NYU Langone’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry conducts translational research in collaboration with the Perinatal and Early Childhood Mental Health Service, bringing together basic science and clinical expertise on the prenatal period, infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool and early elementary years.

Our researchers study fetal brain development and child brain and behavior outcomes, the developmental epidemiology of preschool mental health, maternal and early childhood trauma, and the assessment and diagnosis of mental health disorders in young children.

Using tools developed by our department, including the When to Wonder: Picky Eating app, we gather, analyze, and interpret information about young children’s behaviors, emotions, and development. We then translate their findings into evidence-based guidance to help parents and clinicians assess children in different settings.

Other areas of research interest include domestic violence and its impact on parents and young children, and early childhood mental health in immigrant and native Chinese populations.

Our work includes integrating early childhood mental healthcare into primary care settings, and consulting with preschools and daycare centers. We aim to create an integrated system of mental healthcare across NYU Langone and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue that serves as a model for other healthcare systems.