Developmental Psychology Faculty

Faculty

Core Faculty

• Wendy Kliewer, Chair of Psychology Department
  Area of scholarship: Social development of school-age children; stress and coping by children and parents; health behaviors; effects of violence on children; coping with illness and community violence.
• Geri Lotze
  Areas of scholarship:  Impact of disabilities throughout the lifespan, including healthcare service provision for children, violence prevention in adolescence, and stress and coping during emerging adulthood; children impacted by maternal incarceration.
• Barbara Myers
  Area of scholarship: Children and families of incarcerated parents; parenting children with autism spectrum disorders, disabilities, or other risk conditions; early intervention for young children with disabilities.
• Aashir Nasim
  Area of scholarship: Social development of African American adolescents and emerging adults; sociocultural influences on health; risk, promotive, and protective processes for adolescent substance use behaviors.
• Terri Sullivan
  Area of scholarship: Impact of violent victimization, witnessed violence, and peer victimization on children’s psychosocial and emotional development; evaluation of school-based violence prevention programs during early adolescence; evaluation of primary prevention programs for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities.
• E. Ayn Welleford
  Area of scholarship: Successful aging, caregiver burden, coping with distress, adult mother-daughter relationships, and geriatric education.

Affiliate Faculty

• Faye Belgrave
  Primary affiliation: Social psychology
  Area of scholarship: Cultural approaches to enhancing well-being and preventing social problems among African-American youth, female adolescent gender issues, and psychosocial aspects of chronic illness and disabilities.
• Rosalie Corona
  Primary affiliation: Health psychology
  Area of scholarship: Emotional and behavioral adjustment of minority youth, particularly Latino youth including adolescent psychosocial adjustment, adolescent sexual health, and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Danielle Dick
  Primary affiliation: Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
  Area of scholarship: Genetic and environmental influences on the development of alcohol problems and related disorders
• Clarissa Holmes
  Primary affiliation: Child-clinical psychology
  Area of scholarship: Adaptation of children to abnormal conditions, particularly medical and traumatic conditions. Pediatric psychology, with a focus on endocrinology disorders, particularly insulin-dependent, type 1 diabetes. Neuropsychological, biopsychosocial and social class influences on health status, family interactions/ environment and behavioral outcomes.
• Bryce McLeod
  Primary affiliation: Child-clinical psychology
  Area of scholarship: Research designed to promote understanding of how psychotherapy reduces dysfunction and promotes mental health in youth. Current areas of focus include: (a) Identifying the effective and ineffective elements of non-manualized psychotherapy delivered in community based settings; (b) Understanding how the child- and parent-therapist alliance promotes positive youth outcomes in psychotherapy; (c) Understanding the barriers that impede child and parent engagement in psychotherapy; and (d) Understanding how treatment integrity influences child outcomes in clinical trials.
• Michael Southam-Gerow
  Primary affiliation: Child-clinical psychology
  Area of scholarship: Improving mental health services for families and children through research focused on: (a) integration of emotion theory and research into cognitive-behavioral theory and therapy and (b) testing the efficacy and effectiveness of child therapy for children’s mental health problems (e.g., anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, PTSD related to child abuse or neglect).