Professor Berlin’s research focuses on early child-caregiver attachment as well as programs and policies to support early parenting and child development. Dr. Berlin has been conducting attachment and intervention research for over 20 years across multiple disciplines including human development, psychology, social work, and public health. A major thrust of Dr. Berlin’s research agenda concerns the extent to which attachment-based programs can add value to publicly funded services designed to support early parenting and child development.
Currently, Dr. Berlin directs Compañeros en la Salud de los Niños/Partners in Children's Health (CSN) in collaboration with Drs. Natalie Slopen of the Harvard School of Public Health and Tania Caballero of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Centro SOL (Salud/Health and Opportunity for Latinos). Funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the CSN study is a 5-year randomized trial testing the effects of an attachment-based parenting program on toddler’s emerging health outcomes in low-income Latino families in Baltimore.
Dr. Berlin is the also editor of the Society for Research in Child Development Social Policy Report, a journal dedicated to leveraging child and family research to support evidence-based policy development.
Dr. Berlin earned her MS and PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University, and her BA in Psychology from Barnard College.
About the Alison L. Richman Professorship
The Alison L. Richman Professorship is dedicated to addressing the challenges facing children and families, and the named professor is recognized as a renowned national expert in their field. This esteemed position provides additional resources to support the appointee's research, scholarship, and travel for the dissemination of knowledge.Alison Richman, for whom the professorship is named, received her B.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her MSW from UM SSW in 1984. Her dedication to excellence in child and family services, as demonstrated through her work as an adoption specialist at Adoption Alliances based at the Jewish Family Services of Central Maryland, inspired her family to endow the professorship in her honor. Alison's impact extended beyond her direct service work, as she was one of the longest-serving members of the School's Board of Advisors and played a crucial role in founding and coordinating the Admissions Review Committee, advocating for numerous students throughout the years.