Jill Weissberg-Benchell, PhD, CDCES

Community, Population Health, and Outcomes
Clinical and Community Trials
Pronouns: she, her
Contact: jwbenchell@luriechildrens.org

“As a pediatric psychologist, I have shaped my career according to the scientist-practitioner model. Consistent with this model, I have focused my work on integrating the provision of clinical care and clinically applied research. Specifically, my research program is informed both by the literature and by my clinical experiences. The lessons I learn from my patients and their families lead to the most relevant translational research questions. Similarly, my knowledge of the research literature guides my provision of clinical care. I have contributed significantly to the clinical care of children, teenagers, and their parents with diabetes and have developed a highly productive research program as well. While pursuing the scientist-practitioner model, I have also had the great fortune to work with physicians, nurses, and other psychologists nationally and internationally in the diabetes community.”

Research Interests

  • Psychosocial aspects of diabetes
  • Psychosocial impact of diabetes technology
  • Overcoming barriers to access to diabetes technology
  • Preventing depression
  • Decreasing diabetes-specific emotional distress
  • Facilitating transition from pediatric to adult care

Biography

  • Pediatric Psychologist, Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
  • Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

See Lurie Children's Provider Profile

Jill Weissberg-Benchell, PhD, CDCES, is a pediatric psychologist and a certified diabetes care and education specialist with over 25 years of research experience and clinical work with children, adolescents, and families with diabetes and their families. Her academic appointment is as a Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She has published research articles and offered workshops and lectures addressing issues such as improving self-management behaviors, family adaptation and coping, building adolescent resilience, the use of technology (continuous glucose monitoring devices, pumps, and the Artificial Pancreas), and transitioning from pediatric to adult care. She is a co-author of two books, one that focuses on transitioning from pediatric to adult care, and another that focuses on working with adolescents with type 1 diabetes. 

Education and Background

  • PhD, clinical child psychology, Case Western Reserve University 1990
  • Postdoctoral fellowship in diabetes, Children's National Medical Center 1989–1990
  • Predoctoral internship, University of Maryland Hospital 1988–1989
  • MA, clinical child psychology, Case Western Reserve University 1987
  • BA, psychology and history, University of Michigan 1984

Featured Grants

Teaming Up for T1D with Telehealth: Triple T

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
04/01/2020 → 03/31/2022

Transitioning from Pediatric to Adult Care: It Takes a Village

Dixon Family Foundation Grant, Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Science Institute
03/01/2020 → 02/28/2021

Effectiveness Trial of an E-Health Intervention To Support Diabetes Care in Minority Youth

National Institutes of Health
03/01/2017 → 06/30/2022

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