Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Contact Info
Research Interests
neurodevelopment Pediatrics; pediatrics; intrauterine drug exposure; child maltreatment; health disparities; health policy; developmental disabilities; poverty; foster care
Experiences & Accomplishments
Dr. Belcher is Vice President and Director of the Center for Excellence in Public Health Leadership at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is PI of four federally funded public health leadership training programs to promote excellence through experiential learning opportunities in public health research, training, and leadership for over 800 undergraduate, public health and social sciences graduate, medical, dental, pharmacy, and veterinary students. She co-PI of a National Child Traumatic Stress Network grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Grant.
Dr. Belcher was Principal Investigator (PI) of two National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) grant funded by the SAMHSA and completed a K-award from National Institute of Mental Health to evaluate a curriculum that promotes parental emotional well-being and knowledge of child development for young parents of children enrolled in Early Head Start. She was co-PI on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to conduct a cost comparison of two evidence-based parent interventions for young children with emotional and behavioral problems. Dr. Belcher was co-investigator on a community-based Head Start family and child behavioral health prevention intervention grant funded by SAMHSA and PI on a SAMHSA grant providing comprehensive substance abuse treatment, healthcare, social work, parent education, and evaluations for women who were pregnant and drug-dependent and, following birth, their children. She was also the co-director of the National Center for Health Policy Research Scholars funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Belcher collaborated on community-based initiatives to support recruitment and parent education for parents participating in church-based foster care for children with drug exposure and HIV infection in Tampa, Florida. While in Florida, Dr. Belcher was the director of the Developmental Evaluation and Intervention (DEI) program at University of South Florida. The DEI program provided center and home-based evaluation and treatment services for infants and young children who were treated in Neonatal Intensive Care Units and whose families’ incomes were at 250% of poverty or lower. This program expanded to serve children and families in five counties.
Honors & Awards
• Second place for outstanding student research, Howard University College of Medicine,1979 • First place for poster presentation, American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, October 1987 • Community Service Award, Project STRIVE, Tampa, FL,1992 • Friend of the Young Child Award, Hillsborough County, Tampa, FL,1993 • Meritorious Civilian Service Award, Department of Navy,1995 • Governor's Citation for Service on the Methylphenidate Task Force, 1999 • African American Mental Health Research Scientist Scholar, 2005 • Alpha Omega Alpha, 2011 • Johns Hopkins Universities Diversity Recognition Award, 2014
Select Publications
Please find below most recent publications in the area of parenting, outcome of children with a history of maltreatment, and outcome of diverse students enrolled in an undergraduate public health leadership program.
Swenson S, Ho G, Budhathoki C, Belcher H, Tucker S, Miller K, Gross D. Parents' Use of Praise and Criticism in a Sample of Young Children Seeking Mental Health Services. Journal of Pediatric Health Care 2015 (accepted for publication, 2015). dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2015.09.010
Wilcox HC, Rains M, Belcher H, Kazak A, Kassam-Adam N, Lee R, Briggs E, Bethel T, Trunzo CP, Wissow L. Behavioral problems and service utilization in children seeking trauma-related mental health services. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (accepted for publication, 2015)
Hall Brown T, Belcher HME, Accardo J, Minhas R, Briggs EC. Trauma Exposure and Sleep Disturbance in a Sample of Youth from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation ( accepted for publication, 2016).
Briggs EC, Fairbank JA, Greeson JKP, Steinberg AM, Amaya-Jackson LM, Ostrowski SA, Gerrity ET, Elmore DL, Layne CM, Belcher HME, Pynoos RS. Links between child and adolescent trauma exposure and service use histories in a national clinic-referred sample. Psychological Trauma 2013; 5:101-109. DOI: 10.1037/a0027312
Belcher HME, Stone J., McFadden JA, Hemmingson TA, Kreutzer C, Harris LG, Wheeler BY, VanOsdel J, Avila M, Yorker B, Hoffman B, Turner-Musa J. Evaluating maternal and child health and leadership competencies of emerging MCH leaders: the MCHC/RISE-UP experience. Maternal and Child Health Journal 2015; 19:2560-2567. DOI:10.1007/s10995-015-1796-9.