Karyn Purvis

Dr. Purvis is the director of the TCU Institute of Child Development. She has devoted the past decade to developing research-based interventions for at-risk children. She and her colleague Dr. David Cross were awarded the Heroes in Healthcare Award in 2006 by the Dallas Business Journal, and they have co-authored the best-selling adoption book, The Connected Child (2007).

Dr. Purvis has received numerous awards and honors, including the T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award, the title of Distinguished Fellow in Adoption and Child Development bestowed by The National Council for Adoption, and the James Hammerstein Award, given annually to honor someone who has displayed outstanding dedication to children in need. Karyn is a former foster parent, a mother of three boys and a grandmother of eight. Read more about her lifelong passion to serve children from hard places and how she has faithfully followed God’s calling in her life.

Dr. Purvis passed away in April of 2016.