Lillian Polanco-Roman

Lillian Polanco-Roman is an assistant professor of psychology at the New School in New York City. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and the director of the Mental Health Equity Lab. Her research aims to investigate the sociocultural context of the development of psychopathology as well as in the promotion of mental well-being among ethno-racially minoritized and immigrant youth. Specifically, Polanco-Roman studies the mental health and developmental consequences of racism-related experiences and identifies culture-specific processes that may buffer these harmful effects. Overall, her research aims to increase the cultural responsiveness of youth suicide prevention strategies to address the elevated rates of suicidal behaviors among Black and Latine youth.

At Radcliffe, Polanco-Roman’s research is focusing on studying the role of institutional-level and individual-level indicators of racism on suicide-related risk among ethno-racially minoritized youth. Specifically, she will examine whether racial disparities across a variety of institutions associate with personal experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination, which in turn may associate with elevated risk of suicidal behaviors among US Black and Latine adolescents.

Polanco-Roman completed a T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship for Translational Research in Child Psychiatric Disorders at Columbia University Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at New York State Psychiatric Institute. She also completed her psychology internship at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She obtained her PhD in psychology at City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. Recently, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Equity Scholar for Action.