Developing and Implementing Tools for Identifying Mental Health Risk in Young Children

Dr. Leigha MacNeill is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science at Purdue University. She is an expert in self-regulatory and family-level mechanisms that support mental health trajectories across early childhood. Dr. MacNeill’s research is rooted in a translational approach to generate tools that advance early identification of mental health problems and protective pathways toward healthy functioning for young children. Her multi-method research program includes: 1) predictive methods for identifying and preventing mental health risk across public health settings (e.g., pediatric primary care, schools); 2) understanding family processes that predict child self-regulation; and 3) real-world tools that enhance measurement of developmental phenomena. At Purdue, she directs the Social-emotional Health In Nurturing Environments (SHINE) Lab. She is an Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) K12 scholar, and her work has been supported by NIMH and NICHD. She is Scientific Advisor on Early Childhood Mental Health for the Network of Extension’s Just in Time Parenting program. FOLLOW InCHIP on social media! BlueSky → https://bsky.app/profile/uconninchip.... LinkedIn →   / uconn-s-institute-for-collaboration-on-hea...   Instagram →   / uconninchip   LEARN more about InCHIP at https://chip.uconn.edu/