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Dr. Young has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for her research on Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), a group preventive intervention for adolescent depression which targets interpersonal vulnerabilities for depression. She has conducted three randomized controlled trials of IPT-AST delivered in schools and has examined the effects of this program on a variety of mental health, interpersonal and school-related outcomes. Currently, Dr. Young has a collaborative R01 to conduct a personalized prevention study to examine whether the effects of depression prevention programs can be maximized by matching youth to programs based on their vulnerabilities for depression.

Dr. Young’s research has also included the study of risk factors for later psychopathology. She was the principal investigator of a collaborative R01 longitudinal study of genetic, cognitive and interpersonal risk factors for youth depression. Most recently, Dr. Young has begun to examine the identification and management of adolescent depression in primary care settings.

In addition to her research, Dr. Young has been involved in national and international efforts to train community clinicians in evidence-based prevention and treatment interventions for adolescent depression. She also serves as an NIH Grant Reviewer for the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention study section. Taken together, Dr. Young’s work aims to decrease the incidence of adolescent depression and increase children’s access to evidence-based assessment, prevention, and treatment of depression and other behavioral health conditions.

Dr. Young received her PhD in clinical psychology from Fordham University. She completed an NIMH-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University. Prior to coming to CHOP, Dr. Young was at Rutgers University where she was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology.