About Marilyn

From 2003 to 2023, I was a member of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, working in Pediatric ICU Medicine and in the Program for Women's and Children's Bioethics.  In the course of this career, I was privileged to develop close relationships with families coping with serious stressors. 

 

Parent Coaching is my Career Act Two.  While I loved my career in pediatrics, many factors made 2023 the year of change. Seeking a new way to work closely with families, I enrolled in a Parent Coach Certification program through the Parent Coaching Institute. The training taught me specific, evidence-based strategies to help parents leverage their own strengths and supports to navigate challenging periods in their and their families' lives.  

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I bring the wisdom I learned caring for seriously ill children and their families to my coaching practice. I've seen time and time again how families' value systems define how they operate during times of struggle, and how parents use their own strengths and resources to manage profoundly difficult situations.  I am delighted to be able to support people struggling to do the very best they can at the world's hardest job: parenting.

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And I'm a mom. My parenting journey surely differs from yours, but we share a fundamental knowledge of the depth of love, pain, and joy that parenting brings. I am awed by the many different forms that parenting journeys take, and I see it as an enormous privilege to walk with parents along their way. 

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My education

Dartmouth College 

          BA in French and Education 1992

Tufts University School of Medicine

          Doctor of Medicine 1997

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

          Master's of Public Health 2006

American Institute of Health Care Professionals

          Certified Grief Counselor 2023

Parent Coaching Institute

          Certified Parent Coach 2024