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Community Based Children and Family Mental Health Services Research Program

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Community Based Children and Family Mental Health Services Research Program
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Lab Directory

Marc S. Atkins PhD

  • Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Dr. Atkins is a licensed clinical psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and past Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He developed and led the internship in clinical psychology for the Department of Psychiatry for two decades and has mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows on career development awards and postdoctoral fellowships. He currently directs the Community Engagement and Collaboration core for UIC’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science. He is the recipient of numerous grants from the NIMH and private foundations examining new models for mental health practice in urban communities to address long-standing disparities in mental health care for children and families living in high poverty urban communities. He currently is Co-PI with Dr. Tara Mehta on a grant from the NIMH studying community health worker navigation into mental health services for urban children and families. He is active in public policy, including as a consultant to the Chicago Public Schools, the Illinois Division of Mental Health, and the Illinois State Board of Education on guidelines for school and community based mental health programs and practices, and to Chief Judge Timothy Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court on behavioral health programming for Restorative Justice Courts.

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Marc S. Atkins

Erika Luz Gustafson PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
  • Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR)
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Dr. Erika Luz Gustafson is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR). Broadly, her research focuses on community-based interventions to support the mental health of families in marginalized communities impacted by disinvestment and structural inequities. She is particularly interested in how we can partner with paraprofessional workforces (i.e., community health workers (CHWs), lay providers, near peers) to expand access to contextually and culturally relevant mental health supports for communities that are underserved in standard models of mental healthcare.

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Erika L. Gustafson

Tara G. Mehta PhD

  • Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
  • Director of Psychology Training
Dr. Mehta is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Psychology Training in the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois Chicago.  The central theme of Dr. Mehta’s work is to reduce the persistent disparities in access to mental health services for ethnic minority children and families. Dr. Mehta's work is based in an ecological public health model and she conducts community-based collaborative research focused on (1) developing culturally responsive, alternative models of mental health services for children and youth and (2) workforce development to enhance the capacity of community organizations to sustain accessible, effective services that enhance children’s and youth's well-being and promote mental health. Dr. Mehta is part of a team that has developed new mental health service models that promote children’s mental health and increase the accessibility, effectiveness, and sustainability of children’s mental health services.  Her specific interests include leveraging natural resources (teachers, staff) in settings critical to children’s development and mental health (school, after-school), activating paraprofessionals to promote and enhance services, and enhancing organizational factors that are crucial to maintain and sustain effective practices. Dr. Mehta has collaborated with multiple partners in Chicago, including the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Park District, community mental health centers, and non-profit organizations.

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Tara Mehta

Dana Rusch PhD

  • Associate Professor in Clinical Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois Chicago
  • Institute for Juvenile Research, Department of Psychiatry
  • Director, Immigrant Family Mental Health Advocacy Program
Dr. Rusch is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Immigrant Family Mental Health Advocacy Program at the Institute for Juvenile Research. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago and completed her pre-doctoral clinical training at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago and post-doctoral training at the Institute for Juvenile Research at UIC. She founded the Immigrant Family Mental Health Advocacy Program to focus on research-practice-policy partnerships that address the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee children and families through: (a) direct clinical services for immigrant children and families, UIC students coping with immigration-related stressors, and unaccompanied youth and asylum seekers; (b) undergraduate teaching and clinical education for trainees in child psychology, psychiatry, and social work; (c) community-engaged research that supports the work and mission of community-based organizations, and (d) active involvement in local and national advocacy and policy work. Her work is guided by an ecological public health framework to develop models of mental health promotion that elevate the unique contributions of non-specialty service settings and the critical role of non-traditional providers. Dr. Rusch actively participates in local advocacy efforts via several committee appointments and collaborative coalition work in support of immigrant communities. She is also a member of the Community Engagement and Collaboration Core for UIC’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

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Rusch Dana

Reshma Shah MD

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UIC
Dr. Shah is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UIC. She received her M.D. at Wayne State University School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at University of Chicago and pediatric residency at Lurie Children's Hospital. She is currently the Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at University of Illinois Chicago where she conducts diagnostic evaluations and provides medical treatment for children with developmental, behavioral, and learning challenges including children with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, and learning disorders. Her research aims to reduce poverty-related developmental and educational disparities by developing, testing and disseminating primary care-based strategies that improve early child development. She is the principal investigator of a career development award from the National Institutes of Health and has also received funding from Maternal Child Health Bureau, The Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science to support her work.

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Reshma Shah

Roberto Bustos MD

  • Bariatric Surgery Research Fellow, Department of Surgery

Roberto Bustos is a research fellow in the Department of Surgery, Division of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery. He received his medical degree from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Argentina and is currently in his third year in a General Surgery Residency program in Clinica Francesa, which is a clinic located in Mendoza, Argentina.

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Grace Cua MSW

  • Senior Research Specialist
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC
Grace Cua is a Senior Research Specialist in the Department of Psychiatry and Graduate Student in the Educational Psychology program at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on service use, sustainability, and cost effectiveness of alternative models for mental health services, specifically for undeserved children and families. She also is an Adjunct Lecturer at Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC.

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Grace Cua

Melanie Tran MA

  • PhD Student, Clinical Psychology Program at UIC
  • Graduate Student Affiliate, ACCESS for Mental Health Lab
Melanie Tran is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago. Broadly, her research aims to reduce disparities in access to mental health services for marginalized communities and to utilize a community-based, public health approach to promote youth mental health. Her specific research interests include enhancing positive youth development and mental health in settings natural and accessible to children and families, such as schools, recreational programs, and community organizations. In addition, she is interested in how research can be leveraged to inform policy and systems change.

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Melanie Tran

Vania Atilano

  • Psychiatry Volunteer, Immigrant Family Mental Health Advocacy Program
Vania Atilano is currently a senior at the University of Illinois Chicago pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology expected to graduate in May 2020.

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Vania Atilano