Sharon G. Portwood, J.D., Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Portwood received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and after more than 10 years as a practicing trial attorney, received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Virginia. Her research reflects an integration of her training and practice in law, developmental psychology, and community psychology applied to a broad spectrum of issues involving health and human services policy and practice, particularly as they impact children, youth, and families. Dr. Portwood has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters covering a wide range of topics, including the prevention of child maltreatment and youth and family violence, children's mental health, and effective community collaboration. She is co-author of the legal textbook, Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases (5th ed.). Dr. Portwood has presented her work both nationally and internationally and has consulted with numerous government and not-for-profit agencies in regard to needs assessment and program development, implementation, and evaluation. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Portwood served as Program Director and Principal Investigator for the KC Metro Child Traumatic Stress Program, a collaborative network of more than 100 community-based agencies, which was funded by SAMHSA as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. From 2005 to 2012, she served as the first Executive Director of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Institute for Social Capital, Inc., which was created to serve as a link between government and nonprofit agencies and university researchers, with the broader goal of fostering research and data-based community decision making through data sharing and integration. Dr. Portwood is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA); Past-President of APA's Section on Child Maltreatment; Past-President of APA Division 37, the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice; and Past Chair of APA's Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.
Michael J. Lawler, MSW, Ph.D., is President of Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) in Yakima, Washington. He leads PNWU's mission to educate and train health care professionals, emphasizing service to rural and medically underserved communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. His nearly four decades of experience in health and human services includes 26 years as a leader in higher education at PNWU, University of South Dakota, and University of California, Davis. Dr. Lawler earned a B.A. from Lewis and Clark College, MSW from University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. from University of California, Davis. He has authored more than 80 publications on children's health and well-being, American Indian health, rural health, and professional education. He served as the United States Principal Investigator of Children's Worlds, an international research project on children's health and well-being, and is past chair of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Children, Youth and Families. Dr. Lawler has received several awards for leadership, public service, and research.
Michael C. Roberts, Ph.D., ABPP, received his doctorate from Purdue University and completed his clinical internship at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center (Children's Memorial Hospital). After rising through the professorial ranks at the University of Alabama, he joined the University of Kansas to start the Clinical Child Psychology Program. He served as Director of the program and as Dean of Graduate Studies before retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2019. Dr. Roberts is licensed in Arizona and is board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Roberts has published more than 200 journal articles and book chapters revolving around the application of psychology to understanding and influencing children's physical and mental health. He has authored or co-edited more than 20 books. He served as the editor of 5 journals and associate editor for 3 journals. He is the editor of the book series, Issues in Clinical Child Psychology, with Springer Nature (formerly Plenum/Kluwer). Dr. Roberts has been president of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, the APA Section on Clinical Child Psychology, the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, and the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. He is a former Chair of the Committee on Children, Youth, and Families and currently serves on the APA Publications and Communications Board. He served on grant review panels, including a study section for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Behavioral Medicine Study Section of NIH. Dr. Roberts is the former chair of the Interdivisional Task Force for Children's Mental Health
