Desiree W. Murray, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Dr. Murray is a clinical psychologist and prevention scientist whose research focuses on promoting positive youth development, particularly for those living in adversity, by creating more supportive home, school, and community environments. A key focus of her work is building the capacity of educators to provide co-regulation supports to adolescents through consistent relationships, a supportive school climate, and intentional teacher-student interactions. In addition, she is interested in understanding how student and teacher stress contribute to emotion dysregulation, using novel approaches including ecological momentary assessment.
Dr. Murray leads the interdisciplinary research group, called the UPSIDE Team. Her work is funded primarily by the Department of Education, with projects focusing on implementing and evaluating different adaptations of the Be CALM program, a mindfulness-based social-emotional program for middle and high schools. She also conducts research on adolescent wellbeing more broadly, integrating innovative methods like ecological momentary assessment and interdisciplinary examination of stress indicators in school wastewater.