With a $550 million endowment—one of the largest investments in pediatric mental health by a healthcare system in U.S. history—and an electronic health record data architecture established for one of the nation’s first learning health systems in child mental health, Children’s aims to make Georgia a national leader in behavioral and mental health care. Established in 2019, this initiative is focused on expansive, integrated clinical and research programs in the care of more than 8,000 new patients annually through the Children’s Zalik Behavioral and Mental Health Center.

The Zalik Center is dedicated to efforts to confront the increasing number of behavioral and mental health issues affecting children and adolescents using evidence-based interventions to help stem a serious youth mental health crisis. The program has already seen a nearly 40% decrease in visits to our Emergency Departments for recurrent behavioral crises among children and adolescents receiving comprehensive mental health care in the outpatient program, including those recovering from a suicidal crisis. It is heavily based in research with collaborations at Emory University, Georgia Tech and other institutions.

As part of the program’s research collaboration with Georgia Tech, John N. Costantino, MD, Chief, Behavioral and Mental Health and Liz and Frank Blake Chair for Children's Behavioral and Mental Health, is co-lead of Patient-Centered Care and Delivery for the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center at Georgia Tech (PTC) alongside Munmun De Choudhury, PhD, Associate Professor at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. The PTC brings clinical specialists together with Georgia Tech scientists and engineers to develop technological solutions to problems in the health and care of children. The center provides extraordinary opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in pediatrics, creating breakthrough discoveries that often can only be found at the intersection of multiple disciplines.

For those interested in training in behavioral and mental health at Children’s and Emory, read about our Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology.

Discovery efforts surround our focus on the delivery and improvement of preventive intervention and treatment services to diverse populations of children and teens at risk for enduring mental health conditions. The research team is comprised of scientists representing the disciplines of pediatrics, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, public health, epidemiology, genetics and implementation science, including faculty within the academic Division of Behavioral and Mental Health and the larger scientific community of Emory University. Our team also includes collaborators outside of Children’s who are national leaders in innovations for higher-impact intervention in child mental health. We work closely with informaticists at Children’s to rigorously monitor the impact of clinical transformation efforts undertaken by our system in response to the youth mental health crisis in Georgia and throughout the U.S.

Leadership

• John Constantino, MD, Chief, Behavioral and Mental Health

Team

• Daria Beinenson, MS, Behavioral and Mental Health Outreach Coordinator
• Nikolay Braykov, MS, Advanced Analytics and Outcomes Manager | PubMed Publications
• William (Bill) H. Copeland, PhD, Professor, University of Vermont | PubMed Publications
• Janet Cummings, PhD, Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile | PubMed Publications
• Katie Daniel, DNP, Advance Practice Provider Educator – Psychiatric Mental Health
• Munmun De Choudhury, PhD, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology | Georgia Tech Profile | PubMed Publications
• Laura Dilly, PhD, Psychologist and Assistant Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile | PubMed Publications
• Hillary Henderson, Behavioral and Mental Health Analytics Program Manager
• Jim Hudziak, MD, Emeritus Professor, University of Vermont | PubMed Publications
• Jackie Joyce, Research Assistant | PubMed Publications
• Belise Livingston-Burns, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Hughes Spalding Primary Care Clinic, and Assistant Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile
• Alison LoPilato, PhD, Assistant Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile | PubMed Publications
• Kayla Mays, DNP, Advanced Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Manager
• Phoebe McCutchan, PhD, MPH | PubMed Publications
• Laura Jane Miller, MD, Psychiatrist, Emory University | PubMed Publications
• Gargi Mukherjee, MD, Hospitalist and Assistant Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile | PubMed Publications
• Bonney Reed, PhD, Psychologist and Associate Professor, Emory University | Emory Profile | PubMed Publications
• Lisa Schneider, MS, Director, Behavioral and Mental Health Hospital Operations | PubMed Publications