Speaker's Profile

Amber W. Childs, PhD is a nationally recognized expert in child and adolescent mental health and the founder/CEO of The Dr. Amber Childs Advisory, a venture focused on improving youth mental health outcomes. A licensed clinical psychologist, she brings nearly 15 years of deep experience and expertise in advancing equity, access, and mental health outcomes through data-driven quality improvement and digital innovation. Dr. Childs is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and is a member of the medical staff at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (YNHPH). Her transformational leadership roles have included Director of Training for Yale’s Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology, Co-Director of the Division of Quality and Innovation at YNHPH, and Chief Clinical Officer at BeMe Health. A serial founder (Getting Reflective in Our Work, Yale Measurement-Based Care Collaborative, M-Select), she is an award-winning innovator and frequent media contributor (New York Times, Washington Post, CNBC Make It, Hartford Courant). She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and presentations and was an appointed member of APA's Measurement-Based Care Advisory Board. Currently, she is an Ambassador for the AAP’s Center of Excellence for Social Media and Youth Mental Health, Expert Consultant to BHT Impact, and a 2025 Yale Public Voices Fellow of the OpED Project. Dr. Childs earned her MA in Experimental Psychology and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and completed her residency at The Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital where she specialized in Child and Adolescent Services. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.