About

Michael Silverstein, M.D., M.P.H., is the George Hazard Crooker University Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health and the director of Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. As a clinical pediatrician, he worked primarily in Boston Medical Center’s inpatient pediatric service before transitioning to full-time public health work at Brown. He also provided outpatient primary care and taught residents and medical students in pediatrics. His research focuses on mental health services for children and families, with a primary interest in the prevention of depression among mothers experiencing social disadvantage and caregivers of vulnerable children. Dr. Silverstein and his research team have conducted community-based trials with Head Start preschool programs in Seattle and Boston, as well as depression prevention trials in medical settings among mothers of preterm infants and children with autism spectrum disorder. His work includes comparative effectiveness research to identify optimal systems of care for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder residing in urban areas, treatment pathways for screen-detected parents with depression, and systems to address food insecurity. His research has been funded by multiple organizations, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard College and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Silverstein completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington, where he also obtained his master’s in public health and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. He has been a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force since 2016 and was appointed chair of the Task Force in March 2025, having served as vice chair from March 2023 to March 2025.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Pathology
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Internal medicine
• Information Retrieval
• Computer Science
• Physical therapy
• Environmental health
• Oncology
• Bioinformatics
• Intensive care medicine
• Family medicine
• Statistics
• Medical physics

Selected publications

• What Parents Should Understand About Lipid Screening in Children

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2025-08-25

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This JAMA Pediatrics Patient Page describes what parents should consider in deciding whether to have their child screened for high lipid levels.

  PublisherDOI

• Navigating the Complexity of Food Insecurity Screening

  JAMA · 2025-03-11 · 2 citations

  article

  This Viewpoint highlights primary care–based screening for food insecurity as the first social determinant of health topic to be addressed by the US Preventive Services Task Force; the potential benefit of food insecurity screening on access to other preventive services; and several challenges to making a recommendation for food insecurity screening.

  PublisherDOI

• Actions to Transform US Preventive Services Task Force Methods to Mitigate Systemic Racism in Clinical Preventive Services

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-16

  articleOpen access

  Importance: US life expectancy and health outcomes for preventable causes of disease have continued to lag in many populations that experience racism. Objective: To propose iterative changes to US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) processes, methods, and recommendations and enact a commitment to eliminate health inequities for people affected by systemic racism. Design and Evidence: In February 2021, the USPSTF began operational steps in its work to create preventive care recommendations to address the harmful effects of racism. A commissioned methods report was conducted to inform this process. Key findings of the report informed proposed updates to the USPSTF methods to address populations adversely affected by systemic racism and proposed pilots on implementation of the proposed changes. Findings: The USPSTF proposes to consider the opportunity to reduce health inequities when selecting new preventive care topics and prioritizing current topics; seek evidence about the effects of systemic racism and health inequities in all research plans and public comments requested, and integrate available evidence into evidence reviews; and summarize the likely effects of systemic racism and health inequities on clinical preventive services in USPSTF recommendations. The USPSTF will elicit feedback from its partners and experts and proposed changes will be piloted on selected USPSTF topics. Conclusions and Relevance: The USPSTF has developed strategies intended to mitigate the influence of systemic racism in its recommendations. The USPSTF seeks to reduce health inequities and other effects of systemic racism through iterative changes in methods of developing evidence-based recommendations, with partner and public input in the activities to implement the advancements.

  PublisherDOI

• USPSTF Recommendation Statement About Screening and Supplementation for Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia During Pregnancy—Reply

  JAMA · 2025-01-27 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• CuddleCard: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of providing financial support to low-income mothers of preterm infants on parental caregiving in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)

