Clinical Psychology

Tenured

Faculty

Education

• Ph.D.: University of Maryland at College Park, 2006

Research Interests

Dr. Heather Jones' research and clinical training interests lie broadly with child and parental mental health within marginalized communities. Specifically, much of Jones' work has focused in three areas, Black children and their families, maternal mental health, and training the next generation of health service psychologists. As the recipient of a large federal training grant, Jones co-directs the VCU Primary Care Psychology Training Collaborative. This training collaborative is centered on providing graduate students training in the provision of behavioral health care in primary care settings (i.e., integrated care), with a focus on providing pro bono mental health services to the urban Richmond community as well as rural Virginians. As a scholar, Jones has been funded as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Jones' work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Clinical Psychology, Journal of Women’s Health, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and Academic Pediatrics. Jones is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia.

Select Publications

* denotes a student author at the time of writing

• Jones, H. A., *Eddy, L., *Bourchtein, E., *Parks, A., Green, T. A., Karjane, N., & Svikis, D. (2018). ADHD symptoms, depression risk, and quality of life in Black pregnant women. Journal of Women’s Health, 27(10), 1263-1270. doi:10.1089/jwh.2017.6547
• Jones, H. A., Perrin, P. B., Heller, M. B., & *Hailu, S., & *Barnett, C. (2018). Black psychology graduate students’ lives matter: Mentoring students of color and creating an inclusive climate amidst national race-related events. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 49, 75-82. doi: 10.1037/pro0000169
• Belgrave, F., Clark Goings, T. T., & Jones, H. A. (2021). African American families: Research, Theory, & Practice. San Diego, CA: Cognella.
• *Parlier-Ahmad, A. B., Keyser-Marcus, L., Bishop, D., Jones, H. A., & Svikis, D. S. (in press). Improving peripartum care engagement among Black women at risk for low prenatal care attendance: A secondary analysis of predictors of attendance and sample representativeness. Journal of Women’s Health.
• *Behhorst, K. L., Sullivan, T. N., & Jones, H. A. (in press). Comorbidity in context: Identifying patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms in Black early adolescents. Journal of Child & Family Studies.

Courses

• Child Psychopathology, undergraduate level
• Clinical Practicum (supervisor for the ADHD Clinic and Pediatric Primary Care), graduate level
• Diversity Dialogues, graduate level
• Evidence-based Psychological Treatments for Children and Adolescents, graduate level
• Research Internship in Psychology, undergraduate level

Affiliations

• VCU Department of African American Studies
• VCU Department of Pediatrics
• VCU Institute for Women's Health

Awards

• 2023, VCU College of Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award
• 2023, VCU Department of Psychology Outstanding Mentoring Award
• 2017, Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, VCU Department of Psychology
• 2016, Elizabeth Fries Young Investigator Award, VCU Institute for Women's Health
• 2016, Clinical and Translational Research Award, VCU Institute for Women's Health
• 2016, Summer Fellowship Mentor, VCU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program

Links

• Are symptoms of ADHD associated with functional impairment in pregnant women?
• Families and Mental Health Research Lab
• Primary Care Psychology Training Collaborative
• $1.4M grant will support free behavioral health services to underserved youth
• $1.1M grant to expand behavioral care for underserved youth, Latinx immigrants, refugees in Richmond