About Us | Patient Centered Care and Trauma Informed Care for Pediatric Patients

About the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress

The Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress (CPTS) was founded in 2002 to address medical trauma in the lives of children and families.

CPTS is headquartered at three institutions: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Nemours Children's Health, and University of Kentucky Healthcare.

CPTS is an affilliate partner in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), previously funded as a Translation and Adaptation (Category II) Center.

The Center's mission is to reduce pediatric medical traumatic stress through:

promoting trauma-informed healthcare
disseminating evidence-based practices and screening tools to pediatric healthcare providers
training providers to recognize and address traumatic stress in children

CPTS engages directly with healthcare providers and organizations nationwide in order to raise awareness and change practice. We reach children and families through our resources on this website and by providing information and referral services.

Interested in working with CPTS to support your organization's efforts to provide trauma-informed care? Complete this request form.

About the National Child Traumatic Stress Network

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) works to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States. The NCTSN seeks to advance effective interventions and services to address the impact of traumatic stress. The Network is comprised of more than 100 centers across the United States including universities, hospitals, clinics, community-based mental health centers, and other organizations that serve traumatized children and their families.

CPTS is proud to be a partner in the NCTSN.

This project is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views, policies, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS. No hosting or funding from advertising is accepted.

Meet the CPTS team

CPTS Directors

Anne E. Kazak, PhD, ABPP, Co-Director: In addition to co-directing the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress, Dr. Kazak is the Enterprise Director of the Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science and is based at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, DE. She is a licensed Psychologist and a Diplomat of the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA and also Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania (emerita). She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Delaware in the Dept of Psychological and Brain Sciences and in the College of Health Professions. She is also an accomplished journal editor, having served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, the Journal of Family Psychology, Health Psychology and American Psychologist.
Dr. Kazak is an internationally recognized expert in pediatric health, known as a thought leader and accomplished investigator in the application of a social ecological approach to children’s health to expand service delivery and improve overall outcomes. Dr. Kazak’s research has shaped a systems-oriented competence-based understanding of the distress of children and their family members over the course of pediatric illness and treatment. She has had consistent federal (National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health) and foundation (American Cancer Society, St Baldrick’s Foundation, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, CURESearch, Toy Foundation, Caplan Foundation) support for her research programs. Dr. Kazak has extensive mentoring experience, including a Senior Mentoring Award from the NCI, and has mentored many national and international early career investigators. She received the 2019 Seema S. Sonnad Mentor of the Year Award from IDEA Delaware. In 2020 she was awarded a Compassionate Champion from the State of Delaware for her work on trauma informed care. Dr. Kazak has 250+ peer reviewed papers and chapters and three books.

Nancy Kassam-Adams, PhD, Founding Co-Director: Dr. Kassam-Adams co-directed the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress from its founding in 2002 until 2024. Nancy also served as the Associate Director for Behavioral Research at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is a Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been a leader in the field of pediatric medical traumatic stress and acute trauma in children. Over the past 25 years, her research has focused on understanding posttraumatic stress in ill and injured children and their parents, and developing and evaluating assessment and intervention tools that can be integrated in pediatric health care. Dr. Kassam-Adams is a past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and has been an invited member of several national and international expert consensus panels on child trauma.

Meghan Marsac, PhD, Associate Director: Dr. Meghan Marsac is a pediatric psychologist and a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky and Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Dr. Marsac specializes in promoting adjustment to medical conditions in children and families. She is a leader in the field of pediatric medical trauma, having published over 65 academic articles, 10 chapters, and a book for parents to use to help support their children through medical care as well as to care for themselves: Afraid of the Doctor, Every Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Managing Medical Trauma. She is also the CEO of the Cellie Coping Company.

CPTS Program Coordinators

Gabriela Vega, MS

Caitlin Axtmayer, LSW, MPH

CPTS multi-disciplinary team

Dana Berger, MPH

Kimberly Canter, PhD

Joel Fein, MD, MPH

Anna Marcinko, MSN, RN, CPN

Julia Price, PhD

Michele Scialla, MSN

Tess Smith-Thomas, PhD

CPTS National Family Advisory Committee

CPTS partners with families, and is guided by the input of our national advisory group of families - parents whose children have faced challenging medical situations as well as young adults who have faced challenging medical conditions and situations for themselves or their siblings. Thank you to our members:

Jen Aspengren, Founder and CEO, Alongside Network

Darlene Barkman, MA, Family Advisor

Sue Badeau, Parent, Author, Speaker, Vice President, Board of Directors, Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh)

Katie Holcomb, Communications & PMTS Program Manager, Ryan’s Case for Smiles

Richard James, Fontan Outcomes Network, Medical Librarian, Nemours Children’s Health

Mary Anne Meskis, Executive Director, Dravet Syndrome Foundation

Francis Muzio, LCSW

Victoria Sardi-Brown, Ph.D., LPC, President and Co-Founder, Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation

Dominique Viel, Founder and Executive Director, InvisiYouth Charity

CPTS National Nursing Advisory Committee

CPTS is also guided by the input of a national group of nursing leaders with broad experience in practice, policy, and nursing education. Thank you to our members:

Rebecca Cross Bodán, FNP, PhD, CSU Fullerton, School of Nursing

Holly Harner, PhD, MPH, MBA, WHCNP-BC, FAAN, The Afaf I. Meleis Director of the Center for Global Women’s Health, Practice Professor of Women’s Health, Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute, Faculty Sponsor – Penn Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Leslie Rideout, PhD, FNP, Pediatric Trauma Coordinator, Tufts Children’s Hospital at Tufts Medical Center

Laura Roettger, Ph.D., APRN, CPNP-PC, Jefferson College of Nursing

Debbie Lyn Toomey, MSN, RN, CIPP, Tufts Medical Center

Kristine Welsh, RN, MSN, CPNP, Nemours Children's Health, Delaware.

Mary Ann Zimmer RN, MSN, CPN, Assistant Clinical Professor Drexel University, College of Nursing and Health Professions

About this website

This website was developed by the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress with input from a wide range of health care providers. The site is intended for health care professionals, to help improve comprehensive care for children and their families. Primary authors are Nancy Kassam-Adams, PhD; Gabriela Vega, MS; Meghan Marsac, PhD; Nicole DiBattista, MSN, RN, CEN; Stephanie Schneider, MS; Caitlin Axtmayer, LSW, MPH; and Anne E. Kazak, PhD, ABPP.

The team that developed this website includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other health and mental health professionals. This expert team brings together experience from a broad range of areas including emergency medicine, critical care, primary care, family practice, oncology, trauma surgery, psychology, psychiatry, and others. The content of this website is grounded in the latest research evidence and in best practice recommendations and clinical guidelines. The information provided on this site is intended to improve, not replace, the direct relationship between the patient (or site visitor) and healthcare professionals.

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