  BMC Pediatrics · 2025-05-15 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Preterm birth is a leading cause of childhood mortality and developmental disabilities, with persistent socioeconomic disparities in incidence and outcomes. Maternal presence during prolonged neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization is critical for preterm infant health, enabling mothers to provide breast milk, directly breastfeed, and engage in skin-to-skin care-all of which promote infant physiological stability and neurodevelopment. Low-income mothers face significant barriers to visiting the NICU and participating in caregiving due to financial burdens and the psychological impact of financial stress. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of financial transfers in promoting maternal caregiving behaviors that directly impact preterm infant health outcomes during NICU hospitalization. METHODS: We will conduct a two-arm, single-blinded randomized controlled trial with 420 Medicaid-eligible mothers of infants born between 24 weeks 0 days to 34 weeks 1 day gestation across four Level 3 NICUs in Georgia and Massachusetts. Mothers in the intervention arm will receive standard of care enhanced with weekly financial transfers and will be informed that these funds are intended to help them spend more time with their infants in the NICU. All participants will be provided with a hospital-grade breast pump and educational materials on the benefits of breast milk and skin-to-skin care. Participants will complete surveys during their infant's hospitalization and following discharge, capturing outcomes related to maternal mental and physical health, caregiving behaviors, cognitive function, financial and socioeconomic factors, infant health and growth, and perceptions of NICU care quality. Primary outcomes are the provision of breast milk and engagement in skin-to-skin care. Secondary outcomes include infant growth and health outcomes, NICU visitation, financial and socioeconomic hardship, maternal physical and mental health measures, cognitive function, and perception of NICU care quality. DISCUSSION: This study will provide evidence of the impact of financial transfers on maternal caregiving behaviors in the NICU, addressing critical gaps in our understanding of how financial stress affects low-income mothers. Findings may inform health policy, particularly regarding Medicaid coverage of non-medical services, and contribute to understanding how to address disparities in preterm infant care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was prospectively registered with the American Economic Association Trial Registry, the primary registry for academic economists conducting policy trials, on 16 April 2024 (AEARCTR-0013256). It was also registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06362798) on 10 April 2024.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “The Way the System is Working Out, It's Not Working at All”: Parent Perspectives on Social Determinants of Health and ADHD Symptoms in Preschoolers

  Child Psychiatry & Human Development · 2025-05-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Adverse social determinants of health (SDH) are associated with higher risk for ADHD and worse prognosis. Understanding the reason for this association is critical for planning interventions to reduce inequities in ADHD outcomes. To answer this question, we conducted a qualitative study with parents of preschoolers aged 3-5 years old with ADHD symptoms, recruited from a safety net hospital, to understand their perspectives on the relationship between SDH and ADHD symptoms. Nineteen parents (53% Black, 26% Latine, 16% White; median income $32,500) completed in-depth interviews, and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Parents described bidirectional relationships between three main themes: (1) unmet social needs, (2) child ADHD symptoms, and (3) parent stress. Our findings suggest that early intervention to address unmet social needs in the child's environment and support parent mental health could be tested to improve symptom trajectories in preschoolers with emerging ADHD.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Screening for Osteoporosis to Prevent Fractures

  JAMA · 2025-01-14 · 98 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Osteoporotic fractures are associated with psychological distress, subsequent fractures, loss of independence, reduced ability to perform activities of daily living, and death. Objective: The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) commissioned a systematic review to evaluate the evidence on the benefits and harms of screening for osteoporosis to prevent fractures in adults 40 years or older with no known diagnosis of osteoporosis or history of fragility fracture. Population: Adults 40 years or older without known osteoporosis or history of fragility fractures. Evidence Assessment: The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in women 65 years or older has moderate net benefit. The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women younger than 65 years at increased risk has moderate net benefit. The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient and the balance of benefits and harms for screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in men cannot be determined. Recommendation: The USPSTF recommends screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in women 65 years or older. (B recommendation) The USPSTF recommends screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women younger than 65 years who are at increased risk for an osteoporotic fracture as estimated by clinical risk assessment. (B recommendation) The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in men. (I statement).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Equity-Centered Development of a Community Health Worker Intervention to Improve Engagement in Care for ADHD

