Advisory Committee

As a native New Yorker, Marygrace has invested most of her 20-year career in establishing school-based art therapy initiatives throughout New York City for at-risk children and families. In her current position, Marygrace is the Director of NYU Art Therapy in the Schools program. She led a research initiative examining the impact of art therapy on the self-esteem, affect regulation and impulse control of public school students. She has published work on the use of art therapy for post-disaster recovery and cross-cultural competency in art therapy. She has presented nationally and internationally. Marygrace has trained clinicians of other disciplines advocating for the use of creative arts therapies as a highly efficient treatment modality. She formerly developed and directed the creative arts therapy program at several community-based agencies, working with young people at risk, formerly homeless and mentally ill adults and survivors of cancer. Marygrace is also trained as a Sandplay Therapy Practitioner and maintains a private practice in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Burch’s research focuses on education policy, organizational and institutional theory, qualitative and mixed methods research, and evidence-based policy and practice. Burch’s recent publications include Mixed Methods Research for Policy and Program Evaluation (SAGE, 2016). Hidden Markets: The New Education Privatization, (Routledge, 2009), Equal Scrutiny: Privatization and Accountability in Digital Education (Harvard Education Press, 2015). Burch’s work has appeared in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Teachers College Record, Educational Researcher, and other notable journals. Burch regularly collaborates with government agencies and non-governmental organizations on program evaluation and in improving program design and policy effectiveness, with specific attention to equity and quality.

He is a Professor of Education in the Africana Studies Department and a Senior Research Associate at San Francisco State University, a Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flourish Agenda, Inc., a national nonprofit consulting firm, whose mission is to design strategies that unlock the power of healing and engage youth of color and adult allies in transforming their schools and communities, author of “Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Activists and Teachers are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart”, “Black in School- Afrocentric Reform, Black Youth and the Promise of Hip-Hop Culture” and co-editor of” Beyond Resistance!: Youth Resistance and Community Change: New Democratic Possibilities for Practice and Policy for America’s Youth” and in 2010 he published “Black Youth Rising, Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America”. His research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities navigate through the constraints of poverty and struggle to create equality and justice in their schools and communities. Dr. Ginwright currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the California Endowment, with oversight of a $3 billion endowment to improve the health of California’s underserved communities. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning at the Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University.

Margarit graduated Magna Cum Laude from Macalester College with a dual degree in Mathematics and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family, exploring NYC and its vibrant communities, and playing ping pong.

He has also served as a Medical Director of Adult Inpatient Psychiatry at Kings County Hospital and Director of Consultation and Liaison Service and Treatment-Resistant Depression Treatment Program at New York Methodist Hospital. He graduated from New York University and the State of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine and completed his psychiatric training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

She is President and Professor Emerita of SUNY Upstate Medical University, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, Columbia University and Associate Director of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, a national program modeled after the Nova award-winning program, the Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention program.
Dr. Laraque-Arena completed her medical studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, earning a B.S. in Chemistry. Her internship and residency were completed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in General Academic Pediatrics (1984-86). Driven to address the health needs of disadvantaged communities, she accepted her first academic position at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University and Harlem Hospital Center where she rose to the rank of Associate Professor (1986-2000). In 2000, she accepted a position as Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She was promoted to the position of tenured Professor of Pediatrics and received the endowed chair as the Debra & Leon Black Professor of Pediatrics and became Vice-Chair for Public Policy and Advocacy. In 2010, she accepted the position of Chair and Vice President of the Maimonides Children’s Hospital of Brooklyn—the first woman and first African-American to hold that position in the 100-year history of the hospital and was Professor of Pediatrics (Investigator Track, 2010-2015) at Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY. She was appointed the seventh President of SUNY Upstate Medical University on September 10, 2015, where she was the first woman and first African-American to hold the position.

He is the founder of “Strategic Destiny: Designing Futures Through Faith and Facts.” He has mentored thousands ranging from young people in foster care juvenile detention facilities, adults in prison, as well as individuals in Corporate America, youth-serving organizations, the faith community, or mentees receiving their Ph.D. He serves as an adviser and consultant to government, colleges, civic groups, community-based organizations, public and charter schools, education intermediaries, foundations and the broader faith community.
He is the author of seven books; his latest for young people is, “Madd Truth: Lasting Lessons for Students of Life.” Dr. Wyatt attended Howard University, Columbia Teachers College, The Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy, Columbia Business School Institute for Nonprofit Management, and New York Theological Seminary. He serves on the Board of The Osborne Association.