Roseanne Clark, Ph.D.

Roseanne Clark, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Capstone Certificate Program. Dr. Clark developed and was director of the Parent-Infant and Early Childhood Clinic in the UW Department of Psychiatry for over 25 years and has provided teaching and supervision on the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of mental health disturbances in infancy and early childhood and early parent-child relationships to psychiatry and pediatric residents and practicum students, interns and post-doctoral fellows in clinical, counseling and school psychology. She is a licensed psychologist and has received Endorsement as an Infant Mental Health Mentor (IV). Dr. Clark developed the widely used Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment (PCERA), and the Mother-Infant Therapy Group Approach for Postpartum Depression (M-ITG), was a major contributor to the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Development Disorders of infancy and Early Childhood (DC: 0-3) and to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Practice Parameters for the Psychiatric Assessment Infants and Toddlers.

For over 35 years, Dr. Clark’s research and numerous articles have focused on screening, evaluation and treatment of postpartum depression and infant and early childhood mental health, maternal employment and early parent-child relationships at-risk. She provides consultation to childcare and home visiting programs and is invited to speak, teach and consult nationally and internationally. Dr. Clark has translated the results of her research and the evidence based evaluation and treatment protocols she has developed into community based interventions for underserved women, their infants and families including collaborating with community partners in Dane County to develop the Early Childhood Initiative (ECI), a comprehensive home visitation program for families with infants and young children affected by poverty. Dr. Clark has been committed to conducting research to inform policy and practice and has been asked to serve on state and national scientific advisory committees including the Wisconsin Governor’s Early Intervention Coordinating Council, the Lt. Governor’s Task Force on Women and Depression, the Department of Health Services Maternal-Child Health Advisory Committee, the Wisconsin Task Force on Perinatal Mood Disorders, the National Institute of Mental Health Roundtable on Perinatal Depression and the NIMH Workgroup on Assessment of Infant/Toddler Mental Health.

Dr. Clark has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on numerous NIH funded studies including a randomized clinical trial examining the efficacy of a mother-infant relational approach for women experiencing major depression in the postpartum period and another investigating the validity of screening and assessment measures of social-emotional functioning in infants and young children. She is currently partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families on the integration of the Mother-Infant Therapy Group to address postpartum depression and mother-infant relationships in Wisconsin Home Visiting Programs. In 2012, Dr. Clark was awarded the University of Wisconsin Van Hise Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award for Outreach. Dr. Clark provides academic oversight and direction for the Capstone Certificate Program as well as teaching, academic advising and reflective consultation for students and reflective mentoring for program faculty.