Audra Langley, Ph.D. is a UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Langley’s body of research seeks to increase equity in access to quality mental health and wellbeing interventions for under-resourced populations of children, including those in schools and involved with the child welfare system. She is the Director of UCLA TIES for Families, an innovative interdisciplinary program for children in foster care, kinship care or adopted through foster care (ages birth to 25) and their families in Los Angeles County, working in close partnership with the Los Angeles County Departments of Children and Family Services and Mental Health. Dr. Langley has also served as Director of Training for the NCTSN-funded Trauma Services Adaptation Center for Resiliency, Hope and Wellness in Schools since 2003 and is faculty lead for Child Welfare with the DMH UCLA Prevention Center of Excellence. She is the author of 5 evidence-based interventions, including Bounce Back: Elementary School Intervention for Childhood Trauma, Support for Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET), ADAPT: Adoption-Specific Therapy to Help Adopted Children and their Families Thrive, and the recently released 2nd version of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS).

Dr. Langley is proud of the UCLA Pritzker Center’s balanced investment in preventing children from entering child welfare AND intervening to elevate the life trajectories of children and young people already in foster care. She hopes the Center will continue to propel innovative, antiracist and LGBTQIA+ affirming synergy between UCLA and Los Angeles communities and child and family serving systems.

Dr. Langley enjoys hiking, travel, salsa dancing at family parties, and meaningful time with her wife and three incredible children.

Kenyon Lee Whitman is a scholar-practitioner. He has over 10 years of experience working in higher education, much of that time supporting foster youth. Most recently he directed the Office of Foster Youth Support Services at UC Riverside for six years. He received his Ph.D. in Education, with an emphasis on Higher Education Administration and Policy at UC Riverside. Dr. Whitman’s research is interdisciplinary, he focuses on underrepresented students in higher education, specifically, the racialized college-going experiences of foster youth. Currently, Dr. Whitman is serving as a UC Chancellor’s Post-doctoral Fellow at UCLA in the department of Urban Schooling, working with Dr. Tyrone Howard in the UCLA Pritzker Center for Research on Strengthening Children and Families. As a former foster youth, he understands first-hand the challenges foster youth face as they work toward earning a college degree. Kenyon also holds a B.S. and M.A. from Fresno State.

Dr. Lisa Gantz is the inaugural fellow for 2020-2021. Dr. Gantz, who is board-certified in both Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California (USC), earned her medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine of the USC, and completed her internship and residency at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She recently joined LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) and provides clinical care to children and adults at the High Desert Regional Health Center in Lancaster and at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar. She also serves as Clinical Instructor for the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA. In addition to her clinical role, Dr. Gantz will work with DHS, the UCLA Center of Excellence (a partnership between UCLA Psychiatry and the LA County Department of Mental Health focused on trauma-informed care), and the UCLA Pritzker Center to support initiatives utilizing the medical home as a foundation for improving community engagement and response to trauma in the Antelope Valley region.

Dr. Lester is the Jane and Marc Nathanson Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and David Geffen School of Medicine. She serves as the Vice Chair for Community Engagement, Director of the Division of Population Behavioral Health, Director of the Nathanson Family Resilience Center, Co-Director of the Center for Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support, and part of the leadership team for the Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. She also serves as the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health + UCLA Public Partnership for Wellbeing. A board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Lester’s research, administrative and clinical work have been dedicated to the development, evaluation, and implementation of family centered prevention and treatment for families and children facing trauma and adversity within community ecosystems and service settings. She co-developed the family-centered preventive intervention FOCUS (Families OverComing Under Stress) which was designed to promote resilience and mitigate stress in families facing adversity, trauma and loss. Over the last 12 years, she has led the successful large scale implementation of FOCUS as a public health continuum of preventive services to support military families facing deployments and other transitions for the Department of Defense, which has served over 1 million people. In Los Angeles County, Dr. Lester oversees a prevention learning management system (learn.wellbeing4LA.org) focused on the implementation of trauma and resilience informed practice across large systems of care. She also advises on the needs of military-connected children and families across military, university and non-profit agencies. She is currently a Co-Principal investigator NIMH R01 study to evaluate the longitudinal impact of adverse childhood events related to parental military service during early childhood on adolescent outcomes. Her work has been supported by the Department of Defense, the US Department of Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, National Institute for Mental Health, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Full CV here.

