Dr. Norman Blumenthal is a licensed clinical psychologist who serves as the Zachter Family Director of Trauma and Crisis Intervention for OHEL, a UJA partner, and adjunct professor at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, both of Yeshiva University. In private practice in Cedarhurst, New York, Dr. Blumenthal is also the founder and chairman of the Board of Education for CAHAL and a past vice president of NEFESH.
Lisa H. Shulman, M.D., is a graduate of Brown University and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is board-certified in pediatrics, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, and neurodevelopmental disabilities. She is professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Shulman is the interim director of the Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation & Rehabilitation Center at Montefiore and the director of Autism Services at the program.
Dr. Shulman also directs the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities grant through Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She is the principal investigator of the New York State SPARK grant through the Simons Foundation. From 2016 to 2019 she served as the Centers for Disease Control Act Early ambassador to New York State. She currently serves on the Autism Executive Committee of the AAP Council on Children with Disabilities. Her clinical and research interests include early identification of autism, overcoming healthcare disparities in autism diagnosis, and follow-up of children with an early diagnosis of autism.
Dr. Soifer is a language pathologist with over 45 years of experience in clinical and private practice, as well as university teaching. For its 25-year tenure, Dr. Soifer was the founder and director of The Soifer Center for Learning and Child Development, which was the first multidisciplinary private diagnostic and remedial setting established in Westchester County.
Dr. Soifer continues to provide educational consultation and advocacy services to families on behalf of their children, in coordination with other professionals and schools. As a parent educator, teacher trainer, and staff developer, she specializes in the role of language in the development of children's learning, literacy, behavior, and social-emotional development. Classroom Language Dynamics ©, the teacher training program Dr. Soifer designed, is used in a variety of school settings to empower teachers and invigorate learners of all kinds. A frequent presenter at local, national, and international conferences, Dr. Soifer focuses on guiding all educational professionals to answer the essential question, “Who is this child?”
She is also the author of a chapter entitled “Oral Language Development and Its Relationship to Literacy” for a textbook published in 1999 by Brookes, Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, now published in a 4th edition, as well as a contributor to local publications. A respected educator, Dr. Soifer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eagle Hill School in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the Gateway School of New York, in New York City. Additionally, she is assistant professor of pediatrics and faculty member in the Early Intervention Training Institute (EITI), both at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Lisa Kahn Kriegel is the director of the Child Welfare Policy Initiative at the Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD), where she has engaged with children and families in the foster care system for over 15 years. She received her master’s in social work from New York University and a master’s degree in child development from Sarah Lawrence College. A staunch advocate for underserved populations, Lisa has sat on the executive committee of the Westchester Children’s Association, a century-old advocacy organization fighting for the rights of vulnerable youth in the county.
Prior to her foray into the advocacy/mental health field, Lisa served as the director of National Leadership at the Anti-Defamation League and as the director of Outreach and Programming at the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation. She is a passionate leader in the Wait Until 8th campaign — which encourages parents to band together to set parameters around young children’s access to smartphones — and does community organizing to advance political and pro-Israel efforts.
Lisa has three children, all in middle school, and she resides in White Plains, New York, with her husband, David. She is active in the Leffell School community and in her two synagogues, the Hebrew Institute of White Plains and the Young Israel of White Plains.