CL22 - Baby Talks Group B: Early Childhood Professionals: Building Capacity, Supporting Practice

Erin is a third year doctoral student at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Professional Psychology (GSPP). Erin holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology (DU, 21), a Master of Teaching in Early Childhood and Developmental Risk (UVA, 06) and is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst since 2009. At GSPP, Erin is specializing in Perinatal, Infant and Early Childhood mental health and in Latinx Psychology. Erin's clinical interests include perinatal mental health, caregiver-child relationships, working with underserved populations, and bilingual and bicultural therapy. Erin has worked in a number of professional settings, including interdisciplinary practices, public schools, specialized schools for children with autism, and integrative primary care settings. She loves to learn and strives to grow as a therapist and human being with each new clinical experience.

Dr. Cerqueira graduated from medical school in 2008 from Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and in 2014 she completed her masters in clinical psychology at ISPA-IU, also in Lisbon. Dr. Cerqueira did an internship with a Hospital Mental Health department for Early Childhood as a clinical psychologist trainee and conducted leading-edge Heart Rate Variability research in Fetal Psychology at the OBGYN department of Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, in Lisbon. Dr. Cerqueira is a copy editor for the Journal of the Associations of Pre-, Perinatal Psychology and Health (JOPPPAH). Currently, Dr. Cerqueira is a second-year doctoral student at the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver, where she is specializing in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder, as well as a fellow on the Colorado OUD/SUD Training (COST) program, designed to address the Opiate Use Disorder needs of low-income Coloradans. Dr. Cerqueira has been providing bilingual perinatal, infant, and early childhood mental health services to Coloradans children and families through the Caring for yoU and Baby Clinic and MotherWise WiseWellness clinic. In addition, Dr. Cerqueira has been working with the Latinx community providing services in different settings with the goal of exploring the application of culturally and linguistically sensitive interventions while addressing the barriers to services.

Elizabeth Rubio is a second-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Denver. She is a proud Puerto Rican Dominican who is immensely passionate about Latinx Psychology and serving this community. Elizabeth’s interests are rooted in bilingual and culturally appropriate service delivery. She hopes to explore the application of culturally and linguistically sensitive interventions and addressing the barriers to services. Her goal is to increase access to effective care within Latinx communities and practice to through a lens of cultural humility. Clinically, she provides bilingual mental health services to bilingual and monolingual Latinx English and Spanish speakers.

Dr. Corporan is a passionate Mental Health advocate and manager of cross-functional health care project teams with more than 18 years’ experience in executing successful agendas, from concept through completion, in support of research, academic, non-profit, and public service objectives. Cat herding is her number one superpower.

Dr. McVeigh applies innovative approaches using data to address public health policy and program challenges. Her work spans management reporting and quality assurance, surveillance, evaluation, outcomes analysis, data linkage and data warehouse construction and the development of methods to use electronic health record data for disease surveillance and other public health purposes. She has worked in a variety of content areas including family planning, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental health, health behavior, chronic disease, and developmental disabilities and delays. Children have been the focus of much of her work.

Nura Anwar is a native New Yorker, an avid public health professional and educator focused on improving healthcare outcomes in pediatrics, women’s health, mental health and underserved communities both locally and globally. She has served both on the front end and back end of patient care, addressing healthcare disparities and advocating for communities of color by using her academic, social and performance backgrounds. Nura defines Public health as the intersection between the power of human connection, impactful healthcare practices and community empowerment.

Erin Henderson Lacerdo is the Executive Director for the Association for Infant Mental Health in Hawaii. Erin began her career in facilitating parent participation programs within the prison system and moved into early childhood development as a specialization. Erin comes from a strong home visiting background, providing home visits in Parents as Teachers, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, and Child Parent Psychotherapy. For the last five years, Erin oversaw a statewide home visiting program operating under MIECHV funding. In her new role as Executive Director, Erin is currently working on building a system to credential Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants, grow the supports around the prenatal-age 5 workforce, and embed infant mental health foundations in policies surrounding young children. Erin also serves on community and governmental boards, including the Hawaii State's Early Learning Board. She holds an MSW from Hawaii Pacific University and a BA from Gonzaga University.

Justina Acevedo-Cross, MPP, is a program director at the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) and the principal staff on the implementation of the Promising Minds Initiative including managing the overall strategy, partnering to strengthen the systems, and managing the day-to-day grants, contracts, evaluation activities and coordination of the Community of Practice of providers. Ms. Acevedo-Cross specializes in policy and systems change, and network design and implementation. Justina has more than 20 years of nonprofit, foundation, board, and cross‐sector experience to draw from for projects. Prior to joining the HCF, Justina was a Program Officer for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and was instrumental in the strategy design and implementation for early learning and expanded learning initiatives. She worked to increase meaningful training and professional development opportunities for teachers who work with children ages 0‐5. Prior to joining the Packard Foundation, Justina worked in the nonprofit sector as a strategic communications professional for small and mid‐size organizations, including Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. Justina has experience serving on nonprofit boards and government commissions; she currently is an appointed member of Hawaiʻi State’s Early Learning Board. She holds a MPP from UC Berkeley and a BA from Scripps College.

Erin Henderson Lacerdo is the Executive Director for the Association for Infant Mental Health in Hawaii.  Erin began her career in facilitating parent participation programs within the prison system and moved into early childhood development as a specialization.  Erin comes from a strong home visiting background, providing home visits in Parents as Teachers, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, and Child Parent Psychotherapy.  For the last five years, Erin oversaw a statewide home visiting program operating under MIECHV funding.  In her new role as Executive Director, Erin is currently working on building a system to credential Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants, grow the supports around the prenatal-age 5 workforce, and embed infant mental health foundations in policies surrounding young children.  Erin also serves on community and governmental boards, including the Hawaii State's Early Learning Board.  She holds an MSW from Hawaii Pacific University and a BA from Gonzaga University.