James A. Griffin, Ph.D., directs the Early Learning and School Readiness Program in the Child Development and Behavior Branch at NICHD. Prior to his position at NICHD, Dr. Griffin was a Senior Research Analyst in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education. He previously served as the Assistant Director for the Social, Behavioral, and Education (SBE) Sciences in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Dr. Griffin holds a B.A. summa cum laude in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. with honors in Child Clinical Psychology from the University of Rochester. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Dr. Griffin's career has focused on research and evaluation efforts related to service systems and early intervention programs designed to enhance the development and school readiness of children from at-risk and disadvantaged backgrounds. These efforts include several large-scale evaluations of the Head Start program while with the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) in DHHS and research on preschool curricula involving geographically diverse child care, Head Start, and state pre-kindergarten programs while with IES. Dr. Griffin currently serves as the Science Officer for the 15 year longitudinal Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), as well as the Program Officer for the Interagency School Readiness Consortium (ISRC) and the Interagency Consortium on Measures (ICOM).