University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center
1981
Los Angeles
CA
Residency
General Psychiatry
New York University Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital Center
1986
New York
NY
Fellowship
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center/New York State Psychiatric Institute
1988
New York
NY
Media
Building Bridges of Understanding
Professional History
Reflecting her training in both preventive medicine/public health and child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Walter’s clinical innovations have focused on expanding access to health care for children and adolescents through education, consultation, and service delivery in primarily underserved community-based settings. In New York City, she created and evaluated school-based, teacher-delivered preventive interventions to reduce the risk for the future development of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. Subsequently, she focused on the integration and evaluation of preventive, early intervention, and clinical behavioral health services in schools and pediatric primary care in Chicago and Boston.
Dr. Walter has been board certified in public health and general preventive medicine, psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. She has served as director of school psychiatry at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, medical director of psychiatric outpatient services at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry and vice-chair of psychiatry at Boston Medical Center, medical director for behavioral health at the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at [Boston] Children’s [Hospital], and medical co-director for the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program. Dr. Walter also chaired the Committee on Quality Issues for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), which during her tenure published 30 clinical practice guidelines that were disseminated nationally through the Journal of AACAP. For her contributions to the field of child and adolescent psychiatry, AACAP honored Dr. Walter with the Simon Wile Leadership in Consultation Award, the Catchers in the Rye Award, and Distinguished Life Fellow.
Dr. Walter currently has more than 170 print and media publications pertaining to clinical education and community-based participatory research. She attained the rank of Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern Feinberg and Boston University medical schools, and currently is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Senior Attending Psychiatrist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her current work focuses on the development, dissemination, and evaluation of a new Boston Children’s Hospital website – Building Bridges of Understanding – that provides readily accessible evidence-based behavioral health education to pediatric primary care practitioners, behavioral health clinicians working in pediatric settings, and pediatric patients and their families.
Approach to Care
My professional life has been guided by my quest to bring the highest quality preventive and clinical care to society’s most vulnerable yet most promising citizens – its children. I am grateful to have been afforded the opportunity throughout my career to help our children build happy, healthy, and successful lives, and to help close the gap between youth needing health care services, and those receiving them.
Publications
Clinical Practice Guideline: Assessment and Treatment of Adolescents and Young Adults With Substance Use Disorders and Problematic Substance Use (Excluding Tobacco). View Abstract
Trends in Pediatric Clinician Wellbeing During and Immediately After the COVID-19 Pandemic. View Abstract
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Prescribing Within an Integrated Pediatric Primary Care Behavioral Health Program. View Abstract
Considerations for Behavioral Health Integration Program Implementation in Pediatric Primary Care Settings: A Qualitative Study. View Abstract
Pediatric Primary-Care Integrated Behavioral Health: A Framework for Reducing Inequities in Behavioral Health Care and Outcomes for Children. View Abstract
Virtual Collaborative Behavioral Health Model in a Community Pediatric Network: Two-Year Outcomes. View Abstract
Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Mental Health Visits in Pediatric Primary Care. View Abstract
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Major and Persistent Depressive Disorders. View Abstract
Utilization and Outcomes of Direct Consultation in a Child Psychiatry Access Program. View Abstract
Clinical Update: Collaborative Mental Health Care for Children and Adolescents in Pediatric Primary Care. View Abstract
Clinical Update: Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Care in Community Systems of Care. View Abstract
Five-Phase Replication of Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care. View Abstract
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders. View Abstract
Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders in Children and Adolescents With Intellectual Disability (Intellectual Developmental Disorder). View Abstract
Five-Year Outcomes of Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care. View Abstract
Three-Year Outcomes of a School-Hospital Partnership Providing Multitiered Mental Health Services in Urban Schools. View Abstract
Factors That Predict the Use of Psychotropics Among Children and Adolescents With PTSD: Evidence From Private Insurance Claims. View Abstract
Fostering the initiation of discretionary psychotropic medication reviews by child welfare caseworkers View Abstract
