Vesna Kutlesic, Ph.D.

Dr. Vesna Kutlesic’s work on developing global health research, training, and policy initiatives includes an emphasis on child and family health, mental health, human development, HIV/AIDS, behavioral/social science research, interdisciplinary research, among others. Dr. Kutlesic has received several awards for her scientific work and leadership, including the NICHD Director’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Global Health. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Global Health in the School of Public Health at George Washington University and has been a member of the Executive Board of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice within the American Psychological Association. 

Previously, Dr. Kutlesic served as a special assistant to the NIH Director focused on implementing biomedical and behavioral research and policy initiatives. She received an NIH Director’s Award for this work. She was also appointed the lead of the 2008 NIH Presidential Transition Team, which involved collaborating with more than 50 offices at NIH and other government agencies to facilitate communication and prepare briefing materials for the incoming administration. She also served as the NIH Director’s global health liaison to the Fogarty International Center.

Prior to her work at NIH, Dr. Kutlesic was a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, while based in the Psychiatry Department at Case Western Reserve University. She has also worked as a senior international consultant for UNICEF on developing children’s health and behavioral services in Eastern Europe. While a faculty member at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC), she was clinical director of the Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at the Children’s Psychiatric Hospital and worked on developing community- and school-based mental health services for children and their families on the Laguna and Acoma Indian Reservations. She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Louisiana State University, her child clinical psychology internship at UNMHSC, and a mid-career science and technology policy fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC.