For two years, Senior Research Scientist Noreen Yazejian, PhD, has thoughtfully served the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) as interim associate director for research (ADR). She has fostered research initiatives across the Institute by helping bring together members of FPG’s community in pursuit of new projects. Most notably, Yazejian has been instrumental in supporting FPG Next—an initiative envisioned by FPG Director Brian Boyd, PhD, to guide work at the Institute—and the application and selection process for its related pilot grants. 

“I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve FPG and work with the extraordinary people who make FPG a mission-driven, transformative organization,” said Yazejian.

She has also dedicated time to helping ensure the success of FPG’s junior and mid-career investigators through FPG’s mentoring program. “I want mentoring to be a common experience for our younger researchers,” she says. And so, she has worked to reinvigorate FPG’s mentoring program so that it is focused on the investigators’ needs and helping mentees build partnerships beyond their projects.   

Yazejian explained that FPG has had different versions of mentoring initiatives over the years, including when she was an early career scientist. “As an early career investigator, I participated in mentoring meetings led by former FPG leaders Robin McWilliam and Kelly Maxwell that included topics like federal funding sources, project management, grant writing, and writing and reviewing articles,” said Yazejian.  About two years ago, she conducted a listening session with early career investigators and then she had one of the early career investigators conduct a session without her—to ensure that people could feel free to share openly—to gather information on needed supports and gaps. Yazejian then worked with FPG Senior Research Scientist Ann Sam, PhD, to develop a program that included mentoring topics but also weekly writing sessions. “We dedicate time each week to brainstorming and problem solving as well,” said Yazejian. She also believes that the peer support and peer learning components of the program are crucial. “The mentoring program is one way that people across projects and across our research, implementation science, and technical assistance focal areas can learn from each other,” she said, “and develop relationships that may lead to funded work together.

With all that she has accomplished in this role, the Institute is pleased to announce that Yazejian will continue this important work in the role of ADR but no longer in an interim capacity.

When asked what, if any changes, the transition from interim to permanent ADR, might bring, Yazejian replied, “Other than that one word, ’interim,’ being dropped from my title, I do not see things changing substantially in my work … I see myself continuing to build partnerships within FPG and UNC and with external partners.  As funding tightens, partnerships will be even more critically important for our sustainability as a research organization.” 

Although FPG has traditionally functioned as a research institute, Yazejian once again emphasized that technical assistance, implementation science, and policy work are essential components of the Institute’s activities. And she continues to see the ADR position as supporting each of these areas. “Research, policy, implementation science, and technical assistance must inform, and be informed by, each other to change outcomes for children and families,” she says. “If you just conduct the research and it does not make it into practice, does not inform policy, the research will not change anything.”

“I was lucky to find my professional home at FPG and to have the chance to work with some of the greatest people in the field who are my professional family," said Yazejian. "I hope my contributions as ADR help sustain FPG as a professional home and family for others so that we can continue to impact the lives of children and family through knowledge generation and application.”

Yazejian is thankful for her time at FPG—a career that spans more than 30 years—and is hopeful about the future. “I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve FPG and work with the extraordinary people who make FPG a mission-driven, transformative organization,” she said. “I was lucky to find my professional home at FPG and to have the chance to work with some of the greatest people in the field who are my professional family. I hope my contributions as ADR help sustain FPG as a professional home and family for others so that we can continue to impact the lives of children and family through knowledge generation and application.”