Why I Serve...
"I had the privilege to serve on the National Biodefense Science Board and work with ASPR to better prepare the country to prepare for and respond to disasters; I welcome the opportunity to continue this important work with ASPR but focus my efforts on the unique needs of children and their families which aligns particularly well with an important focus of my career for the past 3 decades."
David J Schonfeld, MD, FAAP is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician; he founded and directs the
National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement (www.schoolcrisiscenter.org) at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Schonfeld is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Keck School of Medicine. Prior faculty positions have been in the Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine; Head of the Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; and Pediatrician-in-Chief at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and Chair of Pediatrics at Drexel University School of Medicine. He served as President of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics from 2006-7.
For over 30 years, he has provided consultation and training to schools on supporting students and staff at times of crisis and loss in the aftermath of numerous school crisis events and disasters within the United States and abroad. Dr. Schonfeld frequently speaks (with over 1,000 presentations) on the topics of crisis and loss and has authored more than 150 scholarly articles, book chapters, and books. He has conducted school-based research (funded by NICHD, NIMH, NIDA, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, William T Grant Foundation, and other foundations) involving children's understanding of and adjustment to serious illness and death and school-based interventions to promote adjustment and risk prevention. Dr. Schonfeld is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Children and Disasters. He served on the National Biodefense Science Board and was a Commissioner for both the National Commission on Children and Disasters and the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission in CT.
