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Julie Wargo Aikins, Ph.D.

The role of parents in shaping children's social and emotional lives begins in infancy and continues to influence how individuals view their world throughout the life course. Dr. Wargo Aikins has spent much of her career focused on parent-child attachment, trauma, and the clinical application of attachment theory and measurement. She recently edited a book for clinicians and students, Working with Attachment Trauma, that explores the value of understanding these relationships through the use of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System across many different populations of adolescents, adults, and mental health difficulties.  

Dr. Wargo Aikins also directs the MPSI graduate training program. Graduate students from across the university with interests in child and family research are selected to participate in the program to augment their work within their home departments. Consistent with MPSI's educational goals, students receive additional training in research and community engagement participating in colloquia, meet with a diversity of scholars in the field, and receive professional development, writing help, and faculty support in developing and meeting their individual development plans. These activities culminate in the Spring with a celebration of students' research at the Lifespan Alliance Research Day competition, where students present their work in poster and paper presentations.  

Carla Barron, Ph.D.

Dr. Barron is the clinical coordinator of MPSI's Infant Mental Health Training Program, working closely with graduate students enrolled in its Dual-Title Degree program. She collaborates with IMH faculty, professionals, and programs to ensure strong classroom and community learning experiences that promote and honor diversity of identity, knowledge, and experience. She presents locally and nationally on topics such as the psychology of early parenting, reflective supervision/consultation, and home visiting; and assists with the planning of the annual Explorations in Development CE conference. In 2022, Dr. Barron's dissertation research was published in the Infant Mental Health Journal as part of a special section focused on research exploring the experiences of supervisees within reflective supervision/consultation.

Carolyn Dayton, Ph.D.

When fathers are involved in the lives of their children, children thrive. In addition to being the associate director of MPSI's Infant Mental Health program, Dr. Dayton has dedicated much of her work to increasing the participation of fathers in their children's lives and identifying barriers to their involvement. She organized a Fatherhood Policy Forum with U-M colleagues and serves on the Michigan Action Plan for Father Involvement, a state policy group that advocates for father-friendly Michigan laws and policies. Dr. Dayton also created Parenting Tips for Dads during the COVID-19 Crisis full of easy-to-implement ideas to keep the bond between father and child strong.

She also works closely with a number of community organizations serving fathers and families, including the Family Assistance for Renaissance Men program in Detroit and she recently received the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network's Fatherhood Advocate Award. In addition, Dr. Dayton is principal investigator on a project that is implementing a co-located Infant Mental Health and Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder (PMAD) clinic at Wayne Pediatrics in Detroit. The Social Work Family Clinic will serve young children and their parents who are struggling with mental health issues. Finally, Dr. Dayton was a chapter lead for the Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.

Lucy McGoron, Ph.D.

Dr. McGoron received a competitive supplement for her K01 award from the National Institute of Mental Health to development and evaluate an internet and texting-based program for parents of young children with challenging behavior called the Parenting Young Children Check-up. Along with MPSI colleagues, Dr. McGoron published results of a survey done at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic focused on parents' mental health in the journal School Psychology. She also received a grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to further implement and evaluate the Parenting Young Children Check-up with Detroit community partners. Finally, Dr. McGoron received grant funding from the state of Michigan, through SAMHSA, to improve substance use screening and services for pregnant and postpartum women in Michigan.  Dr. McGoron also published a piece on the effects on children of anxiety and depression in parents, in the Conversation, January 2023.

Anna Miller, M.Ed.

Noa Ofen, Ph.D.

Dr. Ofen directs the Ofen Lab for Cognitive and Brain Development lab and co-directs the Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience Program of the Lifespan Alliance between MPSI and the Institute of Gerontology. She uses a range of cognitive neuroscience methods including structural and functional MRI to investigate how brain development supports developmental gains in cognitive functioning, particularly in memory. She also uses intracranial EEG recordings, a cutting-edge methodology, to assess neuronal communication mechanisms that support memory in the developing brain. Her lab focuses on investigating typical and atypical development (including pediatric epilepsy) and both environmental and biological factors that shape life-long developmental trajectories. Dr. Ofen's research uncovers rare insights into how memory develops in children and adolescents.

