Deborah Perry, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Director of Research, Center for Child and Human Development

• Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2001, Maternal and Child Health
• M.A., New School for Social Research, New York, NY, 1988, Psychology
• B.A., Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1985, Psychology

Contact Information:

Deborah Perry, Ph.D. serves as the Director of Research for the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. For the last fifteen years, Dr. Perry has focused her policy work on systems of care for young children and their families. In her research, Dr. Perry's primary area of expertise is maternal depression as a risk factor for young children's social-emotional development. She is the co-Principal Investigator of a research grant from the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau that is testing the efficacy of a preventive intervention delivered during pregnancy for Latina women at high risk for post-partum depression. She also serves as a lead researcher on an urban mental health project focused on maternal depression in low-income communities of color funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Dr. Perry serves as the principal investigator on a multi-site evaluation of early childhood mental health consultation models in Maryland and as the external evaluator for an Early Learning Opportunities grant funded in Queen Anne's County. She also has an adjunct appointment at Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches a graduate course in development and intervention in at-risk infants, toddlers and preschoolers at the Bloomberg School of Public Health where she got her PhD. She is the co-Editor (with Jane Knitzer and Roxane Kaufmann) of a book to be published this fall by Paul Brookes on early childhood mental health systems of care.

Representative Publications:

• Perry, D., Rosman, E. and Hepburn, K. Integrating mental health in pediatric settings for infants and toddlers and their families. (Submitted to the Journal of Behavioral Health Services Research, October 2005)
• Perry, D., Sherwood-Puzzello, C., Hadadian, A., and Wilkerson, S. (2002) Challenges in infant mental health: meeting the needs of parents and professionals in early intervention. International Journal of Special Education, 17: 52-58.
• Kaufmann, R. and Perry, D. (2002) Promoting the social-emotional development in young children: promising approaches at the national, state, and community levels. Kauffman Early Education Exchange, 1: 80-99.

More Publications at PubMed

Related Links:

• Center for Child and Human Development