Valerie Maholmes Editor & Author

Valerie Maholmes is the Program Director for the Social and Affective Development /Child Maltreatment and Violence Research Program in the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). In this capacity she provides leadership on research and research training relevant to social and personality development in children through adolescence, and on the impact of physical and social environments on their health and psychological development. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Howard University, Washington, USA. In 2003, Dr. Maholmes was awarded the Executive Branch Science Policy Fellowship sponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development and the American Association for the Advancement of Science　 Carmela Lomonaco is Director of Programs for the Inspire USA Foundation, where she directs a technology-based mental health intervention for teens and young adults. Carmela Lomonaco received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Southern California, USA. Her research interests include adolescent risk behaviors, with particular expertise in gang formation and persistence, and the influence of popular culture and media on adolescent girls’ attitudes and behaviors regarding race, gender and sexuality. She is the past recipient of a 2005-2007 Society for Research in Child Development Executive Branch Policy Fellowship with a placement at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development also at the NIH and a recipient of the 2005 USC Urban/Global Fellowship focused on Adolescent Homelessness and the 2004 SOPHE/CDC Violence and Injury Prevention Fellowship.