Suskind-Liu, Dana L.

Dana L. Suskind (born April 7, 1968) is a Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UChicago Medicine); director of UChicago Medicine's Pediatric Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implant program; and founder and co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago. Suskind specializes in early childhood development, and has written several books for parents on that subject, including Thirty Million Words and Parent Nation. Her most recent book is Human Raised, published in 2026. Suskind has conducted research on parents and caregivers' capacities to drive foundational brain development for children from ages birth to three, particularly those born into poverty. She currently serves as a member of the advisory council for Too Small to Fail, as well as on the advisory board of Surviving Life After a Parent Dies (SLAP'D), a non-profit founded by her daughter, Genevieve, focused on providing support to adolescents with recently deceased parents.