Dr. Franke is Professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare.  Dr. Franke has 27 years of experience in conducting cross-sectional and longitudinal research in a variety of interconnected fields including child welfare, education, juvenile justice, mental health and adolescent violence. His experience includes data analysis (multivariate, predictive analytics, machine learning), data visualization, and linking large existing datasets together for the social good. Over the years Dr. Franke has worked on numerous evaluation projects in these areas and is currently co-editor of the American Evaluation association journal, New Directions in Evaluation. In the area of child welfare, he has done work on multiple levels including examining the child welfare system and the related systems involved in the lives of children and families (e.g, health, mental health, juvenile justice, education, housing), workers and worker training, as well as children and families. He has received over $90 million dollars in funding. He recently completed a study examining the link between children in out-of-home care and early childhood education through a project funded by the Administration for Children and Families. In addition to working with the Center of Excellence at UCLA around Trauma informed practice/training, Dr. Franke currently oversees the training provided to all new and current staff at the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services as well as the cross-training that is beginning to occur between county agencies and for service providers and families.

Full CV here.

Tyrone C. Howard is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. He is the director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families, the UCLA Black Male Institute, and the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. Professor Howard’s research examines race, culture, and educational equity. A native and former classroom teacher of Compton, CA, Professor Howard was named the recipient of the 2015 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the university’s highest and most distinguished award for teaching excellence. Professor Howard was named an AERA Fellow in 2018, and during the last five years, Dr. Howard, the author of 6 books, and countless other publications, has been listed by Education Week as one of the most influential scholars in the nation informing educational policy, practice and reform.

Dr. Howard hopes for the UCLA Pritzker Center to work with UCLA and community partners to create system and policy change for our most vulnerable populations in Los Angeles County. The challenges that youth in care face are multifaceted and require multidisciplinary, caring, and systemic interventions, and the Center can play an instrumental role in eradicating the need for foster care. Under his leadership, he envisions the Center supporting children by identifying and utilizing accessible pathways to educational success, playing a preventive role in supporting families, and offering culturally responsive interventions to support families currently in care.

Dr. Howard is a product of Compton, CA. In addition to being a competitive person, and huge sports fan, he is also a proud father of four amazing young people. He and his wife are both former classroom teachers in the Compton Unified School District. In fact, his wife’s first teaching assignment was in the same Kindergarten school and classroom where Dr. Howard attended as a Kindergartner. 

Full CV here.

Ana Rivera is the Program Coordinator at the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. Ana is a graduate from California State University, Fresno, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health. During her time there she served with Jumpstart to help preschool aged children in underserved communities develop language and literacy skills. Prior to joining UCLA, Ana was a Program Manager for the Central California Asthma Collaborative where she worked on a multidisciplinary approach to asthma management and advocated for families in areas of health care access, affordable housing, mental health, and environmental justice and equity. Ana is excited to join the UCLA Pritzker Center team and hopes to aid in the research, education, and community building goals to help children and families in the foster care system. 

Brenda A. Tully joined the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families as a Research Fellow after earning her PhD in Social Welfare at UCLA in September 2022. Twenty years of social work practice with children, youth, and families on the edge of, or in the child welfare system inform Brenda’s research. Brenda plays a lead role in the UCLA Pritzker Center’s research and evaluation which are rooted in collaboration and movement toward racial equity. She leads research teams focused on domestic violence and child welfare, an intervention to reduce racial disproportionality in substantiations following child welfare investigations, and facilitators and barriers to uptake of housing choice vouchers for young people transitioning out of foster care from the perspectives of young adults, property managers, and housing navigators. These applied research projects aim to produce practical recommendations for systems change to streamline service provision in the community, reduce racial disproportionality and disparities, and support family and young adult stability.

Christine Ann Lina is the Communications Manager at the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. Christine’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from California State University, Long Beach, where she developed a solid foundation in communication theory, research, practical skills, and enhanced her ability to effectively analyze target audiences, tailor messages, and develop strategic communication plans. Prior to working at the UCLA Pritzker Center, she worked as a Social Media Coordinator in the real estate industry and Creative Director in the faith-based space, where she successfully managed and executed social media strategies, leveraged her expertise to drive engagement and enhance brand presence.

With a keen eye for design and a passion for staying at the forefront of digital and social media trends, Christine is committed to delivering the message of the UCLA Pritzker Center into the world, strengthening children and families.

