Dr. John Constantino, Chief. Behavioral and Mental Health Director at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, talks about the mental health challenges affecting our children and what CHOA is doing to address and improve mental health care for our most vulnerable.

Dr. John Constantino is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of behavioral and mental health conditions of children and adolescents. Dr. Constantino received his medical education at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and completed a five-year combined residency in Pediatrics, General Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. 

After completing his training, Dr. Constantino returned to the Washington University School of Medicine to develop a clinical and scientific program focused on understanding genetic and environmental influences on disorders of social development in childhood and their implications for treatment and preventive intervention. His Social Developmental Studies Laboratory was continuously federally-funded for 25 years by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As one of the leading child psychiatrists in the country, Dr. Constantino’s holistic approach to mental health has had an industry-wide impact, and his published research is some of the most highly cited in the field.

As Chief of Behavioral and Mental Health and Liz and Frank Blake Chair for Children’s Behavioral and Mental Health, Dr. Constantino seeks to innovate behavioral health practice, resolve fragmentation in the delivery of care, enhance access to interventions of proven benefit, and improve long-term mental health outcomes for children and adolescents throughout Georgia. Prior to joining Children’s, Dr. Constantino served as Psychiatrist-in-Chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, as well as the Blanche F. Ittleson Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he directed the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for the past 12 years. 

In addition to providing patient care and serving in his leadership role at Children's, Dr. Constantino holds a faculty appointment with the Emory University School of Medicine as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.