Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund Archives

May 3, 2022

Advisor and Three Former Neuroscience Fellows Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Hollis Cline, PhD (1993), Erik M. Jorgensen, PhD (1995), Alex L. Kolodkin, PhD (1995), advisor Helen S. Mayberg, MD, recognized for distinguished and continuing original research, have been elected to the 2022 National Academy of Sciences. They are among 120 new members and 30 foreign associates elected to join the academy this year. Please learn…

April 28, 2022

Former Neuroscience Fellow Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Chenghua Gu, PhD has been elected as a 2022 member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The 2007 Klingenstein Neuroscience Fellow is among the 261 outstanding individuals have been elected to the Academy in 2022. Read more from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

January 27, 2022

Masks in Child Care Reduced Center Closures

Walter Gilliam – an Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee – led a large-scale longitudinal study that found childcare programs in the US that practiced masking early in the COVID-19 pandemic saw significant reductions in program closures. Read more at Yahoo and Science Daily

January 24, 2022

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisors receives NAS Pradel Research Award

Edward Chang, MD, University of California, San Francisco, receives the Pradel Research Award for scientific advances that have deepened our mechanistic understanding of speech perception and production. Presented by the National Academy of Sciences, the Pradel Research Award is presented annually to recognize mid-career neuroscientists whose work is making major contributions to our understanding of…

January 24, 2022

Anti-poverty Intervention Has Direct Impact on Children’s Brain Development

Kimberly Noble – lead PI for Baby’s First Years, an Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee – led a study that shows that an anti-poverty intervention had a direct impact on children’s brain development. After one year, infants of mothers in low-income households receiving $333 in monthly cash support were more likely to show…

November 3, 2021

Klingenstein-Simons Advisor Receives Society for Neuroscience Award for the Promotion of Women in Neuroscience

Catherine Dulac, Ph.D. received the 2021 Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Neuroscience. This award recognizes neuroscientists with outstanding achievements in research who have significantly promoted the professional advancement of women in neuroscience. Learn more about Dr. Dulac’s award.

October 25, 2021

Puerto Rico Leading Nation’s Vaccine Rate and Former Klingenstein Neuroscience Fellow at the Forefront

Dr. Daniel Colón-Ramos presides over a coalition of scientists to inform policy in Puerto Rico. The Caribbean Island now has the highest vaccine rate in America, having fully vaccinated over 73% of its 3.3 million residents. Learn more at ABC News and Newsweek.

October 4, 2021

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisor Develops a “Pacemaker for the Brain” to Treat Depression

In the first study of individualized brain stimulation to treat severe depression, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, including senior author and Neuroscience Advisor Edward Chang, M.D. surgically implant a battery-operated, “pacemaker for the brain” calibrated to detect the neural activity pattern that occurs when the patient is becoming depressed then delivers pulses…

September 23, 2021

Four Former Neuroscience Fellows Selected to Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Cagla Eroglu, Ph.D., Chenghua Gu, Ph.D., Daniel Kronauer, Ph.D., and Kay Tye, Ph.D. have been selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigators representing outstanding science from across the United States. HHMI Investigators are widely known for their scientific discoveries, their innovation, and their success in tackling the most challenging problems in biomedical research. Learn…

August 31, 2021

Lessons on Child Care, From the Military

Linda Smith – Director of the Early Childhood Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, an Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee – spoke with the New York Times about her work during the 1970s and 1980s improving the United States military’s underfunded and mismanaged child care system. Today, the system’s standards are considered more…

August 30, 2021

Child care providers vaccinated at higher rates than general U.S. population

Researchers at the Yale Child Study Center, an Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee, published a national study in which they found that child care providers are vaccinated at higher rates than the general population. “Child care providers are one of the few groups that have intimate interactions with many people on a daily…

August 20, 2021

EAJK Grantee Helps Families Learn About American Rescue Plan Child Care Tax Credits

While many families have received payments for the child tax credit, nearly 50% aren’t aware they can claim another tax break on child and dependent care expenses through a recent federal stimulus plan, according to a survey conducted by Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee Bipartisan Policy Center. “The changes made by the American…

August 18, 2021

As Biden Pushes Nation Toward Universal Pre-K, Home-Based Child Care Could Help Fill Gaps in the System

Home Grown, a national funder collaborative that includes the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund, and the National Institute for Early Education Research released a new report in response to President Joe Biden’s plan to provide nationwide universal Pre-K. The report finds that including family child care homes in pre-K initiatives could increase the supply…

July 15, 2021

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisor Develops Brain Implant That Lets Severe Stroke Victim ‘Speak’ Again

A research team led by Edward Chang, M.D. – former Klingenstein Neuroscience Fellow, current Scientific Advisor, and the Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF – developed a “speech neuroprosthesis” that has enabled a man with severe paralysis to communicate in sentences, translating signals from his brain to the vocal tract directly into…

July 1, 2021

As Attention Turns to Child Care, the System’s Unsung Heroes Ask for Recognition

A survey conducted by Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders that includes the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund, found that nearly 40 percent of informal child care providers were concerned about income, enrollment and the health impacts of providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fuller Project reports on the survey and the challenges faced by…

June 10, 2021

Two Former Neuroscience Fellows Receive the NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship

Richard Daneman, Ph.D. and Robert C. Froemke, Ph.D. received the 2021 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship. The award is given to faculty members who have shown dedication to superior mentorship and training in neuroscience research. Learn more about the mentoring approaches Dr. Daneman and Dr. Froemke.

