Presenters Bios

Dr. Gail Saltz is a psychiatrist, columnist, bestselling author and regular Today Show contributor.

Dr. Michael Thomspon is a clinical psychologist, lecturer and consultant who works with schools, educators and parents throughout the United States and internationally on social cruelty, children's friendships and boys' development. He is the co-author of It's A Boy! Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18; The Pressured Child and Raising Cain which was adapted into an acclaimed documentary on PBS. His newest book is Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow.


Dr. Ron Taffel is the author of eight books for parents and professionals including Childhood Unbound: Authoritative Parenting for the 21st Century. He consults with schools and community organizations nationwide, serves as Chair of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, has a private practice in NYC and is the parent of two children. Dr. Taffel has been featured in The New York Times, on 20/20, Dateline, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Primetime and Larry King.

Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D. is a language pathologist, assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Director of the Soifer Center for Learning and Child Development. She is a parent educator, teacher trainer and staff developer, specializing in the needs of children with deficits in learning, behavior and communications. Dr.Soifer consults with private and public schools on the identification and enhancement of learning for children with different learning styles and has developed, customized and led workshops and in-service training programs.

Dr. JoAnn Deak is a widely recognized educator and psychologist who works with children, adults, teachers and parents. She is well known for demystifying complex issues of child development, learning, identity formation and brain research. She consults with organizations, schools and parenting groups across the United States and internationally, is the recipient of many outstanding awards, and is the author of Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, How Girls Thrive and Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters. She is presently working on a trilogy: Your Fantastic Elastic Brain for Children, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain for Adolescents; Your Fantastic Elastic Brain for Adults

Dr. Susan Linn is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, and co-founder and director of the National Coalition Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Her articles about the effects of media and commercial marketing on children have appeared in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post and her commentaries can be heard on NPR's Marketplace. She was on the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Advertising to Children, and has been featured on Sixty Minutes, Now with Bill Moyers, World News Tonight, Dateline, and in the acclaimed film, The Corporation.