Laura Liévano-Karim, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Pritzker Center. Her research lies at the intersection between social work and public health; specifically, she focuses on violence prevention and intervention, youth development, and child welfare in Colombia and the United States. Her ongoing research projects in the United States encompass the intersection of domestic violence and child welfare, the delivery of culturally responsive care for Black children in foster care, the identification of barriers to racial equity within the child welfare system, and the elimination of implicit bias, to advance fairness and equity, in child welfare decision-making. Dr. Liévano-Karim has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Carleton University, a master’s degree in public policy from Universidad de Los Andes, and a PhD in Social Welfare from UCLA.

Taylor Dudley, JD, is the Executive Director at the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. Prior to working at UCLA, Taylor was the Children’s Deputy for LA County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, where she focused on policy reform relating to foster care, juvenile justice, women’s health , education, child care and immigration.

Taylor is a licensed California attorney, and previously worked in legal aid at the Alliance for Children’s Rights, where she established the first medical-legal partnership in the country serving children in foster care at LAC+USC Medical Center.

In addition to leading the UCLA Pritzker Center, Taylor serves on the Board of Directors for A New Way of Life, volunteers for the East Los Angeles College Pathway to Law Program, and has served as a subject-matter consultant for shows on AppleTV+ and Nickelodeon. Taylor also teaches the course Child Welfare Policy in America at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Ellis Eckles is a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in Public Affairs and works as a research assistant for our ENRICH project.

Brittney Hun graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2023, earning her Bachelors of Science in Human Biology and Society. At the Pritzker Center, Brittney works on the AVENUE Project, the Summer Child Welfare Academy, and our Speaker Series. Brittney plans on attending medical school and ensuring health and social equity for communities she is a part of.

Cristopher Espino is a third-year student double-majoring in Political Science and Education & Social Transformation Studies. He is the current Academic Affairs Commissioner within UCLA’s Undergraduate Student Association Council, representing over 30,000 students. Cristopher manages all facets of academic affairs, stewarding a substantial budget and orchestrating programs and initiatives aimed at advancing academic equity, particularly among marginalized demographics. He also serves on the LA Youth Commission, appointed by the LA County Board of Supervisors. Here, he influences policy formulation and the development of programs and services, with a primary focus on enhancing opportunities for system-impacted and former/current foster youth. At the UCLA Pritzker Center, he works on issues around blind removal and domestic violence. His research portfolio spans a diverse array of disciplines including education, sex education, disability studies, political science, and sociology, reflecting his comprehensive commitment to scholarly inquiry and social impact. During his leisure time, Cristopher enjoys dancing, learning new words, hiking, binge-watching TV shows and executing themed movie marathons.

Tae Thompson is a doctoral candidate in UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies, Urban Schooling Division. His research explores how educational institutions can facilitate success for marginalized students, particularly those who have had interactions with the child welfare and justice system. Tae is a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and aims to counter the master narrative about students with foster care experience and center their voices in education literature. He is a Compton, CA native and the co-founder and Executive Director of Twinspire, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that works for and with youth in need of life skill services. A slam poet and author of the inspirational autobiography, Raised From Scratch, Tae received his M.Ed. from the University of Southern California and his B.S. in Business Management from California State University, Northridge.

Isabella Reina is a third year undergraduate student at University of California, Los Angeles, double majoring in Public Affairs and Communications. Isabella is a member of the AVENUE initiative and a research assistant on the TAY HUB FYI Housing Choice Voucher Study. Aside from research efforts, Isabella is a communications assistant for the Pritzker Center. She looks forward to continuing supporting research and communications efforts.

Mia Meza graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2024, earning a Bachelors of Nursing, with a minor in Chican@/Central American Studies. Mia is now a registered nurse in the emergency department at Antelope Valley Medical Center. At the Pritzker Center, Mia works on the AVENUE team and previously worked on the DV and TIES projects. Mia hopes to provide quality and accessible trauma informed care to all patients and their families while addressing faults within our healthcare systems. 

Olivia Gilchrist is a third year undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, double majoring in Psychology and Public Affairs. She is a Camp Program Director with UCLA UniCamp and volunteers for Mentorship at UCLA. Olivia is also a research assistant at UCLA TIES for Families. She looks forward to supporting research and education around the child welfare system.

Sophia Dsouza is a recent graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a Bachelor of Science in Physiological Science. Currently, Sophia is a Survey Researcher for the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. She has worked on the Blind Removal, DV, Speaker Series, and ENRICH projects. Sophia is currently applying to medical school with hopes to pursue a career as a pediatric physician.