Colleagues, mentees, and family of Prof. Barry Lester, Ph.D., gathered at The Warren Alpert Medical School on Oct. 22 to celebrate his academic legacy as a groundbreaking researcher and founder of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk. The celebration, hosted by the Brown Department of Pediatrics, featured presentations on neonatal and epigenetic research — two areas where Lester has made a lasting impact.

“I believe the true measure of your legacy is the forest of independent, resilient professionals you have cultivated—people who stand tall today because you gave them the perfect mix of shelter and independence,” said Asst. Prof. Marie Camerota, Ph.D., who became director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk last year. "From all of us, thank you for everything.”

Lester first came to Brown in 1985 from the pediatrics faculty of Harvard Medical School. While at Brown, he co-developed the influential NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) —since updated as NNSS-II — with Edward Tronick, Ph.D.  The scale has become a standard method for measuring neurological status and behavioral function in high-risk infants.

In 2005, Lester founded the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk to identify neurobehavioral risk and resiliency factors in newborns. The Center also includes a clinical arm, the Center for Children and Families at Women & Infants Hospital, which provides behavioral health services and perinatal and postpartum support for infants and their caregivers from birth to age 5. Lester's research at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk has included infant acoustic cry analysis, longitudinal follow-up of infants born very preterm and with prenatal substance exposure, behavioral epigenetics, and environmental influences on child health.

In honor of Lester's contributions to their fields of study, four distinguished speakers gave talks on their latest research:

• Edward Tronick, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston
• Elisabeth Conradt, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Associate Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University
• Jonathan Davis, M.D., Vice Chair of Pediatrics, Tufts Medical Center; Professor of Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine
• Carmen Marsit, Ph.D., Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research Strategy and Rollins Distinguished Professor of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Trecia Wouldes, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, presented Lester with carved New Zealand jade that, she said, "symbolizes new life, growth, peace, and fresh beginnings.” Wouldes gave the jade, considered a significant honor in Māori culture, in recognition of Lester’s influential work on prenatal substance use in New Zealand.

Although no longer directing the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Lester will continue to conduct his research, which has been continuously federally funded for over 50 years, and mentor trainees and early-career faculty.