Researcher | Research Overview
To understand what facilitates or hinders an individual's ability to cope with adversity is the underlying essence of Dr. DeMaso’s work in the field of pediatric psychosomatic medicine. Children and families facing the stresses of having physical illnesses have been at the center of his research. In the rush to care for the physical needs of ill youngsters, the impact of their illnesses on their emotional development, family supports, and even their caregivers, is often forgotten. Given the nearly 20 million American children facing chronic physical illnesses, the promotion of successful coping in those families facing serious pediatric illnesses is of vital public health importance. The development of successful adaptation is dependent on empirical studies that integrate biological, psychological, and social constructs together to understand the full impact of physical illnesses on children. Dr. DeMaso’s current research involves such an approach where imaging, psychiatric, and neuropsychologic techniques are used to understand and intervene with youngsters facing pediatric heart diseases.
Researcher | Research Background
Dr. DeMaso is George P. Gardner & Olga E. Monks Professor of Child Psychiatry and Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School. He is the Emeritus Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Chair of Psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, the underlying essence of his work has been to understand what facilitates or hinders an individual's ability to cope with adversity. He has received from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s 2002 Simon Wile Leadership in Consultation Award, for his work in the field of pediatric psychosomatic medicine, and 2009 Catcher in the Rye Award, for his mental health advocacy work for children. He has been honored with the 2006 and 2015 Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Awards for Research in Depression or Suicide given the best article on depression and/or suicide published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has authored over 240 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and chapters along with co-authoring two textbooks on Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.