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That psychiatrist, who Cantor saw for many years, changed the trajectory of her life. He saw her value when she couldn’t. He became her role model, and she was moved to follow in his

footsteps. “In my 20s, I announced I was going to go to med school,” says Cantor, who up to then had avoided math and science classes at all costs. “A very long road began.” From that

moment, it would be 13 years before she saw her first patient. She took math and science GED classes at night while working at an art gallery during the day. Eventually she was accepted by

11 medical schools and attended Cornell, where she was one of only five women in her class. “The biggest thing I had was the full belief of this person in me,” says Cantor of her

psychiatrist. “He set the bar very high for me — for the kind of relationship I wanted to have with my patients.” For decades, Cantor specialized in child psychiatry with a focus on violence

and trauma, working in private practice and on the faculty of Cornell University Medical Center and the Yale Child Study Center. As she rose in prominence, she was appointed co-director of

the Eastern European Child Abuse and Child Mental Health Project, training mental health professionals from 12 nations. She also consulted to the Department of Justice under Deputy Attorney

General Eric Holder to help develop a strategy for the prevention of violence in U.S. schools and communities. “From my varied and sobering experiences helping children across the world, I

came to realize that the impact of stress on children’s development is profound, with enormous implications for learning and growth,” says Cantor. “In my private practice, I never changed a

child’s circumstances or what had happened to them. What I could change was the impact it had on their lives, how they coped and ultimately surmounted adversity.” Cantor’s current goal is to

show teachers how to reach children whose life experiences have given them little reason to trust adults. “These children don’t leave the circumstances of their upbringing at the

schoolhouse door. The trauma and stress come right into the classroom,” Cantor says. “When I saw children in my practice, I was never in over my head — I was trained for what I saw in my

office. This is not how many teachers feel, especially teachers working in high-poverty schools.” Vanessa Kirsch, founder and CEO at New Profit Inc., a Boston-based venture philanthropy

fund, evaluates 200 social entrepreneurs a year, many aiming to fix the education system. Yet Kirsch says she is amazed how few bring up the science of learning and its effect on brain

development in children. “A child who has experienced trauma often presents similarly to a child with learning disabilities,” she explains. “When we see organizations who address the whole

child and their brain development, we take note. Turnaround is one of those organizations.” Teachers at Turnaround schools learn to engage kids with cooperative learning structures that

encourage active participation by all. Because behavioral problems are common, teachers are taught to defuse children’s intense emotional states by speaking softly, avoiding yelling and

praising children who are on task rather than those seeking attention through disruption. “What these teachers are able to do — if they are taught the skills — is to develop trust,” says

Cantor. In fact, all adults in partner schools — including administrators and social workers — are supported by a Turnaround team, composed of a social work consultant, instructional coach

and program director. Together they work intensively with schools for several years to reset the culture and transform the school environment.