BALTIMORE, June 6, 2024 – Kennedy Krieger Institute’s leadership team announced that Dr. Ernestine Briggs-King, PhD will join the Institute as vice president of the Department for Family and Community Interventions. She will also have a faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins University.
In her new role at Kennedy Krieger, Dr. Briggs-King will lead the Department of Family and Community Interventions, which includes the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress and the Therapeutic Foster Care program. In addition, she will lead research, mentor staff and early career-stage learners, and provide psychological care for patients and their family members.
Dr. Briggs-King will be a community-facing subject matter expert for the Institute on trauma-related topics and continue to advance Kennedy Krieger’s strong reputation and work in the field of child, adolescent and family psychology.
“We are elated that Dr. Briggs-King, who is such a strong national voice on the topics of child and family well-being as well as mental health disparities and inclusion, will join our team as a leader, clinician and researcher,” said Jacqueline Stone, PhD, MPA, PT, the Institute’s chief clinical officer. “This is a department that has provided considerable services to the community, particularly in recent years, and continues to evolve to meet the needs of children and families affected by trauma and other experiences.”
Dr. Briggs-King was chosen for the role after a nationwide search. Prior to Kennedy Krieger, she worked at Duke University, where she was the associate director of diversity, equity and inclusion and network relations and co-director of the data and evaluation program for the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, the coordinating center for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). She also was the director of research for the Center for Child and Family Health, a nonprofit, NCTSN site in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Briggs-King is president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and is on the executive committee of the board of directors for the National Children’s Alliance.
In the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, Dr. Briggs-King was an associate professor with tenure, and director of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Her professional expertise focuses on implementation, dissemination, and evaluation of evidence-based treatments; child traumatic stress; resiliency; mental health disparities and inequities, quality improvement, and increasing access to care for underserved youth/adolescents.
“I am extremely excited to join the leaders at Kennedy Krieger Institute as I continue the work of my predecessors to strengthen community ties, provide premier services, and create new initiatives that will serve as a national model of excellence,” Dr. Briggs-King said.
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About Kennedy Krieger Institute:
Kennedy Krieger Institute, an internationally known nonprofit organization located in the greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region, transforms the lives of more than 27,000 individuals a year through inpatient and outpatient medical, behavioral health and wellness therapies; home and community services; school-based programs; training and education for professionals; and advocacy. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children, adolescents and adults with diseases, disorders and injuries that impact the nervous system, ranging from mild to severe. The Institute is home to a team of investigators who contribute to the understanding of how disorders develop while at the same time pioneering new interventions and methods of early diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Visit KennedyKrieger.org for more information about Kennedy Krieger.
