Desiree Murray, PhD, is a prevention scientist and licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on understanding the development of self-regulation from multidisciplinary perspectives and applying this knowledge to design and test interventions in schools and early care settings for children and adolescents. Murray leads the UPSIDE (Understanding and Promoting Self-Regulation Intervention across Development) Team, an interdisciplinary research group that develops, implements, and evaluates self-regulation interventions that promote resilience for children and youth from early childhood through young adulthood, especially focusing on youth who face chronic adversity. One of the team’s main interventions is Be CALM (Cool, Attentive, Logical, and Mature,) a mindfulness-based social-emotional learning for middle and high school students designed to promote stress resilience. In addition to providing a student curriculum, the program trains educators to practice mindfulness in interactions with students to create safe and supportive school environments. Murray is committed to creating ways for caring adults—including teachers, educators, coaches, mentors, and families—to provide ‘co-regulation’ supports for adolescents. She says that youths’ developmental contexts may be more important than the skills instruction.

Background

Prior to joining UNC and FPG, Murray was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke Medical Center, where she served as the Associate Director of the Duke ADHD Program for six years. She also worked as a Research Scientist at the Center of Child and Family Policy where she led a team that prepared several reports and briefs to inform self-regulation programs and practices for ACF. In addition, she provided clinical services and training, managed several federally funded intervention trials, and implemented manualized psychosocial treatment programs. She continues to collaborate with Duke colleagues on several projects, including the Multi-modal Treatment Study for ADHD.