YCSC Connections
Featuring updates, news you can use, events, and more from the Yale Child Study Center.
Chair's Message
With the month of May comes a great deal of celebration – we recognize motherhood in a wide variety of capacities and roles, teacher appreciation week, women’s health month, mental health awareness month, and more – not to mention graduations, with the close of another academic year around the corner. It has also now been a full year since we marked a significant transition in our lives more broadly with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency at both the federal and state levels on May 11, 2023.
It has, once again, been a remarkable year that has truly flown by. Some of our many departmental happenings are outlined below as usual, along with several announcements and news items from within our community at the child study center. I do hope you are enjoying some time outside during this beautiful month, and I thank you for your continued interest in and support of the exceptional work underway in our department.
Linda Mayes, MD
Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology; Chair
Yale Child Study Center
Departmental News & Updates
Yale Departments of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Child Study Center Staff Spotlight May 2024
In the latest edition of a spotlight series launched in early 2023 to feature integrated business operations (IBO) and administration staff at the Department of Psychiatry and Yale Child Study Center, now also including the Department of Pediatrics, meet IBO Communications Officers Chris Gardner, Alexa Tomassi, and Crista Marchesseault.
13 May 2024Welcoming one of the newest YCSC community members: Meet Emily Cai
The Yale Child Study Center welcomes new community members on an on-going basis, and all new faculty, staff, and trainees are invited to share bios and photos upon joining the YCSC. This month, the department’s new student Communications Assistant responded to the call. Meet Yale rising senior Emily Cai.
13 May 2024Serving by welcoming all voices
In the latest Yale Child Study Center “On Leadership” blog post and newsletter column, Daryn David, PhD reflects on a recent YCSC Grand Rounds session she hosted with Nii Addy, PhD, who serves as the Albert E. Kent Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale.
13 Jun 2024Abdallah, Bhatt, Kietzman Honored with Department's Detre Awards
YCSC Clinical Fellow Sarah Abdallah and Psychiatry Residents Shivani Bhatt and Henry Kietzman have been named recipients of the 2024 Thomas P. Detre Fellowship Award in Translational Neuroscience Research in Psychiatry.
10 May 2024Autism conference at Yale highlights latest research & clinical advances
The fifth annual early autism conference at Yale took place on Thursday, April 18, 2024, with approximately 100 participants. The event was hosted by the Yale Child Study Center Social and Affective Neuroscience of Autism (SANA) Program, directed by Emily Fraser Beedy Professor Kasia Chawarska.
10 May 2024Pringle receives $1 million grant from Templeton Religion Trust for art, cognition, & creativity research
Center for Emotional Intelligence Senior Research Scientist Zorana Ivcevic Pringle was awarded a 3-year, $1 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust to advance Pringle’s research project, “Mirror to the World: The Power of Art to Build Understanding and Creativity," into its second phase of exploration into the power of art on human understanding, cognition, and creativity.
7 May 2024Cipriano’s Meta-Analysis Recognized as 2022-2023 Top Cited Paper in Child Development
YCSC Associate Professor Christina Cipriano's comprehensive meta-analysis, The State of Evidence for Social and Emotional Learning: A Contemporary Meta-Analysis of Universal School-Based SEL Interventions, was recently recognized as the Top Cited Article in 2022-2023 for Wiley’s Child Development.
24 Apr 2024Korean “Autism Orchestra” visits Yale Child Study Center for special performance
Approximately 60 Yale and New Haven community members gathered at the Yale Child Study Center on Friday, April 12, 2024, for a special mini concert performed by the Onnuri Sarang Chamber Orchestra, visiting from Korea.
23 Apr 2024Yale Child Study Center Job & Trainee Opportunities: May 2024
View the latest opportunities for talented individuals seeking to improve the lives of children and families through research, service, and training at the Yale Child Study Center.
13 May 2024
McPartland featured in YSM "For Humanity" video
Harris Professor James McPartland was featured in a recent video created in the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) Office of Communications and recognized for “best in digital storytelling” at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 11th Annual Institutional Advancement Film Festival in Boston on April 12. The video was produced by Communications Officer Julia Chianelli for YSM and the YSM Office of Development & Alumni Affairs, in collaboration with RDW Group and Accomplice.
Upcoming Special Events
Black Youth Mental Health Clinical Case Conference Series at Yale Child Study Center
Session 6 of 6
Speakers: Amanda Calhoun, MD/MPH, Monique Rainford, MD, FACOG, Danielle Hairston, MD, Kali Cyrus, MD, MPH, Char Coombs, MSN
Discussion Series for Parents of Neurodiverse Children
How to Structure Days at Home for Success (and FUN!)
