Principal Investigator

Dr. Pamela Morris-Perez is a Professor of Applied Psychology at NYU Steinhardt and an Affiliated Professor at NYU School of Global Public Health. An elected National Academy of Education member, she has secured over $75 million for research integrating developmental psychology, suicidology, education, and policy. Her notable projects include a $5 million partnership with NYC’s Department of Education on Universal Pre-K and a $10 million NIH-funded trial on parenting interventions. Additionally, following the loss of her daughter, she founded ARCADIA to address adolescent suicide through a health-focused, developmental approach. She has also held leadership roles at NYU, significantly increasing faculty diversity and research funding.

Featured Works

  • Morris-Perez, P., Abenavoli, R., Benzekri, A., Rosenbach-Jordan, S., and Boccieri, G.R. (2023), Preventing adolescent suicide: Recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, program developers, and researchers. Social Policy Report, 36: 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/sop2.30

  • Morris-Perez, Pamela (2021, March 25). I Don’t Want Another Family to Lose a Child the Way We Did. New York Times Op-Ed. 

  • Miller, E. B., Canfield, C. F., Roby, E., Wippick, H., Shaw, D. S., Mendelsohn, A. L., & Morris-Perez, P. A. (2023). Enhancing early language and literacy skills for racial/ethnic minority children with low incomes through a randomized clinical trial: The mediating role of cognitively stimulating parent–child interactions. Child Development, 00, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14064 

  • Weiland, C., & Morris, P. (2022). The risks and opportunities of the COVID‐19 crisis for building longitudinal evidence on today’s early childhood education programs. Child Development Perspectives, 16(2), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12445  

  • Bassok, D. & Morris-Perez, P. (2021). University-Agency Partnerships to Strengthen Preschool: Improving Preschool at Scale. Future of Children. Princeton, NJ: The Trustees of Princeton University. [alphabetic listing of authors to reflect equal contribution].

  •  ​Shaw, D. S., Mendelsohn, A. L., & Morris, P. A. (2021). Reducing poverty-related disparities in child development and school readiness: The smart beginnings tiered prevention strategy that combines pediatric primary care with Home Visiting. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24(4), 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-021-00366-0 

  • Roby, E., Miller, E. B., Shaw, D. S., Morris, P., Gill, A., Bogen, D. L., Rosas, J., Canfield, C. F., Hails, K. A., Wippick, H., Honoroff, J., Cates, C. B., Weisleder, A., Chadwick, K. A., Raak, C. D., & Mendelsohn, A. L. (2021). Improving parent-child interactions in pediatric health care: A two-site randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 147(3). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1799