May 4, 2021

Helping Home-Based Child Care Providers Participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program

For millions of children in child care, the Child and Adult Care Food Program acts as a key nutritional support by reimbursing child care providers for the cost of snacks and meals provided to the children in their care. The Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund is a member of the Home Grown Child Care…

April 29, 2021

Expanding Subsidies for Home-Based Child Care Providers Could Aid the Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery

The Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund is a member of the Home Grown Child Care Collaborative, which funded a report to show policymakers how they can help home based child care providers take advantage of recovery subsidies. An Urban Institute blog post summarizes the report.

April 26, 2021

Former Neuroscience Fellow Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Rachel O. Wong, Ph.D. has been elected as a 2021 member of the National Academy of Sciences. The 1996 Klingenstein Neuroscience Fellow is among 120 new members and 30 foreign associates elected to join the academy this year. Learn more from the National Academy of Sciences.

December 21, 2020

Grantee HealthySteps Featured on PBS NewsHour

On December 17, 2020, PBS NewsHour highlighted Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund Early Childhood grantee HealthySteps as a model of adverse childhood experience (ACE) prevention. NewsHour’s report, titled “Invisible Scars: America’s Childhood Trauma Crisis”, featured a first-hand look at how HealthySteps prevents and mitigates the effects of ACEs, a silent epidemic in our country…

October 26, 2020

Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Partners Named to The Holding Co.’s Care 100

The Holding Co. an innovation lab of Pivotal Ventures, recognized 100 leaders in the care sector, including Natalie Renew, leader of the Home Grown funder collaborative that includes the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, and Jessica Sager, CEO of grantee All Our Kin. Learn more about their ideas for shaping the future of…

October 20, 2020

Coronavirus Threatens to Push the Child-Care Industry Over the Edge

According to an August 2020 survey conducted by Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee Bipartisan Policy Center, only 30% of parents with children under age 5 have sought child care during the pandemic. This survey is cited in the Wall Street Journal’s article on the effects of the pandemic on child care. Read the…

October 14, 2020

Child Care Centers Are Not Linked to COVID Spread, According to Large Study

Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund early childhood grantee Walter Gilliam, Ph.D. of the Yale Child Study Center just released his study of COVID-19 transmissibility in child care centers. Articles describing his research are featured in the Wall Street Journal and at People.com.

September 17, 2020

Yale teams get multi-million-dollar awards to study biology of Parkinson’s

Yale research teams, headed by a former EAJK Fellow, will receive approximately $9 million in grants from the Aligning Sciences Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to study the underlying biology of Parkinson’s disease. Pietro De Camilli – the John Klingenstein Professor of Neuroscience, a 1989 Klingenstein Fellow in Neurowscience, and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical…

September 17, 2020

Discoverer of neural circuits for parenting wins US$3-million Breakthrough Prize

Catherine Dulac, a member of the EAJK Scientific Advisory Committee and molecular biologist at Harvard University, has been awarded a Breakthrough prize — the most lucrative award in science and mathematics – for her work on the neurology of parental roles. In the 1990s, Dulac isolated the pheromone receptors in mice that govern sex-specific social behaviors. Virgin…

August 18, 2020

UCSF Neurological Surgery Announces New Department Chair

Edward Chang, M.D. has been named the new Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF. He is currently a Professor of Neurological Surgery at UCSF and Chief of Epilepsy Surgery and will begin his new role as Chair on September 1, 2020. Doctor Chang sits on the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Scientific Advisory Committee, and…

August 11, 2020

D.C. Child Care Reopening Fund Q&A with Marica Cox Mitchell

The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund collaborates with four funders, including the Bainum Family Foundation, to support at least 115 home-based child care providers. Marica Cox Mitchell, Director of Early Learning for the BFF, details the collaborative’s response to challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read full article at New America.

July 29, 2020

Without National Strategy For School Reopenings, Parents Face Uncertainty

Natalie Renew – director of Home Grown, a nonprofit organization improving the quality of in-home child care and a fundee of the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund – speaks to NPR about the challenges faced by childcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen to the the full piece at NPR.

