Panel Discussion: The Tension Between the Many Components of Wellbeing and How to Incorporate New Scientific Understandings Into Daily Practices.
Satchin Panda, PhD
Rita and Richard Atkinson Chair and Professor at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California
Topic: The Circadian Code
Jodi Mindell, PhD
Associate Director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Topic: Power of Bedtime Routines: Sleep and Beyond
Wendy Slusser, MD, MS, FAAP
Associate Vice Provost for the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA
Topic: Building a Culture of Health for Our Nation’s Children: One Routine at a Time
Nathan Fox, PhD
Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
Topic: Attention and Attention Bias: A Pathway to Reducing Stress
Jill Heinerth
Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. First Explorer in Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Topic: Into the Planet
Susan Kaiser Greenland
Author, speaker, and leader in teaching mindfulness and meditation to children, teens, and families
Topic: Everyday Freedom (Through Mindfulness)
Assal Habibi, PhD
Assistant Research Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute at University of Southern California
Topic: The Brain’s Crescendo: How Music Training Impacts Child Development
Ruth Feldman, PhD
Simms/Mann Professor of Developmental Social Neuroscience, Reichman University
Topic: Biological Rhythms to Social Rhythms; Neonatal Precursors and Adult Consequences
Fernando Martinez, MD
Regents’ Professor and Director of the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson
Topic: Sharing Microbes with Our Surroundings in Early Life: A Key to Long-term Health
2019 Whole Child Award winners
Samuel Meisels, EdD
2019 Whole Child Award Winner – Visionary
Expert on Early Childhood Assessment and Child Development and Founding Executive Director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska
David Schonfeld, MD
2019 Whole Child Award Winner – Medical
Developmental-behavioral Pediatrician in General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement (NCSCB)
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD
2019 Whole Child Award Winner – Community
Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in Psychology at Temple University and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Director of Temple University’s Infant Language Laboratory