  Journal of Attention Disorders · 2025-07-30

  articleSenior author

  Objective: Barriers to engagement perpetuate inequities in ADHD care for children. Community Health Worker (CHW) interventions could improve treatment engagement and reduce inequities. We describe the development of a novel, manualized, 5-module CHW intervention for ADHD called START (SupporT for ADHD and Related Treatment) to increase engagement with ADHD care. Method: We developed START based on perspectives from racial and ethnic minoritized families with feedback from a community advisory board, and conducted a single arm, adaptive pilot feasibility study of START for primary caregivers of children aged 6 to 12 years with newly diagnosed ADHD. We collected process data, pre- and post-intervention survey data, and qualitative data via caregiver exit interviews. Results: Eighteen families enrolled, 15 completed START, and 16 completed study questionnaires. Median intervention duration was six sessions (IQR = 5–6) over 5 weeks (IQR = 4–8). All caregivers reported satisfaction with the quality of the intervention and materials provided and reported they would recommend START to another caregiver. Most caregivers reported that START made them more likely to consider medications (69%), therapy (75%), and school services (88%) for their ADHD. From pre- to post-intervention, median number of outpatient treatments increased from 1.0 (IQR = 1.5) to 2.0 (IQR = 0.5; p = .0034), ADHD knowledge increased ( p < .0001), and median scores for 16 of 17 intervention objectives increased ( p < .05). Conclusion: START showed excellent feasibility and acceptability and treatment utilization increased post-intervention. We refined START based on feedback from caregivers, including enhanced personalization and expanding to six modules, to prepare for testing in a clinical trial.

  PublisherDOI

• The US Preventive Services Task Force and Precision Prevention

  JAMA · 2024-11-18 · 2 citations

  article

  This Viewpoint summarizes how the US Preventive Services Task Force specifies target populations for its recommendations and highlights 3 problems—including exacerbation of health inequities—posed by the proposed use of more complex risk models to better identify target populations and increase effectiveness and efficiency of prevention efforts (“precision prevention”).

  PublisherDOI

• Primary Care Interventions to Prevent Child Maltreatment

  JAMA · 2024-03-19 · 10 citations

  review

  Importance: Child maltreatment, which includes child abuse and neglect, can have profound effects on health, development, survival, and well-being throughout childhood and adulthood. The prevalence of child maltreatment in the US is uncertain and likely underestimated. In 2021, an estimated 600 000 children were identified by Child Protective Services as experiencing abuse or neglect and an estimated 1820 children died of abuse and neglect. Objective: The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) commissioned a systematic review to evaluate benefits and harms of primary care-feasible or referable behavioral counseling interventions to prevent child maltreatment in children and adolescents younger than 18 years without signs or symptoms of maltreatment. Population: Children and adolescents younger than 18 years who do not have signs or symptoms of or known exposure to maltreatment. Evidence Assessment: The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient to determine the balance of benefits and harms of primary care interventions to prevent child maltreatment in children and adolescents younger than 18 years without signs or symptoms of or known exposure to maltreatment. Recommendation: The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of primary care interventions to prevent child maltreatment. (I statement).

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03HD058075

  NIH · $199k · 2011

• Moving Research to Practice for Child Health

  NIH · $886k · 2014–2020

• NIH Grant R21MH097925

  NIH · $452k · 2015

• NIH Grant R01MH091871

  NIH · $2.9M · 2016

• NIH Grant K23MH074079

  NIH · $875k · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Chien‐Wen Tseng

  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

  1226 shared

• Karina W. Davidson

  Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

  1107 shared

• Chyke A. Doubeni

  1083 shared

• Michael J. Barry

  1080 shared

• Carol M. Mangione

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1063 shared

• John W. Epling

  1035 shared

• Alex H. Krist

  992 shared

• Melissa A. Simon

  Northwestern University

  981 shared

Education

• B.A., Near Eastern languages and civilizations

  Harvard University

• M.D.

  Harvard Medical School

• Other

  University of Washington

Awards & honors

• Member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force s…
• Chair of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (2…