Pediatric Psychopharmacology
Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/pediatricpsych/home.html
Summary of Research
Dr. Dina Hirshfeld-Becker is Director of High Risk Studies and Anxiety Research in the Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is an adult and child psychologist, who completed her undergraduate work at Harvard, a doctorate in psychology at Boston University, and post-doctoral fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hirshfeld-Becker conducts research on risk factors for psychiatric disorders in young children and on preventive interventions. She is co-investigator on a 12-year NIMH-funded longitudinal study of offspring at risk for anxiety and principal investigator on a 5-year NIMH-funded longitudinal study of children at risk for ADHD and depression, both of which examine risk factors including behavioral inhibition and disinhibition, family-genetic factors, and family environment factors. Behavioral inhibition has been shown to be a specific risk factor for social phobia, whereas behavioral disinhibition appears linked to risk for comorbid disruptive behavior and mood disorders, and possibly bipolar disorder. Offshoots of these studies are exploring the genetic and neuroanatomic underpinnings of these constructs. Dr. Hirshfeld-Becker has also developed and tested a manualized cognitive-behavioral intervention protocol for anxiety in 4- to 7-year-old children. (See also http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/pediatricpsych/staff/hirshfeldbecker.htm)
Contact Information
Phone: 617-503-1408
Fax: 617-503-1060
Clinical trials/subject recruitment: dhirshfeld@partners.org
