Dana Suskind, M.D.

Dana Suskind, M.D. is the founder and co-director (with John List, Ph.D., FAN ’22) of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program, and Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. Recognized as a national thought leader in early language development, Dr. Suskind has dedicated her research and clinical life to optimizing foundational brain development and preventing early cognitive disparities and their lifelong impact. She is the bestselling author of 2015’s Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain and the newly released Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise.

Dr. Suskind has received several awards for her work, including the Weizmann Women for Science Vision and Impact award, the SENTAC Gray Humanitarian Award, the LENA Research Foundation Making a Difference Award, the Chairman’s Award from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2018, and the John D. Arnold, MD Mentor Award for Sustained Excellence from the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr. Suskind received her B.S. and M.D. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1988 and 1992 respectively and trained at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work continues to center on helping families recognize their innate power to enable their children to reach their full potential.