Joshua Sparrow

Child, adolescent, and general psychiatrist, Joshua Sparrow, M.D., DFAACAP, is executive director of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) in the Division of Development of Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and is associate professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, part time.

Dr. Sparrow’s care in the 1990s for children hospitalized for severe psychiatric disturbances, often associated with physical and sexual abuse, and aggravated by societal abuse and neglect, prompted his interest in the social, economic, and racism-related determinants of health and mental health, and in community self-strengthening, community-based prevention and health promotion.

He has led numerous governmental and philanthropic research, training and technical assistance grants, and advised government agencies, nonprofits, academic centers, and philanthropies. Dr. Sparrow has given hundreds of lectures nationally and internationally, written numerous scholarly papers, hundreds of articles for the general public, as well as nine books translated into more than 20 languages, including the Brazelton Way books on common early childhood challenges and the Touchpoints: Your Child’s Emotional and Behavioral Development books, co-authored with the late, renowned pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, MD.