Jill Stamm

Dr. Jill Stamm is the cofounder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development (NDI), now a member of Arizona’s Children Association family of agencies, and an associate clinical professor at Arizona State University in the Department of Psychology in Education. Dr. Stamm's Ph.D. is in Learning and Instructional Technology. She is an author and a national and international speaker on early brain development and the connection of healthy brain growth to later learning and school achievement.

Dr. Stamm is the author of the book, Bright from the Start, The Simple, Science-backed Way to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3, published by Penguin Press in 2007 and featured in Parenting Magazine and various newspaper and magazine publications. She is frequently quoted in child development articles in The Arizona Republic and has appeared over thirty times on television and has done countless radio and website interviews. She has presented at conferences in Scotland, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as throughout the United States. She is a frequent speaker at the Learning & the Brain conferences hosted in Boston by Harvard and MIT and in San Francisco by Stanford, and at the Child Welfare League of America conferences in Washington, D.C. Her many written articles have appeared in magazines and scientific journals.

Dr. Stamm is a member of the National Advisory Panel of the Learning & the Brain Conference. She serves on the Governor's Advisory Council for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In the past she has served on the Governor's Advisory Council for Head Start in Arizona, Arizona Community Foundation Early Care and Education Advisory Committee, Arizona Science Center's National Advisory Council on Brain Development, City of Phoenix Task Force on Early Childhood, and Greater Phoenix Leadership P-20 Education Reform Board. She has been honored by DePauw University, the Governor's Office, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and Arizona State University.

As a spokesperson and fundraiser for New Directions Institute, Dr. Stamm launched an event called The Science of Early Learning Award Luncheon. Each year an honoree and a speaker are chosen who have been instrumental in promoting early childhood education or brain development. In 2008, the honoree was Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano and the speaker was former North Carolina Governor James Hunt. Governor Hunt in his remarks not only praised Governor Napolitano's vision for children and the Phoenix business community's commitment to early learning, but also gave credit to New Directions Institute as being the model for advocacy for early care in education which should be implemented in every state.

Dr. Stamm and her team have developed a Certified Trainer Program utilizing the S.T.E.P.S. to Early Brain DevelopmentSM Curriculum based on five key elements that lead to healthy brain development: Security, Touch, Eyes, Play, and Sound. The curriculum and training program are available through NDI. Dr. Stamm is also the creator of new training tools: Brain Boxes, a unique patented set of products being used to train child care staff to interact with young children in a way that encourages healthy brain development, and the Baby Brain Box, a gift product for birth to one year olds.

Dr. Stamm is the mother of Jenny, who has multiple handicaps, and Kristin, a doctoral candidate in neuroscience at UCLA.