Our Story
Bringing Mental Health Care To Kids Where They Live, Learn, And Grow
Drs. Walter and DeMaso have a combined 75+ years of experience in child and adolescent psychiatry. Over these years, they’ve shared a common goal: making mental health care for kids and their families easier to access by working closely with pediatricians, pediatric specialists, and schools.
Dr. Walter has been a driving force nationally in building health and mental health programs where kids spend most of their time — in elementary, middle, and high schools — focusing on communities that don’t have enough resources. More recently, she’s turned her attention to bringing those same kinds of services into pediatric primary care settings.
Dr. DeMaso has been a longtime leader in supporting pediatric specialists as they care for youth facing chronic physical illnesses. These days, like Dr. Walter, he’s focused on helping pediatric primary care providers address mental health needs in their practices.
Together with their psychologist partners, Drs. Lee and Sinclair-McBride, they understand that the first step in delivering great mental health care is education — for both healthcare providers and the families they serve. That’s why they’ve created this site: to share practical, evidence-based strategies in a format that’s engaging and easy to use.
Through multimedia presentations and helpful tools, Drs. Walter, DeMaso, Lee, and Sinclair-McBride hope to give you the confidence and skills to support the mental well-being of the people who matter most — our kids.
Our Team
Heather J. Walter, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Walter – originator and lead author of the Building Bridges of Understanding portfolio and lead presenter in the Building Bridges of Understanding course – is Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Senior Attending Psychiatrist, Boston Children’s Hospital; former Medical Director for Behavioral Health, Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s, and former Co-Medical Director, Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program. Dr. Walter completed a general psychiatry residency at New York University Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center/The New York State Psychiatric Institute. She also completed training in preventive medicine at UCLA Medical Center and earned her MPH degree in epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health. Dr. Walter has practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for more than 35 years. She has held major administrative positions at leading academic medical centers in New York, Chicago, and Boston and multiple leadership roles in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Walter has over 170 publications, including peer-reviewed research papers, clinical practice guidelines setting the standards of care for child and adolescent psychiatrists nationwide, and chapters on behavioral health in leading child and adolescent psychiatry and pediatric textbooks. She has held previous appointments as Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern and Boston University medical schools and been recognized with multiple national awards, including Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
David R. DeMaso, M.D.
Dr. DeMaso – co-presenter in the Building Bridges of Understanding course – is George P. Gardner – Olga E. Monks Professor of Child Psychiatry and Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Senior Attending Psychiatrist, Boston Children's Hospital; and former Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. DeMaso completed a pediatric internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, a general psychiatry residency at Duke University Medical Center, a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Judge Baker Guidance Center, and advanced training in pediatric consultation liaison psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. DeMaso has practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for more than 40 years. He has held major administrative positions at Boston Children’s Hospital and multiple leadership roles in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. DeMaso has over 240 publications, including peer-reviewed research papers, two books on pediatric consultation liaison psychiatry, and multiple chapters on behavioral health in leading pediatric textbooks. He has been recognized with multiple national awards, including Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Erica Lee, Ph.D.
Dr. Lee – co-lead author of the Guided Self-Management Toolkit for Families, co-presenter in the Building Bridges of Understanding course, and presenter in the behavioral health education for families videos – is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Attending Psychologist and Training Director for the Psychology Internship Program, Boston Children's Hospital. She earned a BA in Psychology from Cornell University and her MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her internship in Clinical Psychology at Boston Children’s Hospital and post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Dr. Lee has extensive training and experience in the dissemination, implementation, and testing of evidence-based interventions for youth presenting with a wide variety of behavioral health concerns. She delivers evidence-based and culturally responsive care to children, adolescents, and families within the Boston Children’s Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry Service. As a clinical educator, Dr. Lee provides supervision and teaching to trainees and staff in outpatient, primary care, and school settings, with the goal of expanding the behavioral health workforce and increasing access to mental health care. She is a national and international speaker and consultant on common youth behavioral health concerns and has won multiple awards for her teaching. In addition, Dr. Lee’s research focuses on risk and protective factors and treatment response among youth from different backgrounds. She is the author of numerous academic articles and book chapters, including contributions to the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. She is also a regular contributor to the popular press, where she provides practical advice on raising healthy children, navigating parenthood, and building mental wellness.
Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, Ph.D.
Dr. Sinclair-McBride – co-lead author of the Guided Self-Management Toolkit for Families, co-presenter in the Building Bridges of Understanding course, and presenter in the behavioral health education for families videos – is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Attending Psychologist, Associate Chief of Integrated Behavioral Health, Associate Training Director for the Psychology Internship Program, and Digital Wellness Lab Consultant, Boston Children's Hospital. She received a BA in Psychology from Yale University and her MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from Vanderbilt University. She completed her internship in Clinical Psychology at Boston Children’s Hospital and post-doctoral fellowship at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Sinclair-McBride provides evidence-based therapy to children, adolescents, and families in the Boston Children’s Hospital Primary Care Center and the Outpatient Psychiatry Service. She also engages in the supervision and teaching of trainees in these settings. Dr. Sinclair-McBride currently focuses her research and administrative efforts on the assessment and treatment of common behavioral health concerns in integrated care settings serving underresourced populations. Through her work with the Digital Wellness Lab, she provides presentations and consultation to help children and adolescents be knowledgeable and empowered citizens of the digital age. She is the author of numerous academic articles and book chapters in texts such as the Handbook of Pediatric Psychological Screening and Assessment in Primary Care and the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. She is regularly interviewed for popular media articles and podcasts on mental health, digital wellness, and parenting.
Zoë Judd, M.S.
Ms. Judd – designer of the Building Bridges of Understanding portfolio of materials – is a Graphic Designer in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Boston Children’s Hospital. Ms. Judd has a background in early childhood education with a degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and received her MS in Experience Design from Northeastern University.
Our Guest Contributors
Chase Samsel, M.D.
Chase Samsel – guest contributor to the Building Bridges of Understanding portfolio - is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Medical Director of the Psychiatry Consultation Service, lead psychiatrist for the Pediatric Transplant Center, and Associate Training Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship and Triple Board Residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. These positions enable him to work with seriously ill children and their families, explore the interface of pediatric and psychiatric care, focus on mentoring, and teach in pediatrics and psychiatry. He completed Brown University’s combined Triple Board residency program in Pediatrics, Adult Psychiatry, and Child Psychiatry and is triple board-certified in these three specialties. Dr. Samsel has published numerous academic articles and book chapters, including contributions to the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. He also is a regular contributor to the popular press.
