Laurel K. Leslie, MD, MPH

I am the director of the Mental and Behavioral Health Institute at Cincinnati Children’s. As a former clinician and researcher, I have always been passionate about improving children’s lives. My passion stems from my parents; my father was a minister in the inner city of Chicago, working with families in the Cabrini-Green public housing, and my mother was a public school teacher. Their commitment to improving the well-being of families was inspiring. I have always enjoyed thinking at a systems level; discovering why children's behavioral, developmental and mental health problems occur; how we can prevent them; how systems that children and families interact with facilitate or hinder access to care; and how care facilitates children maturing into resilient adults.

My work in research comes from a long-standing commitment to improving the delivery of behavioral, developmental and mental healthcare for children from infancy through early adulthood. This is best accomplished through interdigitating clinical care, research, policy and system change efforts; shared decision-making with patients and families; and interdisciplinary models of care to assess prevention, assessment, care planning and treatment. Children, adolescents and young adults are resilient, and our interventions should help them function at their full emotional and developmental capacity.

As an institute director, I am excited to bring the divisions of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics together in a single institute. We aim to promote interdisciplinary care through our clinical services, research and education from community settings (schools, primary care, community agencies) and inpatient services (100-bed hospital). The institute is an excellent opportunity to build interdisciplinary developmental, behavioral and mental healthcare models of care in partnership with young adult patients, families, community partners, financial backers, insurers, policymakers, researchers and clinicians.