Background
Dr. Belcher is a Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who is jointly appointed in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Mental Health. She is the Director of the Center for Diversity in Public Health Leadership Training at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is Principal Investigator of two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health leadership training programs to promote diversity in public health research, training, and leadership experiences for undergraduate, graduate, medical, dental, pharmacy, and veterinary students. Dr. Belcher is the co-director of the National Center for Health Policy Research Scholars funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 2016, Dr. Belcher received 5-year funding from HRSA to promote diversity in the maternal and child field.
Dr. Belcher was Principal Investigator (PI) of two National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (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 is 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. In addition, Dr. Belcher was the PI on a SAMHSA grant providing comprehensive substance abuse treatment, health care, social work, parent education, and evaluations for women who were pregnant and drug-dependent and, following birth, their children.
Dr. Belcher collaborated on community-based initiatives to support recruitment and parent education of African American 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.