Background
I am a Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Pediatrics, and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. I am also Director of the Special Services Unit at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, a program devoted to the development and dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices for children or adolescents served in diverse community settings or systems including juvenile justice, child welfare, pediatric primary care, and mental health. Additionally, I serve as Adjunct Staff in the Section of Behavioral Health at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Finally, I am the co-developer of Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), an intervention for family conflict and coercion (anger, aggression, and physical abuse). In that role, I am involved in the dissemination, evaluation, and refinement of AF-CBT across the U.S., and internationally.
Clinical Research Interests
My treatment research interests include the study and treatment of child abuse/family conflict, child behavior disorders, firesetting, and adolescent sexual offending, and the integration of behavioral health services, including collaborative care models, in pediatric primary care and family health centers. Several clinical trials have evaluated interventions developed for these problems with support from the National Institute of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and National Center of Child Abuse & Neglect.
Much of our current treatment research work is devoted to dissemination and implementation efforts designed to adapt and then transport effective interventions for these clinical problems to various community settings or systems serving children, youth, and families, including pediatric primary care, juvenile justice, child welfare, public health/safety, and mental health.
I routinely conduct professional seminars and trainings on a national and international basis to teach evidence-based treatments to practitioners working with the above-mentioned populations. This training includes workshops on Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), a treatment approach that we have developed for families involved in conflict, coercion, the use of physical discipline, and child physical abuse. AF-CBT has been adapted for use and evaluated with early-onset disruptive behavior disorders.
Selected Accomplishments
Professional Status, Honors, and Awards
- Licensed Psychologist, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1986
- Board Certification, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), 2009
- Board of Directors and Research Committee Co-chair, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 1996-2002
- Research Career Achievement Award for 2001, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children
- Fellow, Divisions 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) and 37 (Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice), American Psychological Association, 2008-2009
- William Friedrich Memorial Award, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 2014
- FellowSociety of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53, American Psychological Association, 2005-present
- Fellow, Society for Child and Family Policy/Practice, Division 37, American Psychological Association, 2009
- Fellow, Trauma Psychology, Division 56, American Psychological Association, 2014
- Mentor Award, Oliver Lindhiem, Ph.D., Recipient, Fellowship Award, Access to Care, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, New York, NY, 2015
- Invited Lectureship, Dorothy M Bernstein Visiting Professorship and Lecture in Child Psychiatry, Integrated Pediatric Health Care: Practices and Possibilities Children’s Hospital Colorado, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, and University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, 2017
- Endowed Lectureship, The 5th Annual Michael S. Jellinek, MD Endowed Grant Rounds lecture. Integrated Pediatric Primary Health Care: Outcomes and Opportunities. The Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, 2018
- Award for the Best Research Paper of 2018, voted by the Editorial Board, Child Maltreatment (Safe Publications). 26th APSAC Annual Colloquium, Salt Lake City, UT, 2019
- Visiting Professorship, The 43rd Annual Arthur B. Richter Professorship in Child Psychiatry, Dept. of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 2020
- Mentoring Merit Award, Longitudinal Research Project, Medical Student Research, Scholarly Research Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, 2020
Professional/Academic Activities
- Core Faculty Member, Psychology Internship Committee and Psychology Discipline Committee, WPIC, 1983
- Editorial Board, Child Maltreatment, 1996-present
- Core Faculty Member, Research Training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, (PI: David Brent, MD), 1997-present
- Founder/Director, Special Services Unit, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, 1997-present
- Consulting Psychologist, Family Intervention, Center, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Dept. of Pediatrics. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1999-2005
- Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2001-present
- Member, Initial Review Group, Services Research in Non-Specialty Settings, National Institute of Mental Health, 2009-2013
- Member, Mental Health Services in Non-Specialty Settings (SRNS). Initial Review Group (Doug Zatzick, Chair), National Institute of Mental Health, Washington, DC, 2009-2013
- Professor of Clinical and Translational Science, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2012-present
- Editorial Board, Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 2013-present
- Member, Improving Healthcare Systems Review Panel, Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute, Washington, DC, 2014-present
- Peer Reviewer, Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Broad Agency, Extramural Medical Research, Military Operational Medicine, Frederick, MD, 2015
- Member, Review Committee, Loan Repayment Program (LRP), National Institutes of Health, Washington, DC, 2016
- Invited Presenter, Integration of child abuse practices in primary care for children. Workshop on training the future child healthcare workforce to improve behavioral health outcomes for children, youth, and families. Forum on Promoting Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health, National Academy of Science. Washington, DC, 2016
- Member, National EBT Implementation Subcommittee, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, UCLA/Duke Collaborative Partnership, Los Angeles, CA and Durham, NC, 2017
- Member, Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-ERB-K (04), Grant Review Committee, Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Research Centers (P50), National Institute of Mental Health, Washington, DC, 2017
- Invited Lecture, Integrated Pediatric Health Care: Options and Opportunities, Post-doctoral training (T-32) in implementation science (P-50). David Mandel and Rinad Beidas (Co-PIs). University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 2018
- Early Career Professional Training Series, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and NY Foundling. Child physical abuse: Understanding and Addressing Vulnerabilities, 2018
- Member, Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-ERB-K (01), Grant Review Committee, Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Research Centers (P50), National Institute of Mental Health, Washington, DC, 2018
- Mentor, Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Medicine, Clinical and Translational Science (areas: e-health services primary care, and maltreatment; TL1: Fellowship in Innovation), 2018-2022
- Member, Coalition for the Common Health: Transforming Health and Human Services for Pennsylvanians. Harrisburg, PA, 2018-present
- Invited Speaker, Mental Health Considerations in Addressing Child Physical Abuse: Webinar Series. Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT). National Children’s Alliance. Washington, DC, 2019
- Invited Webinar, Preventing and Responding to Family Violence during COVID-19. Monitoring and Managing Risk for Family Conflict and Coercion. Co-led with Angela Fiore, LCSW. Mental Health Training and Technical Support Center, SAMSHA, Rockville, MD (series video archived on SAMHSA website), 2020
- Reviewer and Back-up Chairperson, Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (DIRH) Review Committee – Overflow (ZRG1 DIRH-N 09 F). Heather Brandt (Chair), National Institutes of Health, 2020
- Ombudsman, Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, 2021