Claritza Pena

Claritza joined NIEER as a Research Coordinator II. Claritza graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Kean University and is currently pursuing an Advanced Fellowship in Infant Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) from Montclair State University.

Prior to joining NIEER, Claritza assisted women in childbearing age and children promote better health outcomes at the Central Jersey Family Health Consortium. Former role of an Early Childhood Specialist for the Healthy Women, Healthy Family statewide initiative in efforts to improve Maternal and Child Health outcomes. Previously, Claritza participated in the federal Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Impact grant to promote infant and early childhood development and school readiness. Administered developmental screening and consultation, connected children to Part B services as needed. Assisted caregivers in identifying and obtaining quality childcare and preschool utilizing GrowNJ Kids QIRS and the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency subsidies. In previous roles, Claritza collaborated with multiple community-based organizations to provide education and consultation regarding best practices for addressing social determinants of health for pregnant and parenting families and utilized the evidence-based home visiting model, Parents as Teachers to support the parent-child relationship amongst Spanish speaking Latino families. In addition to work in partnership with Rutgers University on two research projects “Reaching the Parents: Medication Safety Project” in 2016 and the Literacy Promotion for Latinos RWJMS 3 Year Research Project which began in 2020.