Her nearly $2M, 2016 grant "Development of memory networks in children" was renewed from the National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Mental Health for $3.4M for an additional five years. Dr. Ofen was a key presenter last year at a major NIH workshop and is a keynote speaker at the Dallas Aging and Cognition Conference in February 2023.

Sarah Raz, Ph.D.

Dr. Raz' research has been focused on the effects of adverse events occurring during pregnancy and delivery (including pre-term delivery) on the cognitive, behavioral, and neuropsychological outcomes of the newborn. She received funding from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to study how pre- and post-natal growth relates to executive function and language development in preschoolers born pre-term.

Stella Resko, Ph.D.

Dr. Resko was recognized for her contributions and commitment to social work research, teaching, and service and was promoted to Full Professor. This is the highest rank of professor attainable. In the Fall, she became the Doctoral Program Director at the School of Social Work. This year, Dr. Resko was the co-principal investigator on over $1.2 million in research and evaluation grants. These grants included SAMHSA funds provided to the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services and are focused on drug overdose prevention, helping families affected by substance misuse, and providing technical assistance to Michigan communities receiving Opioid Settlement funds. In addition, her recent publications have examined various issues related to substance use, including driving after cannabis use among young adults, stigma and communication within families affected by a loved one's substance use, and burnout among substance use treatment providers. 

Valerie Simon, Ph.D.

Dr. Simon was promoted to Full Professor at Wayne State University, the highest rank of professor attainable. This promotion is a testament to her exceptional standing in the field adolescent psychology and her contributions in research, teaching, training and service. Her research investigates the implications of inter-parental conflict and childhood sexual abuse on adolescents' romantic development.

Olivenne Skinner

Dr. Skinner studies academic achievement and gender development in black youth, including impacts of race and gender on school motivation and family relationships. Her recent papers examine the associations between parental relationship dynamics and child outcomes, including sibling and parent-child relationships in African American families. Most recently, Dr. Skinner and her colleague Dr. Vanessa Volpe won the Emotional Well-being and Health Data Analysis Award funded by the NIH Emotional Well-being and Stress Measurement Network. Their research will examine associations between state-level racial inequities and Black adolescent's obesity risk. 

Ann Stacks, Ph.D.

Dr. Stacks directs MPSI's Infant Mental Health Program. She has been the University Partner for Baby Court since 2009. Most recently, she and colleagues from MPSI the Baby Court Community Advisory Team, and InGlobal Learning, launched two online trainings that were developed with the support of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.  She also worked with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to secure $3.1 million from the Health Services Resources Administration to expand Baby Court to other counties and develop additional infrastructure for sustainability. Stacks continues as a member of the Michigan Collaborative for Infant Mental Health Research, which evaluates the effectiveness of Michigan's Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting Model (IMH-HV).  She was an author on three published papers showing IMH-HV's impact on maternal mental health, reductions in child abuse potential, and parental understanding of children's emotional needs. The IMH-HV model is now considered evidence-based. Stacks also continues to work with the Parent-Teacher Intervention Consortium. Her work with the consortium, developing and evaluating Hearts and Minds on Babies (HMB) programming for EHS parents and teachers. Together with her colleagues, she published two papers describing stress and exhaustion among EHS teachers and the impact of the HMB program on teachers' mindfulness-based coping. In July she will present a master class on Baby Court at the World Association for Infant Mental Health and present as part of a double invited symposium on reflective functioning.

Beverly Weathington, L.M.S.W.

As coordinator of the Healthier Urban Families program, Bev has had a busy and challenging few years. She had to reimagine community engagement and shift program offerings to a virtual platform.  Through combined efforts with the Infant Mental Health Program, continuing education presentations have reached more than 6,000 professionals and trainings have been offered to more than 300 parents and caregivers. Bev also produces the Parenting Moments online monthly newsletter for families, educators and social service providers with a readership of about 350.

Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute Report 2021/2022
Editor : Cheryl Deep
Designer: Catherine Blasio