简介

Dr. Michelle V. Porche, Ed.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology and Human Development. She was previously an Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. Throughout her career she has studied socio-emotional correlates of academic achievement for young children and adolescents, primarily using mixed-methods approaches. She is currently completing a Bureau of Maternal and Child Health funded project examining chronic physical and mental health needs that put children at risk for obesity and poor academic performance, as mediated by physical activity and moderated by socio-demographic characteristics. Other published findings describe the influence of poverty on early reading difficulties and the link between gender and race discrimination on adolescent retention in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Recent work has included the study of early and ongoing adversity on risk of high school dropout. As a member of an interdisciplinary team she has also studied the association between trauma and substance use for adolescents, related to mental health and academic outcomes. Additional work has focused on immigrant children and families, with specific attention to the impact of trauma for resettled refugee youth.