Dr. Laurel J. Kiser, Ph.D., M.B.A.
University of Maryland
Laurel J. Kiser, Ph.D., M.B.A. is a psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine. She received a doctorate from Indiana University in 1981 and completed internships and post-doctoral training in child clinical psychology. In 1986, she obtained a Master’s of Business Administration from University of Memphis. Dr. Kiser has served as co-Principal Investigator of the Family Informed Trauma Treatment (FITT) Center, a National Child Traumatic Stress Network Category II Center, since 2007.
Dr. Kiser has expertise in the development and provision of intensive psychiatric services to children growing up in low-income, multiple problem families. Through this work, Dr. Kiser has treated many children, and adolescents living in poverty, playing in dangerous neighborhoods, victims of neglect, physical and sexual abuse, with moderate to severe psychiatric and behavior disorders. She has written on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and physical/sexual abuse on children and adolescents as well as family processes related to stress and trauma.
Dr. Kiser has received support from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop family-based interventions to address the high rates of trauma exposure and the prevalence of trauma-related disorders related to urban poverty. Strengthening Family Coping Resources: Intervention for Families Impacted by Trauma (Kiser, 2015) is the culmination of her 20+ years working to address the needs of this highly impacted population.
Dr. Kiser is the lead author of the conceptual model of complex trauma in families. Partnering with Charles Figley, she co-authored the second edition of Helping Traumatized Families. Her articles appear frequently in the professional literature and she is a regular presenter and invited lecturer at national conferences.
Dr. Kiser has expertise in the development and provision of intensive psychiatric services to children growing up in low-income, multiple problem families. Through this work, Dr. Kiser has treated many children, and adolescents living in poverty, playing in dangerous neighborhoods, victims of neglect, physical and sexual abuse, with moderate to severe psychiatric and behavior disorders. She has written on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and physical/sexual abuse on children and adolescents as well as family processes related to stress and trauma.
Dr. Kiser has received support from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop family-based interventions to address the high rates of trauma exposure and the prevalence of trauma-related disorders related to urban poverty. Strengthening Family Coping Resources: Intervention for Families Impacted by Trauma (Kiser, 2015) is the culmination of her 20+ years working to address the needs of this highly impacted population.
Dr. Kiser is the lead author of the conceptual model of complex trauma in families. Partnering with Charles Figley, she co-authored the second edition of Helping Traumatized Families. Her articles appear frequently in the professional literature and she is a regular presenter and invited lecturer at national conferences.