Paul Dworkin, MD
Founding Director | contact
Paul Dworkin is Executive Vice President for Community Child Health at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. For 15 years, he previously served as physician-in-chief at Connecticut Children’s and chair of pediatrics at UConn.
Dr. Dworkin’s interests are at the interface among child development, child health services, and child health policy. Dr. Dworkin’s honors include teaching awards from both universities he has served, visiting professorships, and named lectureships. He was the editor of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics from 1997-2002 and was a member of the first entering class of the Academy of Distinguished Educators at the UConn School of Medicine. In 2003, Dr. Dworkin received the prestigious C. Anderson Aldrich Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics in recognition of achievement in the field of child development. His vision led to the creation of Help Me Grow, a Connecticut statewide initiative to promote the early detection of children at risk for developmental and behavioral problems and their linkage to programs and services that is currently being replicated in more than 30 states. He currently serves as the project director for the North Hartford Ascend Pipeline, a US Department of Education Promise Neighborhoods grantee.
Dr. Dworkin received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency and fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital. He earned a certificate in policy analysis from the University of North Dakota. Dr. Dworkin has served on the boards of numerous community-based organizations, recently completed his tenure as chair of the board of the Urban League of Greater Hartford, and currently serves on the board of the Institute for Child Success in Greenville, South Carolina.
Kimberly Martini-Carvell, MA
Executive director | contact
Kimberly Martini-Carvell has served in the role of Executive Director of the Help Me Grow National Center, for the past 8 years. During her tenure she has partnered with the National Affiliate Network and the National Center team to accelerate and elevate the impact of Help Me Grow. The National Center is embedded within the Office for Community Child Health at Connecticut Children’s, where Kimberly also serves as an organizational senior leader focused on the advancement of novel approaches to systems of early childhood and family support, health, and well-being.
Prior to joining the National Center, Kimberly worked as the Associate Vice President for programs at The Village for Families and Children in Hartford where she created and managed prevention and early intervention programs. She also worked as a child and family development consultant for the United Way of Central & Northeastern Connecticut, as director of the CT Family Development Institute of the Children’s Trust Fund, and as an adjunct professor for the University of Connecticut’s School of Family Studies.
During her career, Kimberly has served on the national Zero to Three Policy Committee, the National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network’s Birth-6 Workgroup, and the leadership team of the Connecticut Parent Educators Network and the Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health. Currently, Kimberly is part of numerous national and international advisory committees that are focused on universal promotion and prevention systems of care. Kimberly has presented the Help Me Grow Model at national and international convenings, including the bi-annual World Association of Infant Mental Health Congress.
Melissa Passarelli, MA
associate director of implementation & system-building | contact
Melissa has an M.A. in International Disaster Psychology from the University of Denver and a B.A. in Psychology and Public Policy from The George Washington University. During her education she trained as a trauma therapist and helped establish Denver’s Trauma & Disaster Recovery Clinic, as well as worked for non-profits such as First Book that focused on promoting equitable opportunities and outcomes for all.
Sarah Zucker, BA
associate director of strategic partnerships & Network Relations | contact
Sarah Zucker serves as the Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations at the Help Me Grow National Center. In this capacity she leads efforts to promote impactful collaboration among Help Me Grow affiliates, the National Center, and national organizational partners. Sarah works to promote engagement, increase brand awareness, strengthen existing relationships, and cultivate new strategic partners.
Sarah has also led technical assistance efforts for the National Center, supporting new states and communities in efforts to explore the Help Me Grow Model and devise site-specific installation strategy. In this role she designed and implemented services to support affiliates in effective system-building efforts, including tools to assess the existing early childhood landscape, partnerships, leadership, and readiness to engage in systemic change, as well as tools to support affiliate implementation of the Core Components that support fidelity to the HMG Model.
Before her work at Connecticut Children’s, Sarah led research efforts at the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, a statewide, membership-based advocacy agency advancing a mission to end homelessness through leadership, community organizing, policy change, research, and education. She received a degree in Social Research from the University of Hartford.
Melissa Miller, MPH, PMP
associate director of impact & Network Performance | contact
Melissa Miller serves as the Associate Director of Impact and Network Performance at the Help Me Grow National Center. In this role, Melissa oversees the strategic development and implementation of a measurement framework to further validate the HMG Model and measure Network performance.
