Senior Leadership Team

Vanderploeg received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University, completed Predoctoral and Postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine, and was a research faculty member at Yale before joining CHDI in 2009. He initially began as a Program Associate before being promoted to Associate Director of Mental Health in 2011, and Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives in 2014.  

During his career at CHDI, he played a central role in developing effective policies, systems, and practices for the prevention and treatment of mental health conditions among children and adolescents and their families. He was the lead author of the Connecticut Children’s Behavioral Health Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for addressing the behavioral health needs of youth, which has remained a significant guiding framework for state-wide reform. He was also the co-developer of the Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) model and was instrumental in creating a quality improvement system for the state’s mobile crisis system.

In addition to his role as CHDI President and CEO, Vanderploeg serves on the Behavioral Health Plan Implementation Advisory Board, co-chairs the Quality, Access and Policy Subcommittee of the CT Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council, and is a member of several other committees and councils in children’s behavioral health policy development. He holds faculty appointments in Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut Health Center School of Medicine.

In addition, Paul oversees contract management and human resources for both organizations. He joined CFC/CHDI in 2004 with twenty years of experience in public accounting as a partner in Filomeno and Company, P.C., where he was director of the Audit Department and the firm's Business Valuation practice. Paul is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA).

Lisa has more than 30 years of experience working in child health organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford and ProHealth Physician's Connecticut Center for Primary Care. She serves on several statewide committees related to medical home implementation in Connecticut, care for children with special health care needs, family support, pediatric training and quality improvement in pediatric care. Her work at CHDI focuses on: care coordination, developmental screening, the interface between primary care and community and subspecialty services, and expanding the capacity of pediatric primary care to address mental health issues. Lisa has a BA in sociology from the University of Massachusetts and an MA and PhD, both in sociology, from the University of Chicago. She holds a faculty appointment in Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Jason is a nationally recognized expert who has published and presented about child trauma, evidence-based practices, and implementation science.  Since joining CHDI in 2007 as a Program Associate, he has also held positions as Associate Director and Director of Dissemination and Implementation. His work has encompassed child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, law enforcement, education, pediatric primary care, and family advocacy organizations to improve children’s behavioral health services and create sustainable system improvements. A specific focus has been on developing partnerships with state agencies, researchers, and community providers to test, implement and evaluate innovative strategies for disseminating and sustaining EBPs, including MATCH-ADTC, TF-CBT, CBITS, and ARC.  He is Principal Investigator of the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative, funded by SAMHSA as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), and he serves on the NCTSN Steering Committee. Jason is also Co-Principal Investigator for the Connecticut Collaborative on Effective Practices for Trauma (CONCEPT), funded by the Administration for Children and Families to improve trauma-informed care for children in Connecticut’s child welfare system. 

Jason is a licensed clinical psychologist who also holds appointments as an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at UCONN Health and at the Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine. Prior to joining CHDI, Jason completed his pre- and post-doctoral fellowships specializing in child traumatic stress at the Yale Child Study Center. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA in 2005, and is a graduate of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series College and The NIH-sponsored Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH).  

A list of publications is available at:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jason_Lang2

She began her career in Washington, DC working in politics and government, including for the Clinton Administration at the White House Domestic Policy Council. Later, Julie promoted women's sports opportunities through the WNBA's Washington Mystics and went on to lead a media outreach team for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign to help reduce youth drug use nationwide.

Jeana’s work focuses on developing effective systems, policies, and best practices to improve behavioral health outcomes for children, youth, and families through school-family-community partnerships. Currently she coordinates the CT School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI), a state-funded program designed to reduce school-based arrests and to divert youth with behavioral health needs away from the juvenile justice system and into appropriate community-based services and supports. Jeana also directs the Connecticut Network of Care Transformation (CONNECT), a four-year initiative funded by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), where she oversees planning and implementation of an integrated statewide Network of Care for children’s behavioral health. While she officially joined the CHDI staff in July 2011, Jeana has worked with CHDI since 2008 through her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at The Consultation Center at Yale University. She earned her PhD in Clinical/Community Psychology in 2010 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.