ABSTRACT
Introduction Let us begin this chapter by introducing ourselves. Dara Blachman is currently employed at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the time of this writing, Blachman was a Society for Research in Child Development Executive Branch Fellow at the Office for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) in the Office of the Director at the National Institutes of Health for 2 years. During her time at OBSSR, she was involved in a range of crosscutting initiatives, including in the areas of dissemination and
implementation science, adherence, and health disparities. She also participated in the planning of the first Summer Institute on Applied Research in Child and Adolescent Development (which OBSSR cosponsored). Blachman’s research interests center on understanding the interactive role of peer, family, and community/cultural influences on children’s socio-emotional adjustment and mental health, with an emphasis on the promotion of healthy development among minority children living in poverty. Reflective of her desire to conduct research that attempts to bridge the gap between science, policy, and practice, Blachman has been involved in several community-based, collaborative efforts in the areas of school-based mental health services, family-based HIV prevention programs, and foster parent retention. Blachman received her PhD in clinical/community psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Family Institute and School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University.
