Laurie Miller Brotman, Ph.D., is an Endowed Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, professor of Psychiatry, director of the Institute for Prevention Science, and director of the Harris Obesity Prevention Effort (HOPE) at the NYU Child Study Center. Dr. Brotman is a clinical developmental psychologist and prevention scientist whose research focuses on the prevention of negative outcomes in high-risk pediatric populations. She has dedicated her career to the development and study of programs aimed at promoting mental health, physical health, and academic success for children from underserved communities.
Dr. Brotman and her colleagues developed ParentCorps, a culturally-informed and effective school and family intervention for young children. In multiple studies, ParentCorps has been shown to promote effective parent practices, child social and emotional competencies, and academic achievement. Importantly, ParentCorps prevents child behavior problems in the classroom, especially among children at highest risk for mental health and school problems. Current efforts include the broad dissemination of ParentCorps, program enhancements for obesity prevention, and adaptations for non-English speaking and immigrant populations.
Dr. Brotman earned her Ph.D. in clinical developmental psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed a National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) post-doctoral research fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University. She joined the NYU faculty in 1998 and founded the Institute for Prevention Science at the NYU Child Study Center. Within the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Brotman is a member of the Director's Research Cabinet and is the Director of the Clinical Innovations Core. She serves both as a member of the Department's Appointment and Promotions Committee and the NYU School of Medicine's Committee on Appointments and Promotions. At the NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Brotman is a member of the steering committee of the NYU Center of Excellence in Addiction and team leader for a translational research group on preventive interventions for obesity and conduct disorders in pediatric populations. She also serves on the Clinical and Translational Science's steering committee for Community Engagement and Population Health Research, as well as on their Clinical Research Advisory Board.
Dr. Brotman is the principal investigator on grants from NIMH, the Institute for Education Sciences of the Department of Education, and the Centers for Disease Control. She is on the editorial board of Prevention Science. Dr. Brotman's work has been published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Child Development, the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Early Education and Development, the Journal of Social Development, and the Journal of Family Psychology. She is serving her second term on the board of directors of the Society for Prevention Research and was awarded the Society's prestigious 2009 Community, Culture, and Prevention Science Award. Additionally, in 2009, Dr. Brotman was also selected by the NYU Langone Medical Center to be an honored member of the YWCA Academy of Women Leaders.
Finally, Dr. Brotman is also a contributor to the Huffington Post on parenting and child development and her posts can be found here.
In the News
Obesity Linked to Poor Mother-Toddler Bond
Dr. Brotman spoke to WebMD about a recently released study on obesity. The new findings, published in the January issue of Pediatrics, show that toddlers who have poor relationships with their mothers are twice as likely to be obese by the time they are teenagers. These results are in line with Dr. Brotman's research which has also suggested that parenting style and parent training can affect childhood obesity. Click here to read the WebMD piece. (December 26, 2011)
Parents: Could This Be the Secret to Helping Your Child Succeed?
Laurie Miller Brotman, Ph.D., profiled Mary, a 30-year-old single mother of three from Brooklyn and her four-year-old son, Jeremiah in a piece on the Huffington Post. ParentCorps serves parents and young children living in underserved, poor, urban communities. Click here to read Dr. Brotman's post. (December 18, 2010)
