A graduate from The University of New Mexico is now leading public health advocacy across the nation, focusing on the mental health of infants and children. She attributes her career inspiration to her time at UNM.
“I tell people I am a voice for babies,” says Sherri Alderman, MD, MPH, who has shaped the lives of young people as a pediatrician specializing in infant mental health. Contrary to common assumptions, infant mental health does not involve diagnosing babies with conditions like depression or anxiety. Instead, it focuses on the holistic well-being of infants and young children within the context of their caregivers' well-being.
“We look at infant mental health by imagining life from the baby’s perspective,” says Alderman. “Their closest environment is the family, the caregivers, the community that surrounds them. So those people’s lives have a big impact on babies’ mental health.”
Alderman received her Master of Public Health from UNM in 2000 and completed her pediatric residency at UNM Hospital. In 2006, she participated in an intensive two-year interdisciplinary training program in infant mental health at UNM’s Center for Developmental Disabilities. The program was led by Jacqui Van Horn, MPH, DSIII, IMH-E and Deborah Harris, LISW, IMH-E.
“It was reflective of how the infant mental health workforce is professionally,” says Alderman. She noted that such programs are rare and unique since infant mental health is generally absent from medical education and pediatric training programs.
Now residing in Portland, Oregon, Alderman holds various local and national advocacy roles in public policy. She works to create legislation aimed at improving conditions for parents and childcare providers to give infants a better start in life.
“I have a special interest in child rights,” says Alderman. She is part of a coalition advocating for U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child—the only United Nations member yet to do so. The coalition aims to develop a toolkit enabling individual states to adopt or ratify the Convention independently.
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a phenomenal document," says Alderman. "It recognizes that realizing child rights also involves realizing parent rights.”
In discussing U.S. cultural attitudes towards children and parenting, Alderman points out that there is insufficient value placed on children as individuals rather than future workers funding social security checks.
In public health terms, up to 80% of an individual's health outcomes are influenced by social determinants such as physical environment and access to resources like food and clean water—factors also affecting infant mental health.
“There’s a lot going on in a [caregiver’s] world that impacts their ability to make certain decisions,” says Alderman. To care well for children, adults sometimes need help too.
For those interested in this field of work, UNM College of Population Health offers Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels along with certificates focused on specialized understanding applicable for practitioners or researchers.