A trained health services researcher, Melissa brings to this role broad expertise in quality improvement initiatives, measure development, data analytics, and evaluation. Prior to joining the National Center, Melissa worked at Yale University/Yale New Haven Health’s Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), which develops inpatient and outpatient quality outcomes measures used across the nation for Medicare payments. Melissa has worked at the Greater New York Hospital Association, leading quality improvement initiatives with front-line hospital, nursing home, and home health agency staff to improve care coordination. Melissa also served as a researcher at the Center for Health Informatics and Policy at Weill Cornell Medical College, conducting evaluation projects to better understand New York State’s return on investment related to health information technology.
Melissa received her M.P.H in Behavioral Sciences & Health Education from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and a B.A. in Journalism and Sociology from Emory University.
Sara Sibley, MBA
Associate Director of business development & Operations | contact
Sara Sibley is the Associate Director of Business Development & Operations at the Help Me Grow National Center. In this role, Sara manages financial activities and operations of the National Center and is responsible for overseeing technical assistance endeavors for new and current affiliates of the HMG National Network.
Before joining the National Center in 2010, Sara was the state coordinator for the Connecticut Easy Breathing asthma program. Her role involved overseeing a team of program coordinators for statewide implementation and dissemination of Easy Breathing.
Sara holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physiology and neurobiology from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut School of Business.
Laraib Humayun, LMSW, MPH
PROGRAM Manager of IMPLEMENTATION & SYSTEMS BUILDINg| CONTACT
Laraib Humayun serves as the Program Manager of Implementation and Systems Building at the Help Me Grow National Center. Previously, Laraib worked as a manager for quality improvement initiatives at Docs for Tots, overseeing the HMG Long Island team and bridging early childhood systems across New York State. She has participated in educating maternal-child health professionals through technical assistance, training, and workshops at national organizations including APHA and AAP.
Laraib is a licensed social worker and has held clinical roles in various healthcare networks, promoting biopsychosocial wellbeing for adults, with a focus on empowering family systems through care coordination. Laraib has additional clinical training in providing quality, patient-centered care and has completed the Zelda Foster MSW Fellowship in Palliative and End-of-Life Care at New York University.
Laraib holds a Master’s in Public Health and a Master’s in Social Work from New York University; and a Bachelor’s in Community Health from Hofstra University.
Morgan Reiss, LMSW
SENIOR PROGRAM specialist of Communications & Policy | CONTACT
Morgan Reiss serves as the Senior Policy and Communications Program Specialist at the Help Me Grow National Center. In this role Morgan bridges policy and strategic communications to advance both the organization’s and National Affiliate Network’s community change priorities and goals. She additionally co-chairs the National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers Policy Research Subcommittee.
Prior to joining the HMG National Center, she was a Research Assistant for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, where she worked to evaluate federally funded mental health, behavioral health, and substance use focused programs across the state of Connecticut.
She holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work with a concentration in Policy Practice from the University of Connecticut. During her MSW program she completed field placements with the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, Office of Senator Blumenthal, and the Connecticut Office of the Secretary of the State.
Skyley Parizek, MPH
PROGRAM specialist of Business & administration | CONTACT
Skyley Parizek serves as the Business and Administration Program Specialist at the Help Me Grow National Center. Before joining the Help Me Grow National Center, Skyley worked in the fields of behavioral health, special education, and early childhood education.
Skyley holds a Bachelor’s in Psychological Sciences and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Connecticut. She also completed an interdisciplinary fellowship with the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program at UConn Health’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service.
Brittany Stuart, MPH
PROGRAM specialist of IMPLEMENTATION & SYSTEMS BUILDING| CONTACT
Brittany Stuart serves as the Implementation and Systems Building Program Specialist at the Help Me Grow National Center. Prior to joining the HMG National Center, Brittany worked at the YWCA of Western Massachusetts as a Violence Prevention Project Coordinator. She established their Youth Violence Prevention program called the H.E.R.E Project (Healthy, Empowering Relationships and Education) providing group facilitation on human trafficking prevention, healthy relationships and bystander intervention to 12–18-year-olds in Springfield, MA.
Brittany was a ‘Getting to Zero MA’ Coalition and Fenway Health – Activist Academy fellow formerly working on the Sexual Health Education Team. She recently participated the APHA and CDC’s Champion for Change Cohort focusing on Empower to Educate: A Sustainable Approach to Addressing ACEs, Overdose, and Suicide Through Trainer Development.
She holds a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Community Health Sciences from Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications focused on Intercultural Communications from Westfield State University.