Speaker Biographies

Sam Chan, PhD

Sam Chan is a clinical psychologist and former countywide District Chief with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. He previously held senior administrative and faculty positions at the California School of Professional Psychology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the USC School of Medicine, and the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Chan focused much of his career on mental health promotion, prevention, and early intervention with infants and young children. He has made significant contributions to transdisciplinary workforce development in the health care, education, and human services fields and created model parent advocacy, leadership, and community-building programs for culturally and linguistically diverse populations

Mona M. Delahooke, Ph.D.

Mona M. Delahooke, Ph.D. is a clinical child psychologist with a passion for supporting families and children. She has worked widely with multi- disciplinary teams in the area of developmental and emotional differences for over 30 years. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation and is a trainer and consultant to schools, public/private agencies and parents. Her blog and books, Social and Emotional Development in Early Intervention and upcoming, Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges explore the latest translational application of neuroscience to social and emotional development.

Marian E. Williams, PhD

A licensed psychologist specializing in infant-family and early childhood mental health and developmental disabilities in children, with a special interest in the development of bilingual children and access to services for underserved populations. She is the current President of the California Association of Infant Mental Health, an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Psychology at USC, and serves as the Program Area Lead for the Early Childhood Mental Health Program at UCEDD (University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities). Additionally, Dr. Williams is the Autism Training Coordinator for LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities), and Director for the Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative. Dr. Williams leads a Birth to Five Mental Health Training project providing core training to early childhood mental health professionals throughout Los Angeles County, and holds endorsement from the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health as a Reflective Practice Mentor.

Barbara Stroud, PhD

A licensed psychologist, trainer, and consultant with over three decades worth of culturally informed clinical practice and training in the early childhood development and mental health arenas. She is the co-organizing founder and past president of the California Association for Infant Mental Health, a member for the Academy of ZERO TO THREE Fellows, and holds endorsements as an Infant and Family Mental Health Specialist/Reflective Practice Facilitator Mentor with the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health. In April of 2018 Dr. Stroud was honored with the Bruce D. Perry Spirit of the Child Award. Embedded in all of her trainings, clinical service models, and consultations are the values of reflective practice and sensitivity to cultural uniqueness.

Richard Cohen, PhD

Dr. Cohen has spent his career at the intersections of early childhood education and child welfare, combining practice, research and advocacy with administration and management and evaluation. He holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard and a Doctorate in Educational Psychology from UCLA School of Education. He is a recent graduate of the UM Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health fellowship and is an adjunct lecturer at the USC Suzanne Dworek-Peck School of Social Work. He consults, trains and speaks on topics involving young children, early identification, and early childhood mental health. Previously, Dr. Cohen held positions as Director of Pacific Oaks Research Center, Head Start Director, Executive Director of Westside Children’s Center as well as director of Project ABC, a federally-funded early childhood mental health system of care effort. Dr. Cohen is a certified Touchpoints Trainer and Reflective Parenting Facilitator, and is the President-elect of the California Association of Infant Mental Health.