Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D.
Biographical Sketch
Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D. is Professor of Pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Shaywitz received her AB (with Honors) from the City University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is currently with her husband, Dr. Bennett A. Shaywitz,Co-Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention. Dr. Sally Shaywitz’ research provides the basic framework: conceptual model, epidemiology and neurobiology for the scientific study of learning disabilities, particularly dyslexia. Dr. Shaywitz is the author of 200 scientific articles, chapters and books, including the widely acclaimed national bestseller, Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at any Level (Knopf, 2003) which received the 2004 Margo Marek Book Award and the 2004 NAMI Book Award.
Dr. Shaywitz, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, will be awarded an Honorary Degree by Williams College in June 2005. Among her other accomplishments, she was selected, along with her husband Bennett Shaywitz, as recipient of the 2004 Lawrence G. Crowley Distinguished Lectureship at Stanford University, the 2001 Leonard Apt Lectureship of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the 1999 Sidney Berman Award of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She received the 2004 Townsend Harris Medal of the City College of New York and was also the 1998 recipient of the Achievement Award in Women’s Health of the Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research and the 1995 Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Each year, Dr. Shaywitz has been chosen as “One of the Best Doctors in America” and “One of America’s Top Doctors” and one of “New York’s Top Doctors.” Dr. Shaywitz currently serves on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS), the National Research Council Committee on Women in Science and Engineering, the National Board for Education Sciences, the scientific advisory board of the March of Dimes and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Haan Foundation for Children. Dr. Shaywitz co-chairs the National Research Council Committee on Gender Differences in the Careers of Science, Engineering and Mathematics Faculty; she has most recently served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Understanding the Biology of Sex and Gender Difference; on the National Reading Panel and on the Committee to Prevent Reading Difficulties in Young Children of the National Research Council. Dr. Shaywitz also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Learning Disabilities and Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal.
Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D. is Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Chief of Pediatric Neurology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Shaywitz received his AB from Washington University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his MD from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his Pediatric training and then a Postdoctoral fellowship in Child Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Together with his wife, Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Dr. Bennett Shaywitz established and is currently Co-Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention. Dr. Shaywitz has a long-standing interest in disorders of learning and attention in children and young adults. Recently he has used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to discover differences in brain organization and function in children and adults with dyslexia and he is now using fMRI to study how the brain changes as children with dyslexia are taught to read.
The author of over three hundred scientific papers, Dr. Shaywitz’ honors include, among others, election to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, selected to deliver the 2005 New York University Medical Scientist Training Program Honors Lecture and as recipient of the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University. Dr. Shaywitz was also selected, along with Dr. Sally Shaywitz, as recipient of the 2004 Lawrence G. Crowley Distinguished Lectureship at Stanford University, the 2004 Waldo E. Nelson lectureship at St. Christopher’s Children Hospital and the 2001 Leonard Apt Lectureship of the American Academy of Pediatrics and to receive the Sidney Berman Award for the Study and Treatment of Learning Disabilities presented by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Each year Dr. Shaywitz has been chosen as “One of the Best Doctors in America” and “One of America’s Top Doctors.” He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the March of Dimes, on the Functional Brain Imaging Advisory Board of the Haan Foundation for Children and has served on the Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee. Dr. Shaywitz also serves on the editorial board of Pediatrics in Review, Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, and Child Neuropsychology.