My name is Juan Del Toro and I am currently a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh. I received my PhD in Developmental Psychology with a concentration in Advanced Quantitative Analyses at New York University.
I earned my PhD in Child Psychology in 2019 from the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development, where I completed a joint training program with the Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research Program. Additionally, I completed a pre-doctoral clinical psychology internship through Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a graduate student researcher, I utilized a developmental psychopathology framework to investigate the influence of modifiable risk and protective factors on the developmental trajectory of individuals who have experienced child maltreatment. Prior to graduate school, I earned my BA in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Educational Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. I then worked as a Family Intervention Specialist for Youth Villages in Memphis, TN where I provided intensive in-home counseling to families whose children were at risk of placement in state custody due to severe mental health and behavioral challenges. My experiences working with two families in particular, whose children had experienced traumatic events, informed my current interests, as I witnessed the significant impact these experiences exerted on their present difficulties and the ways in which evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions improved their well-being. Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in Child Abuse Pediatrics at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center where I continue to pursue research focused on improving the lives of maltreated children. In the future, I intend to pursue a career as a tenured professor at a research institution conducting clinical trials of evidence-based interventions with this population.