Enhancing Pediatricians' Behavioral Health Competencies Through Child Psychiatry Consultation and Education. View Abstract
Forward to the Future: Clinical Updates and Clinical Practice Guidelines. View Abstract
Clinical Update: Telepsychiatry With Children and Adolescents. View Abstract
Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Reactive Attachment Disorder and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder. View Abstract
Receipt of Evidence-Based Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy Among Children and Adolescents With New Diagnoses of Depression. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and management of youth involved with the child welfare system. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with eating disorders. View Abstract
Collaborative care for children with ADHD symptoms: a randomized comparative effectiveness trial. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with tic disorders. View Abstract
Practice parameter on disaster preparedness. View Abstract
Practice parameter for cultural competence in child and adolescent psychiatric practice. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. View Abstract
Practice parameter on gay, lesbian, or bisexual sexual orientation, gender nonconformity, and gender discordance in children and adolescents. View Abstract
Practice Parameter for psychodynamic psychotherapy with children. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder. View Abstract
Practice parameter for child and adolescent forensic evaluations. View Abstract
A pilot demonstration of comprehensive mental health services in inner-city public schools. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder. View Abstract
Practice parameter on the use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the psychiatric assessment and management of physically ill children and adolescents. View Abstract
Practice parameter for telepsychiatry with children and adolescents. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorders. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment of the family. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. View Abstract
Practice parameter on child and adolescent mental health care in community systems of care. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder. View Abstract
Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. View Abstract
Teachers' beliefs about mental health needs in inner city elementary schools. View Abstract
Practice parameter for psychiatric consultation to schools. View Abstract
School-based prevention of problem behaviors. View Abstract
The development, reliability, and validity of a risk factor screening survey for urban minority junior high school students. View Abstract
Characteristics of users and nonusers of health clinics in inner-city junior high schools. View Abstract
Carrying and using weapons: A survey of minority junior high school students in New York City. View Abstract
School-based health care for urban minority junior high school students. View Abstract
Sexual, assaultive, and suicidal behaviors among urban minority junior high school students. View Abstract
Prevalence and correlates of AIDS-related behavioral intentions among urban minority high school students. View Abstract
Prevalence and correlates of AIDS-risk behaviors among urban minority high school students. View Abstract
Comparison of three theoretical models of substance use among urban minority high school students. View Abstract
AIDS risk reduction among a multiethnic sample of urban high school students. View Abstract
Factors associated with AIDS-related behavioral intentions among high school students in an AIDS epicenter. View Abstract
Factors associated with AIDS risk behaviors among high school students in an AIDS epicenter. View Abstract
Self-efficacy for AIDS preventive behaviors among tenth grade students. View Abstract
High school students' perceptions of AIDS risk: realistic appraisal or motivated denial? View Abstract
Psychosocial influences on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-risk behaviors among high school students. View Abstract
Risk factors for substance use among high school students: implications for prevention. View Abstract
Steroid use among adolescents: another look. View Abstract
The association between physical fitness and cardiovascular disease risk factors in children in a five-year follow-up study. View Abstract
Primary prevention of cancer among children: changes in cigarette smoking and diet after six years of intervention. View Abstract
Cardiovascular risk factor prevention in black schoolchildren: two-year results of the "Know Your Body" program. View Abstract
Primary prevention of chronic disease among children: the school-based "Know Your Body" intervention trials. View Abstract
The development, implementation, evaluation, and future directions of a chronic disease prevention program for children: the "Know Your Body" studies. View Abstract
Cardiovascular risk factors among black schoolchildren: comparisons among four Know Your Body studies. View Abstract
Modification of risk factors for coronary heart disease. Five-year results of a school-based intervention trial. View Abstract
Socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, and risk factors for coronary heart disease in children. View Abstract
Blood pressure and physical fitness in children. View Abstract
Coronary heart disease prevention in childhood: one-year results of a randomized intervention study. View Abstract
Primary prevention of chronic disease in childhood: changes in risk factors after one year of intervention. View Abstract
Screening for risk factors as a component of a chronic disease prevention program for youth. View Abstract
