Grand Rounds: Kiara Alvarez, Ph.D.

Kiara Alvarez, PhD, is an Instructor in the Disparities Research Unit in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her research and clinical work focuses on improving adolescent behavioral health outcomes, with an emphasis on Latino/a and immigrant youth and their families. She has particular interests in the prevention of suicidal behavior and in the integration of behavioral health care across clinical and community settings serving youth. Dr. Alvarez is currently principal investigator of an NIMH-funded career development award, Early Intervention for Suicide Risk among Immigrant Youth, which focuses on family-based strategies to prevent suicide. She is also co-principal investigator of the William T. Grant Foundation-funded project MGH Photostories, a mixed methods participatory research project focused on eliciting youth perspectives to inform community-based programs and reduce behavioral health disparities.  Dr. Alvarez completed her psychology internship training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and received her doctorate from the APA-accredited School Psychology program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. She also holds an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Literature from Harvard University.