Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a multi-disciplinary group of clinicians, researchers, educators and staff dedicated to providing excellent, accessible mental health care. We address this goal with a strong social justice and equity lens, and seek to be known as a stimulating, innovative, open, and supportive community. The Division offers strong clinical, training, and research programs ranging from population-based prevention and early intervention to highly specialized treatment focusing on the needs of youth with significant chronic mental health and developmental challenges.

Leadership:

Ray Hsiao, MD

Main Challenge

We live during a time of unprecedented domestic and international challenges to child and family well-being. The impact of economic downturns, armed conflict, growing income inequality, and the persistence of racial and ethnic discrimination have been associated with rising rates of self-injury among youth and rising demand for mental health services. Simultaneously, we’ve encountered limits to the effectiveness of even our most well-supported psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic treatments, and a mental health workforce far too small to meet population needs.

Our Approach

Above all, our approach is founded in respectful teamwork – both within our Division and with community agencies and providers — prioritizing strong relationships with patients and their families.

We provide a continuum of care across a large geographic area using a combination of our services, partnerships and technologies to expand our reach.
We infuse research and scholarship in all that we do. By continually examining our care to make it increasingly effective, efficient, and accessible, and by leveraging basic science, clinical, and policy research, we are developing new and more effective ways to prevent and treat mental health problems.
We believe “child” mental health should be multi-generational, integrated with interventions addressing the social determinants of well-being, involving transdiagnostic treatments, and delivered by a more diverse workforce in a wider variety of settings.

Sample Projects

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of Arbaclofen in subjects with 16p11.2 deletion (16p del)

Main Challenge

Our Approach

Department Faculty

Molly Adrian, PhD

Karen Bearss, PhD

Jen Beighley, PhD

Robin Berger, MD, MRCPsych

Laura Black, MD

Eric Boelter, PhD, BCBA-D

Lauren Boydston, MD

David Breiger, PhD

Zoran Brkanac, MD

Eric J. Bruns, PhD

Lynda Lee Carlisle, MD

Heather Carmichael Olson, PhD

Karís Casagrande, PhD

Sherilynn Chan, PhD

Brent Collett, PhD

Dan Crawford, MD

Kathryn Cunningham, PsyD

Amy Curtis, MD

Sarah Danzo, PhD

Michelle H. Dick, MD

Erin Dillon-Naftolin, MD

Cynthia Flynn, PhD

William French, MD

Sheena Friesen, PhD

Connor Gallik, PhD

Jennifer Gerdts, PhD

Megan Goldenshteyn, PhD

Erin Schoenfelder Gonzalez, PhD

Kyrill Gurtovenko, PhD

Alissa Hemke, MD

Robert Hilt, MD

Rebecca Hopkinson, MD

Ray Hsiao, MD

Jessica Jenness, PhD

Soo-Jeong Kim, MD

Ian Kodish, MD, PhD

Michelle Kuhn, PhD

Jon Kuniyoshi, MD

Hower Kwon, MD

Nancy Lau, PhD

Kathleen Lehman, PhD

Freda Liu, PhD

Aaron Lyon, PhD

Elizabeth McCauley, PhD

Jack McClellan, MD

Kristine McKenna, PhD

Nicholas Meinhardt, MD

Mendy Minjarez, PhD

Ashley Moss, PhD

Jeff Munson, PhD

Emily Neuhaus, PhD

Cindy Ola Trevino, PhD

Felice Orlich, PhD

Ravi Ramasamy, MD

Carol Rockhill, MD, PhD, MPH

Brooke Rosen, MD

Miriam Rubenson, PhD

Douglas Russell, MD

Tyler Sasser, PhD

Sina Shah-Hosseini, MD

Margaret Sibley, PhD

Shannon Simmons, MD, MPH

Mark Stein, PhD, ABPP

Gary Stobbe, MD

Michael Storck, MD

Stephen Sulzbacher, PhD

Daina Tagavi, PhD

Evan Taniguchi, MD

Alysha Thompson, PhD

Eileen Twohy, PhD

Ann Vander Stoep, PhD

Christopher Varley, MD

Sarah Cusworth Walker, PhD, MS

Christina Warner, MD

Sara Jane Webb, PhD

Larry Wissow, MD, MPH

Sample Projects