Christine Walrath, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President and Chief Science Officer, Public and Behavioral Health Research and Evaluation

Christine is a public and behavioral health expert with more than 25 years of experience in federal, state, and local health policy and program research and evaluation.

Christine has a wide range of health policy and research experience, including full lifecycle policy and program evaluation of community-based programs; design; implementation; instrument development; analysis of multimodal, multilevel, and multisite approaches to policy, training, and intervention evaluation and data collection; and dissemination. She has expertise in investigating the community-based and national impact of youth focused mental health services reform, suicide prevention, and mental health promotion interventions, as evidenced by over 55 peer reviewed publications and numerous scientific presentations.

Much of Christine’s work has involved large-scale data collection from high-risk populations about sensitive behavioral and physical health topics, including mental illness, suicidality, substance abuse, abuse and neglect, sexual and reproductive health, and criminality. She has applied her training and expertise to the community-based evaluations of large-scale Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-funded behavioral health initiatives such as the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Program, Safe Schools Healthy Students, Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program, Native Connections Program, and the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative.

Christine is dually trained in community psychology and public mental health and began her career at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she currently holds an adjunct faculty position.

Areas of expertise

Education

Ph.D., Community and Social Psychology, University of Maryland
M.H.S., Public Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
NIH Office of Human Subjects Research Training Course for NIH IRB members

Publications

Godoy Garraza, L., Kuiper, N., Goldston, D., McKeon, R., and Walrath, C. (2019). Long- Term Impact of the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Program on Youth Suicide Mortality, 2006–2015. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.\ doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13058
Tevendale, H.D., Condron, D.S., Godoy Garraza, L., Romero, L.M., Brooks, M. & Walrath, C. (2017) Practical Approaches to Evaluating Process and Outcome in Community-wide Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60, 3, S63-S68.
Godoy Garraza, L., Boyce, S., Walrath, C., Goldston, D., and McKeon, R. (2016). An Economic Evaluation of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Suicide Prevention Program. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, doi:10.1111/sltb.1232.
Godoy Garraza, L., Walrath, C., Goldson, D., Reid, H. and McKeon, R. (2015). Effect of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Suicide Prevention Program on suicide attempts among youths. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(11), 1143-1149.
Walrath, C., Garraza, L. G., Reid, H., Goldston, D. B., & McKeon, R. (2015). Impact of the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Program on Suicide Mortality. American Journal of Public Health, 105(5), 986-993.
Godoy Garraza, L., Azur, M., Stephens, R., & Walrath, C. (2011). Gender differences in patterns of child risk across programmatic phases of the CMHI: A multiple group Latent Class Analysis (LCA). Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, 38(2), 265–277.