Carrie Quinn, MD

Executive Director

Executive Director, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Quinn received her undergraduate degree in Science-Business from the University of Notre Dame and her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Quinn completed her residency in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She is a board certified pediatrician and worked in private practice in Queens for many years prior to joining the Faculty Practice within the Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she taught medical students, residents and mentored MD-PhD students in her clinical practice. Dr. Quinn has worked as the executive director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center since its inception in 2014.

Blair Hammond, MD

Co-Founding Director and Director of Medical Education

Co-Founding Director and Director of Medical Education, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center

Dr. Blair Hammond is a board certified pediatrician who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She also completed her medical training at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center and was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society. She pursued a residency training in Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and received the Clinician-Educator Award. Dr. Hammond completed a medical education fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and was the Pediatric Clerkship and Sub-Internship Course Director from 2006-2017. In 2008, Dr. Hammond founded the General Pediatrics Faculty Practice where she still practices today. In 2010, she was awarded the Mount Sinai Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Hammond is now the Co-Founding Director and Director of Medical Education for the Mount Sinai Parenting Center. Dr. Hammond continues to be involved in medical student and resident education in addition to her general pediatric practice. She lives with her husband and 3 children in Westchester.

Aliza W. Pressman, PhD

Co-Founding Director and Director of Clinical Programming

Co-Founding Director and Director of Clinical Programming, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center, Clinical Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Co-Founder, SeedlingsGroup

Dr. Aliza Pressman is a developmental psychologist with nearly two decades of experience working with families and the health care providers who care for them. Aliza is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Behavioral Health Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital where she is co-founding director of The Mount Sinai Parenting Center. Aliza is the host of the hit podcast, Raising Good Humans. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College, an MA in Risk, Resilience and Prevention from the Department of Human Development at Teacher’s College and her PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Aliza also holds a teaching certificate in mindfulness and meditation from The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley. Aliza is the mother of two teenagers.

Mariel Benjamin, LCSW

Director of Programs

Director of Programs, The Mount Sinai Parenting Center, Teaching Assistant, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ms. Benjamin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York City with over 10 years of experience at Mount Sinai Medical Center working with families and children. She received her B.A. and B.S. summa cum laude from Northwestern University and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from New York University. In addition to serving as the Program Director at the Mount Sinai Parenting Center, she is on faculty at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health. She is certified in parent management training from the Yale Parenting Center and is a trained facilitator of Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs.

Elizabeth Wyner

Associate Director of Operations and Team Management

Ms. Wyner has a background in project and people management, and has more than 10 years of experience working in public health and child welfare. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and her Master of Public Health and Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. She is excited to help support the parenting center in promoting strong parent-child relationships and early child development.

Xian Zhang, PhD

Research Project Manager

Dr. Zhang is a child development researcher with special interest in culture-centered research. Dr. Zhang was educated in the U.K. and the U.S. She received her B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology from University College London. She then moved to the U.S. and received her M.A. in Applied Child Development and Ph.D. in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University.

Sneha Grover, MHA

Manager of Growth and Outreach

Sneha received her Master's in Healthcare Administration magna cum laude and Bachelor of Science in Public Health with minors in psychology and business from the University of South Florida. With a deep-rooted passion for ensuring equitable access to healthcare and education, she has advanced growth and development at a variety of non-profit organizations prior to joining the Mount Sinai Parenting Center.

Chelsea McGowen

Project Coordinator

Chelsea comes to the Parenting Center after receiving her Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Cornell University where she studied Psychology and worked as a research assistant in a developmental psychology laboratory. With particular interests in outreach and development, she is passionate about the Parenting Center’s mission of increasing the accessibility of developmental research to families.

Nora Engeldrum

Project Coordinator

Nora comes to the Parenting Center after spending four years providing administrative support in a non-profit setting, with a focus on tutoring and educational advocacy for underserved youth from across New York City. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at the Macaulay Honors College at Lehman College, CUNY. She is passionate about the Parenting Center’s mission to support families within the healthcare field.