Foundation names two new members of leadership team

SARASOTA — All Star Children’s Foundation has named Kristin Hoffman its chief program officer and Sharon Ghazarian its chief research officer.

Hoffman's experience includes working with children and families with child welfare involvement. She most recently served as director of trauma psychology at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

During her tenure at Johns Hopkins, Hoffman collaborated with All Star to implement innovative approaches to foster parent training, biological family engagement, clinical services and trauma-informed care. In her new role, Hoffman will be responsible for program development and project oversight for All Star’s portfolio of innovative, trauma-informed programs, according to a statement. 

Ghazarian has extensive background as a methodology consultant for federally funded research grant. She was the former senior director for health informatics at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, the release states. 

Ghazarian has contributed to the field of parenting behaviors, parent-child relationships and family dynamics by applying techniques to examine mechanisms by which parenting and family interactions affect child and adolescent outcomes. Her resulting expertise encompasses behavioral health, public health, social sciences and hospital medicine.

The new positions at the nonprofit have been funded by the Louis and Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust and an anonymous donor, the release states. 

“Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Ghazarian bring a wealth of combined expertise, education and vision to All Star that will take the organization to new levels,” says All Star CEO Dennis McGillicuddy in the statement. “They will partner on a number of key endeavors to ensure sustainable and efficient longitudinal follow-up for the children and families that All Star serves — all with the ultimate goal of decreasing deleterious outcomes for foster families and their children while simultaneously increasing the potential for positive outcomes across social, emotional, physical and psychological domains.”

All Star has completed its Campus of Hope and Healing on 17th Street in Sarasota, which include a clinical treatment center, six family foster homes, a playground, gardens and a clubhouse. The approach will be researched and evaluated to develop models for foster care systems around the state and country. The project has been partially funded under an agreement with the Florida Department of Children and Families. Since beginning trauma-informed outpatient clinical services on April 1, 2019, All Star has treated more than 110 children and families in the foster care system.