Vanessa Cobham

Vanessa E. Cobham serves as a Professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland while maintaining roles as a Clinical Psychologist at Children's Health Queensland's Child and Youth Mental Health Service and Principal Research Fellow at the Mater Research Institute. Her research has significantly advanced understanding of child and adolescent mental health, particularly in post-disaster contexts, where she has developed innovative stepped-care models for psychological intervention. She has pioneered research on post-disaster mental health programs, including school-based screening and treatment approaches for children experiencing PTSD following natural disasters. Her work spans various areas including child and adolescent psychopathology, family functioning after disasters, and the impacts of maternal stress on child development. Cobham has published extensively on psychological interventions for children, with recent work focusing on developing scalable psychosocial interventions for youth affected by disasters. Her contributions to the field have included developing screening tools, implementing parent effectiveness training programs, and creating trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy approaches. Beyond her research, she maintains an active clinical practice and contributes to mental health intervention programs, making her a leading figure in both the academic and practical applications of child and adolescent mental health care.