Speaker: Marcia Questel
Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: Pathway to Educator Well-Being and Engagement
Speakers: Marc A. Brackett, Karen Niemi
News You Can Use
Breaking the Silence: Unleashing the Power of Emotions in the Fight Against Anti-Black Racism in Mental Health Services
In this Perspectives piece in Psychiatric Times, YCSC Clinical Fellow Onyi Okeke discusses a new Black Youth Mental Health Case Conference series along with the powerful presentation she presented with the series organizer, Amanda Calhoun.
Source: Psychiatric Times15 Apr 2024Perinatal Substance Use May Shape How Strongly Mothers Feel Toward Infants
Research found that mothers who used substances showed less brain activation in regions associated with affective empathy when exposed to images and sounds of happy and sad babies.
18 Apr 2024Mentorship and Science
The power of mentorship is clear when you first meet Sarah Yip, PhD, and Sarah Lichenstein, PhD, and hear how their complementary interests and collaborative work have grown and thrived.
22 Apr 2024Building Kinder Communities: Addressing Youth Mental Health with Born This Way Foundation
In the latest WebMD Health Discovered episode, YSCS Assistant Clinical Professor Claudia-Santi Fernandes and Rahul Rangan of Born This Way Foundation spoke with the podcast host, Neha P. about the vital mental health resources needed in schools, and the impact of Born This Way Foundation’s Be There Certificate and their Channel Kindness program on building a kinder and braver world.
Source: WebMD25 Apr 2024The Psychology of Music: Why is it a human universal?
YCSC Assistant Professor Adjunct Samuel Mehr was recently recognized for his work on the psychology of music by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, having won the 2023 Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist award. The award comes with a prize of $200,000, and Samuel says the prize money will allow him to expand the lab and bring on new talent to help with some of the more technical computational aspects of his research.
Source: Royal Society Te Apārangi1 May 2024
Upcoming Grand Rounds
YCSC Grand Rounds sessions are typically presented in person in the Cohen Auditorium at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, from September through June, with a live stream available via Zoom.
YCSC Grand Rounds: Equitable Access to a Quality Education to Improve Long-Term Outcomes
Yale Child Study Center
Speaker: Anna W. Goodearl, PhD
CancelledYCSC Grand Rounds: The Politicization of Prevention Science and Our Responsibility to Advance the Science of Learning and Development
Yale Child Study Center
Speaker: Christina Cipriano, PhD, MEd
YCSC Grand Rounds: Sleep Well, Bee Well – A Focus on Early Childhood Sleep to Promote Parent-Child Relationships and Reduce Health Disparities
Yale Child Study Center
Speaker: Monica Lynn-Roosa Ordway
YCSC Viola Bernard Lecture: LGBTQ-affirmative mental health care – From theory to trials to community implementation and global dissemination
Yale Child Study Center Grand Rounds
Speaker: John Pachankis, PhD
Honoring Juneteenth: YCSC Grand Rounds
Yale Child Study Center
Speakers: Darin Latimore, MD, Kenneth Joseph, Delores Williams
In the Media
Research-based Treatment of Tics, OCD, and Depression
YCSC Associate Research Scientist Angeli Landeros was interviewed by Michael Leopold for his podcast, UpTic, discussing the current state of research and the latest breakthroughs in treating tics and co-occurring conditions such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and depression.
Source: The UpTic Podcast23 Apr 2024As more youth struggle with behavior, clinicians are partnering with lawyers to help
YCSC Associate Clinical Director Christy Mills and Attorney Kathryn Meyer were quoted in this article about about medical-legal partnerships produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Source: Chalkbeat30 Apr 2024Yale’s 15th Annual Brain Education Day: “I think I just found my career!”
YCSC BABL lab member and PhD student Kathy Ayala co-coordinated Yale's 15th Annual Brain Education Day in March, continuing the university's tradition of science outreach to the greater New Haven community.
24 Apr 2024The Reality of Teens and Weed
YCSC Professor Marc Potenza was quoted in this Psychology Today article on the risks and consequences of marijuana use for young adults.
Source: Psychology Today1 May 2024How Could Medical Racism Fuel Soaring Black Youth Suicide Rate?
YCSC Clinical Fellow Amanda Calhoun and her Black Youth Mental Health Clinical Case Conference series are featured in this Middletown Patch article and video segment addressing medical racism and Black youth suicide rates.
Source: Middletown Patch10 May 2024Online Gambling Trend Among Teens Causing Concern
Marc Potenza, MD, PhD, Steven M. Southwick Professor of Psychiatry and professor in the Child Study Center and of neuroscience, spoke to NBC News about the growing concern over online gambling among teenagers.
Source: NBC News13 May 2024