Monica Oxford, Ph.D., Executive Director of NCAST Programs
Monica Oxford, Ph.D. is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Child Nursing and the Executive Director of NCAST Programs. Dr. Oxford's research focuses on early parenting and child developmental outcomes for vulnerable families living in challenging environments. Dr. Oxford's interest is in how context, parenting, and child characteristics combine to inform particular patterns of child outcomes and how intervention services promote both parent and child wellbeing.

Dr. Oxford is principal investigator of two NIH grants; the first is aimed at examining the impact of a relationship based intervention program, Promoting First Relationships (Kelly et al, 2008) on parents involved with child protective services and the second is aimed at addressing the interaction between family, school, child, and contextual risk such as poverty and early child developmental outcomes. Dr. Oxford is also co-principal investigator of an NIH funded grant titled "Infant Mental Health in Foster Care," which is an intervention study of the impact of the Promoting First Relationships Program in foster care.

Denise Findlay, Director of Education and Outreach
Denise came to NCAST Programs in Feburary of 2001 to mentor with Anita Spietz for the role of training our PCI Instructors and developing and promoting our programs and products. She brought with her twenty years of Public Health Nursing experience in Washington state in a variety of roles. she received her BSN from Seattle University in 1978. Denise is a skilled clinician as well as an enthusiastic and responsive instructor. Being involved in the greater community is important to Denise. She has served as a March of Dimes board member, a National SIDS Foundation Board of Trustees member, an Early Head Start Advisory board member to name a few. Field testing the Promoting Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy program was very rewarding and cemented the belief in the need for intervention before birth.

Denise is a Northwest native and enjoys the outdoors of the beautiful Northwest by kayaking, hiking, and skiing. She treasures time with her children, family, and friends.

Vicki Long, BA, Business and Operations Manager
Vicki has worked in the education field for over 20 years, most of that time in continuing education programs for infant/early childhood development and assessment. For the last 20 years she has worked with numerous early childhood development professionals and faculty here at the University of Washington and throughout the United States and Canada while promoting NCAST Programs.Vicki attended Washington State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Education at the University of Washington. Vicki handles program operations including publications production, promotional projects and student/client liaison.

In addition to her work with NCAST Programs, she has mentored single welfare mothers in the community returning to the workforce, served as an educational tutor for students at Jackson Park Housing Project, volunteered at Children's Regional Medical Center and is currently working on her certification as an ESL instructor. Vicki also enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing and adventurous travels throughout the world.

Vicki feels fortunate to be working with such a great team in developing and disseminating so many innovative programs that are making a difference in the lives of young children and their families.

Jennifer J. Duval, BA,  Development Coordinator
Jennifer is the Development Coordinator of NCAST Programs and the Program Coordinator for Promoting First Relationships. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Sociology, with a focus on family relationships. She has worked as a Research Coordinator for the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development, conducting daycare, preschool, and elementary school observations. Her research experience also includes studies of Peer Interactions and of Childcare for children with Special Needs. Ms. Duval is a certified Labor Support Person (doula), and the mother of two girls. She currently works on curriculum revisions and updates, maintains the budgets of PFR training grants, oversees the organization of the PFR offices, acts as liaison to funding sources, recruits training sites, helps facilitate on-going team training, and maintains the PFR website.

Jean Kelly, PhD, Consultant to NCAST Programs, Co-Director of the CIMHD
Dr. Jean Kelly directs research and training programs focused on young children's social and emotional health. Jean is a professor in the department of Family and Child Nursing at the University of Washington and directs the Promoting First Relationships Program. She is also Co-Director of the Center on Infant Mental Health and Development, a partnership between the School of Nursing and the Center on Human Development and Disability. Her interest in promoting the parent/caregiver-child relationship began in the late 1970's with her dissertation work using videotaped feedback to promote the relationship between parents and their young children with developmental delays. Since that time, she has conducted research and developed programs for families and infants and toddlers that are homeless, enrolled in early intervention programs for young children with special needs, and participants in Early Head Start Programs. She is also involved in research and training efforts to improve the relationship quality of child care programs. Her most recently added area of training and research is to promote healthy relationships between parents, foster parents and therapeutic child care providers who care for children involved in the child welfare system. She teaches in the Irving B. Harris Graduate Certificate Program in Infant Mental Health and the Department of Family and Child Nursing.