Liliana Lengua, Ph.D. is UW’s Maritz Family Foundation Professor of Psychology and has directed CCFW since its founding in 2011. A child clinical psychologist, she studies the effects of adversity on children and examines risk and protective factors that contribute to children’s resilience or vulnerability. Her research has focused on the contributions of children’s temperament, coping, and parenting in contributing to children’s responses to adversity.
Her most current research probes the effects of low income on the development of self-regulation in preschool children, including studies of infants, preschool and preadolescent children. She investigates family adversity, parenting, and neurobiological factors that account for the effects of low income on children’s well-being. In addition, she has developed an evidence-based parenting program infused with mindfulness practices to enhance parenting effectiveness and support parent well-being.
Dr. Lengua has been the principal investigator of several federally-funded research projects and is the author of over 100 published papers. She serves on the steering committee for the CDC funded Washington State Essentials for Childhood Initiative, collaborates with the Harvard Center for the Developing Child’s Frontiers of Innovation, and previously served on the board of trustees for Neighborhood House, a private, nonprofit anti-poverty organization.