Dr. Dunn graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in child development and Spanish, after which she completed her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Denver. Following an internship in pediatric psychology at Stanford’s Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto, California, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Child Development and Infant Mental Health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Dunn has extensive clinical, research, and program development experience in the field of infant mental health across the country. Before moving to Pittsburgh, Dr. Dunn lived in Denver, Baltimore, and Philadelphia where she held faculty positions and worked as a pediatric psychologist at the Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO), Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, and most recently, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in the departments of Neonatology and Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing.  She has always been committed to transdisciplinary care for young children in medical settings; specifically, integrating mental health into pediatric primary care. She also helped start a multidisciplinary breastfeeding support program at CHCO, Trifecta for the Breastfed Infant, and the Fragile Feeders Clinic at CHOP, providing support to families with children with feeding challenges.

In addition to her work at Acorn Psych, Dr. Dunn is an instructor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Education.  She has published articles, book chapters, and presented at national conferences in the field of infant and early childhood mental health. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and on the board of the Pennsylvania Association for Infant Mental Health.

Dr. Dunn is deeply committed to paying it forward professionally, and she enjoys supervising and training mental health professionals.  She has developed workshops and professional presentations for medical and mental health professionals, parents, schools, early childhood educators, and community-based clinicians.

Outside of her work life, you can find Dr. Dunn spending time with her family, cooking, coaching lacrosse, and exploring Pittsburgh’s outdoor spaces.