Dr. Karen Harris Brown has been selected to serve as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Act Early Ambassador for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Act Early Ambassador project is designed to develop a network of state-level experts to improve early identification practices. It is a collaborative effort on behalf of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). Act Early Ambassadors serve as state/territory liaisons to the "Learn the Signs. Act Early." initiative and work as community champions with programs that serve young children and their parents.
VI community partners include the Department of Health – Schneider Regional Medical Center and Infants and Toddlers Program; Department of Human Services – Head Start, Lutheran Social Services/Early Head Start, and Office for Child Care Regulatory Services; Dr. Reva Richardson, pediatrician; and the University of the Virgin Islands School of Education. Dr. Brown plans to expand this list of partners in an effort to build a culture of developmental monitoring in the USVI. For more information contact Karen Brown at karen.brown@uvi.edu.