July 28, 2020

Mystery Solved About the Machines That Move Your Genes

In a new paper published September 2 in Nature Physics and supported by the Klingenstein-Simons Foundation, researchers provide insight into the cellular machinery that segregates chromosomes during cell division and why this process sometimes goes wrong. Read the full article at Science Daily,

July 23, 2020

Why Some Mosquitoes Prefer Humans

Mosquitoes have been called the deadliest animal in the world: tiny creatures so dangerous that genetic engineering may be necessary to win the battle against them. But not all mosquitoes are equally responsible for devastating the human population by spreading disease. Out of thousands of species, only a few like to bite humans. Why do…

July 14, 2020

D.C.-Area Child Care Centers Struggle To Stay Afloat Amid The Pandemic

WAMU details the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund’s efforts — in partnership with Bainum Family Foundation, A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation and the Richard E. & Nancy P. Marriott Foundation — to a create $1 million pot of money to help 115 small early…

May 22, 2020

Will early learning, after-school shift toward home-based care?

Natalie Renew and Karen Tylek of Home Grown, an Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund fundee, discuss Philadelphia’s new pre-K initiative, which includes licensed family-child care homes as part of a “mixed-delivery” system – meaning both school- and community-based providers can receive a contract to serve children in the program. Read the full article at Education Dive.

April 28, 2020

Women Face Amplified Risks in the Pandemic. Funders Are Responding

The Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund is proud to announce the recipients of grants to neuroscience to support collaboration and research.

April 28, 2020

Early Childhood Policy Meets Early Childhood Science, Part 3: On Formal vs. Informal Learning Settings

Early Learning Nation profiles All Our Kin and the Home Grown initiative, both Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund recipients, in a discussion about providing professional development, dollars and business assistance to home-based childcare providers. Read the full article at Early Learning Nation.

April 22, 2020

Want to Support Your Community’s Equitable Recovery from COVID-19? Invest in Child Care

The Bridgespan Group profiles Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund fundee Home Grown collaborative’s toolkit for establishing an emergency fund that meets the needs of local providers and caregivers. Topics include determining goals, understanding emerging and ongoing needs, choosing a funding approach, and selecting partners. Read the full article at The Bridgespan Group.

April 13, 2020

Rapid-Response Grant Opportunities for Pandemic Crisis

Home Grown, a fundee of the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund, will make at least $1.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations that provide emergency support for in-home child-care centers, in particular those that care for the children of essential workers. The fund anticipates making between 10-15 grants of up to $100,000 to purchase…

News & Resources

Advisor and Three Former Neuroscience Fellows Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Former Neuroscience Fellow Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Masks in Child Care Reduced Center Closures

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisors receives NAS Pradel Research Award

Anti-poverty Intervention Has Direct Impact on Children’s Brain Development

Klingenstein-Simons Advisor Receives Society for Neuroscience Award for the Promotion of Women in Neuroscience

Puerto Rico Leading Nation’s Vaccine Rate and Former Klingenstein Neuroscience Fellow at the Forefront

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisor Develops a “Pacemaker for the Brain” to Treat Depression

Four Former Neuroscience Fellows Selected to Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Lessons on Child Care, From the Military

Child care providers vaccinated at higher rates than general U.S. population

EAJK Grantee Helps Families Learn About American Rescue Plan Child Care Tax Credits

As Biden Pushes Nation Toward Universal Pre-K, Home-Based Child Care Could Help Fill Gaps in the System

Klingenstein-Simons Scientific Advisor Develops Brain Implant That Lets Severe Stroke Victim ‘Speak’ Again

As Attention Turns to Child Care, the System’s Unsung Heroes Ask for Recognition

Two Former Neuroscience Fellows Receive the NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship

Helping Home-Based Child Care Providers Participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Expanding Subsidies for Home-Based Child Care Providers Could Aid the Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery

Former Neuroscience Fellow Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Grantee HealthySteps Featured on PBS NewsHour

Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Partners Named to The Holding Co.’s Care 100

Coronavirus Threatens to Push the Child-Care Industry Over the Edge

Child Care Centers Are Not Linked to COVID Spread, According to Large Study

Yale teams get multi-million-dollar awards to study biology of Parkinson’s

Discoverer of neural circuits for parenting wins US$3-million Breakthrough Prize

UCSF Neurological Surgery Announces New Department Chair

D.C. Child Care Reopening Fund Q&A with Marica Cox Mitchell

Without National Strategy For School Reopenings, Parents Face Uncertainty

Mystery Solved About the Machines That Move Your Genes

Why Some Mosquitoes Prefer Humans

D.C.-Area Child Care Centers Struggle To Stay Afloat Amid The Pandemic

Will early learning, after-school shift toward home-based care?

Women Face Amplified Risks in the Pandemic. Funders Are Responding

Early Childhood Policy Meets Early Childhood Science, Part 3: On Formal vs. Informal Learning Settings

Want to Support Your Community’s Equitable Recovery from COVID-19? Invest in Child Care

Rapid-Response Grant Opportunities for Pandemic Crisis