Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Grimes is a child psychiatrist and children's health services researcher at Harvard Medical School. She is also the Founder and Director of the Children's Health Initiative at Cambridge Health Alliance. Previously the PI for the long-running "Mental Health Services Program for Youth" (MHSPY) study, via a grant from the RWJ Foundation, Dr. Grimes has an MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is a former Faculty Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government. Her experience with designing and delivering integrated care in the public sector has led her to focus her health policy efforts on improving mental health treatment access and engagement for children and adolescents, with an emphasis on promoting earlier intervention and effective systemic approaches to reduce health disparities. Dr. Grimes is currently the PI for a 4 yr. SAMHSA grant to the Cambridge Public Health Commission, working alongside primary care and the state's child serving agencies to enhance systems of care for children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). She has received prior federal funding from the MCHB, OMH, CMHS, CSAT and SAMHSA. Her earlier work as PI on pilot projects funded by the BCBSMA Foundation, featuring shared training by pediatric residents and child psychiatry fellows, contributed to a new medical education initiative in integrated care via the HMS-Academy. In addition to her faculty role with Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training at HMS, she serves as a preceptor for students from both the Harvard TH Chan and the Tufts Medical Schools of Public Health.