Yumiko Aratani, PhD

aratani (@) nccp.org
Director, Health and Mental Health
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Yumiko Aratani, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Health and Mental Health Unit at the National Center for Children in Poverty. Dr. Aratani received her PhD in sociology from Columbia University.  She specializes in public policy research related to child poverty and mental health services. As the principal investigator of multiple federally funded projects, Dr. Aratani works closely with local and state governments to evaluate policies and interventions targeting low-income families with children and identify effective policies and programs that can positively affect child development and well-being. She is one of seven scholars in the Family Self-Sufficiency and Stability Research Network, funded by the Office of Planning Research and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is also the principal investigator of a study to evaluate the impact of Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) on children living in public housing communities in California, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  She also participates in Interdisciplinary Research Leaders, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national leadership program that is bringing together researchers and community leaders from across the country to collaborate and innovate to solve persistent challenges and advance a Culture of Health since September 2017.