Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, PhD

Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who designs, develops, and implements groundbreaking programs to prevent a range of negative outcomes for children and families. She was trained at the University of Southern California and was a faculty member at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute for many years. From 1993 until recently, Dr. Rotheram was a Professor in Child Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Global Center for Children and Families, as well as the Center for HIV Prevention, Identification, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS). She currently is a Distinguished Professor in the Semel Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA.

Dr. Rotheram has secured more than $270 million in grants during her tenure at UCLA and was twice listed in Science as one of the top receivers of federal grants in the U.S., the only woman or behavioral scientist listed as such. She has conducted 22 federally funded, randomized controlled trials for persons at risk of or affected by suicide, depression, HIV, or diabetes, and a number of her evidence-based interventions serve as national models. She founded the UCLA Family Commons, and is aiming to take the model for selecting, training, and monitoring paraprofessional intervention staff national. She also has worked for the last 20 years in Asian and African countries.

Dr. Rotheram has sat on the National Scientific Advisory Councils for the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Research. Currently, she is recognized for her work on disruptive innovations in behavioral science and mental health.