Jean-Marie Bruzzese, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is an applied developmental psychologist who has developed innovative school-based and family-focused interventions to improve the social and emotional functioning and the physical health of youth with chronic illnesses. Her studies focus primarily on low-income ethnic minority youth with asthma.
Dr. Bruzzese earned her B.S. in psychology Summa Cum Laude from Brooklyn College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Fordham University completing a sub-specialty in applied developmental psychology. She joined NYU School of Medicine in 2003. In 2008, Dr. Bruzzese received the Junior Scholar Award from the Behavioral Science Assembly of the American Thoracic Society, the leading international professional society dedicated to advancing the clinical and scientific understanding of pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders. Dr. Bruzzese is on the editorial board of Health Psychology and Applied Developmental Psychology.
Dr. Bruzzese is currently the Principal Investigator of two controlled trials funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of one is to improve asthma management and family functioning as a means of reducing asthma morbidity, including asthma-related anxiety in early adolescents with diagnosed asthma and their parents. The goal of the other is to help high school students who present with symptoms consistent with asthma but who are not yet diagnosed receive a clinical evaluation, diagnosis and treatment; she is also exploring how child and parent Anxiety, Depression and acculturation may impact intervention effects. Dr. Bruzzese is also the Co-Investigator of an NHLBI award testing the efficacy of intensive family therapy to assist adolescents with uncontrolled asthma, and serves as the Co-Investigator of a school-based obesity program for high school students. Because her work requires a multi-disciplinary perspective integrating skills and knowledge from biological, social and behavioral sciences, she collaborates with top pediatric pulmonologists and pediatricians.
In the News
School-based Program Helps Adolescents Cope With Asthma
Dr. Bruzzese spoke to Science Codex about her school-based intervention program designed for adolescents with asthma that significantly improves asthma management and quality of life for the students who participate, and reduces asthma morbidity. Click here to read the article. (December 8, 2010)
