Committee Co-Chairs

Bianca Albers, Family & Evidence Center (FEC), Copenhagen

Ms. Albers is director and partner at the Family and Evidence Center (FEC) in Copenhagen and takes part in the dissemination and consolidation of evidence-based practices in Denmark. In her role as leader, program developer and change agent at the FEC, Ms. Albers is confronted with the challenges of QA and implementation in social work on a daily basis. She has a bi-national background and thus is familiar with typical implementation issues in the central European and Scandinavian welfare models. As the former program director for evidence-based programs at the Danish National Board of Social Services, Ms. Albers has worked to help implement a variety of child and family evidence-based practices in the Danish setting and make them accessible and practicable for Danish providers.

Dean L. Fixsen, PhD, National Implementation Research Network

Dr. Fixsen is a senior scientist at FPG Child Development Institute, co-director of the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN), and co-director of the State Implementation and Scale up of Evidence-based Practices (SISEP) Center. Dr. Fixsen is an implementation research consultant on six NIH RO1 grants and serves on several national advisory boards. He began his career in human services in 1963 as a psychiatric aide in a large state hospital for children with profound developmental delays. He has spent his career developing and implementing evidence-based programs, initiating and managing change processes in provider organizations and service delivery systems, and working with others to improve the lives of children, families, and adults. Over the past five decades, Dr. Fixsen has co-authored over 100 publications, including the highly regarded monograph, Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature. He has served on numerous editorial boards and has served as an advisor to federal, state, and local governments.

Jennifer Schroeder, PhD, JAS Associates, Inc.

Dr. Schroeder is an independent consultant and evaluator focusing on evidence-based practice, implementation science, systems evaluation, and the integration of health, mental health, education, and juvenile justice systems in improving outcomes for children and families. She is currently conducting statewide evaluations focusing on the systems-building work of early childhood councils and the scaling up of the Incredible Years program in Colorado. Dr. Schroeder has served as a senior research associate at the Center for Systems Integration in Denver, Colorado, and as associate director at the Connecticut Center for Effective Practice of the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, where she worked to improve the statewide mobile-crisis services system for children and youth and conducted a statewide evaluation of in-home services for juvenile-justice referred youth. 

Committee Members

Thomas E. Backer, PhD, Human Interaction Research Institute

Dr. Backer is president of the nonprofit Human Interaction Research Institute. Founded in 1961, the Institute uses behavioral science strategies to help nonprofits handle innovation and change. He is also associate clinical professor of medical psychology at UCLA School of Medicine and was senior fellow at UCLA’s School of Public Policy and Social Research for the 2003-2004 academic year. He has written more than 500 books, articles, and research reports, including two books on health communication campaigns. A licensed psychologist in California, Dr. Backer holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. He has been president of APA’s Division of Consulting Psychology and of the Knowledge Utilization Society.

Frank Bennett, Retired Mental Health Center Administrator

Frank Bennett was a clinical psychologist for 35 years, working primarily with children and families. He served as a therapist, manager, and for the last 20 years of his career, the director of family services at Aurora Mental Health Center. He was active in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and he led the effort to implement Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Child Parent Psychotherapy, and Parent Child Interactional Therapy at the Center. Since his retirement five years ago, Mr. Bennett has remained active in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, where he currently serves on the Steering Committee; the Colorado Child and Adolescent Mental Health Coalition, where he is serving as president for the third time; and the Colorado Coalition of Adoptive Families, where he serves on the board. 

David Bernstein, MSW, The Center for Effective Interventions

Mr. Bernstein is director of the Center for Effective Interventions (CEI) at Metropolitan State College in Denver. In this capacity, he has worked with communities interested in beginning Multisystemic Therapy programs as well as developed an infrastructure to support MST teams in six Western states. CEI has expanded to promote two other evidence-based models, Functional Family Therapy and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, in pursuit of a goal to promote evidence-based therapeutic services for families, children and youth. Prior to his present position, Mr. Bernstein had his own training and consulting business and worked in the public sector for 20 years developing child welfare and human services programs in several metropolitan counties in the Denver area. He has presented at various national conferences on the implementation of evidence-based programs in human services. He also is the director of the Child and Family Evidence-Based Practices Consortium, a group comprised of professionals dedicated to large scale implementation of data driven successful human service programs.  

Jacquie Brown, MES, RSW, Dispute Resolution Foundation, Jamaica

Ms. Brown is a senior manager/leader, facilitator, and presenter with a broad range of experience and knowledge in development and management in complex systems. She has been involved with services for children, youth, and families for over 30 years. Ms. Brown utilizes a collaborative, inclusive, integrated approach and an innovative and creative solutions focus in supporting capacity building in communities and organizations. In the last ten years she has successfully provided leadership for major community and organizational change initiatives. Ms. Brown has most recently worked internationally in the implementation of evidence-based/informed practices and programs for children, youth and families in developing countries.

Patrick Kanary, Center for Innovative Practices

Mr. Kanary is the director of the Center for Innovative Practices (CIP) at Kent State University. CIP is a Coordinating Center of Excellence, supported in part by the Ohio Department of Mental Health. The Center's mission is the identification and dissemination of youth and family focused evidence-based and effective practices within the behavioral health system. In addition to Multisystemic Therapy, the Center also facilitates the dissemination of Intensive Home Based Treatment; resilience; and an emerging promising practice, Integrated Co-occurring Treatment, a model for youth with dual diagnosis of substance abuse and mental illness and involved in the juvenile justice system. CIP is also provides technical assistance in the areas of research and evaluation. Mr. Kanary is on the Board of the Georgetown Children's Mental Health National Technical Assistance Center.  He is also a program reviewer for SAMSHA’s National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practice.