All Star Children's Foundation Appoints New CEO Sharon Ghazarian, Ph.D

Graci McGillicuddy, All Star Children's Foundation's co-founder and board chair, announced recently that the board of directors has appointed Sharon Ghazarian, Ph.D, as its new CEO. Dr. Ghazarian had served as All Star's chief research officer since July 2020. Before she joined All Star, Dr. Ghazarian, was the former senior director for health informatics at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.

"Dr. Ghazarian has brought a wealth of expertise, education and vision to All Star that has taken us to new levels," says McGillicuddy. "She offers valuable experience from a variety of perspectives, including behavioral health, public health, social sciences and hospital medicine. We feel lucky and grateful that she will be leading All Star into its bright future."

"Answering the call to lead All Star is an honor and a privilege," says Dr. Ghazarian. "I hope to build upon the incredible foundation that has been created here and help the organization become a true leader in addressing childhood trauma, not only for Sarasota, but across the state and country. I am truly humbled by this opportunity."

Dr. Ghazarian is a research methodologist and an expert in complex statistical analysis and research processes for medical, behavioral, and social sciences. In her career with Johns Hopkins and other health organizations, Dr. Ghazarian pursued methodological advances in healthcare data, with a particular focus on pediatric development. She has also contributed substantively to the field of parenting behaviors, parent-child relationships and family dynamics by applying robust techniques to examine mechanisms by which parenting and family interactions affect child and adolescent outcomes. Her resulting expertise encompasses behavioral health, public health, social sciences, and hospital medicine. She also has an extensive background as a methodology consultant for federally funded research grants

During her time at All Star, Dr. Ghazarian has provided leadership and oversight for the research department and served as the Data Security and Privacy Officer ensuring safe, reliable, and robust process and procedure for all aspects of data entry, collection, and storage.

All Star's "Campus of Hope and Healing" includes a Pediatric Mental Health Treatment and Research Center, where trauma-focused clinical services are provided. All Star's 5-acre campus includes six foster homes that provide a nurturing, family-style home environment for children ages 0-18, as well as a clubhouse, tutoring lab, two playgrounds, an organic vegetable garden, an outdoor movie theater, and a butterfly garden. At All Star, siblings are kept together, and parents and caregivers are offered a range of trauma-informed services. Children receive evidence-based interventions that not only help them cope with trauma they may have experienced, but strengthen and build supportive, safe, and healing relationships with adults in their lives. Enrichment programs at All Star provide children with opportunities for building competencies and resilience. All Star also equips foster parents with training and skills to navigate the challenges of children who have been separated from their biological families. For more information, visit www.allstarchildren.org

All Star Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to healing the effects of trauma suffered by children in foster care. All Star's campus, located at 3300 17th Street in Sarasota, FL, is a nurturing community consisting of a clinical treatment center, six family foster homes, and inspirational green spaces featuring a playground, gardens, and a clubhouse. Children on the All Star campus receive evidence-based interventions that not only help children cope with trauma they have experienced, but strengthen and build supportive, safe, and healing relationships with the adults in their lives. An important part of All Star's approach is to measure and evaluate outcomes and develop models that can be adopted by foster care systems around the state and country. All Star is building brighter futures for children in foster care through innovation, science, and compassion. This project has been partially funded under an agreement with the State of Florida, Department of Children and Families. Visit www.allstarchildren.org

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