Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Summary Statement
Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli joined the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorder Program in 2023. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder with an additional focus in neuroscience. Andrea is dedicated to understanding social and neurobiological risk factors for severe mental illness in adolescents and has over a decade of experience working with youth in this area.
Andrea’s program of research investigates social motivation during adolescence and how different social behaviors can increase risk for challenges to mental health. In her work, she uses functional MRI to study how the brain influences (and is influenced by) these various social processes to identify how mental illness onsets and develops over time. Andrea’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health with her most recent award focused on identifying how childhood adversity and disruptions to social motivation may form a pathway to risk for suicide. With this work, Andrea hopes that knowledge around risk and illness onset will be enhanced and promote early intervention for children and adolescents.
Prior to CHAAMP, Andrea completed her clinical internship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and two postdoctoral fellowships through UNC Psychiatry and UNC Psychology and Neuroscience. Outside of her clinical research career, Andrea enjoys being outdoors (ideally hiking) with her family and fluffy golden retriever.
