Ann Brewster, Ph.D., MSW is an Intervention Scientist at Duke University, with expertise addressing the intersection of critical mental health and education needs of adolescents. She has extensive experience developing, building, and sustaining strong collaborative community partnerships focused on addressing the needs of adolescents. She has created a metacognitive skills-based curriculum that improves academic outcomes and well-being among high school students. Her work examining school dropouts who later returned to education has led to a new concept she calls Transformational Resilience.

Dr. Brewster’s talk, entitled Transformational Resilience, focuses on how adversity can help us reinforce our values and pursue our “dream goals”. She will describe her research working with adolescents and adults, as well as her own experiences that helped to shape this new perspective.