Denise Juliano-Bult is chief of the Systems Research Program and the Disparities in Mental Health Services Research Program in the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In this position, Juliano-Bult fosters and manages a research portfolio of studies on the organization and delivery of mental health and related services across a spectrum of settings. Since 2010, she has been the institute lead for the portfolio on development and testing of autism services across the lifespan. In 2012, she led the development of three program announcements to solicit research applications to address: 1) the effectiveness of screening, diagnosis and linkage to autism treatment for children age 0-3 years; 2) pilot projects to develop effective transition services for adolescents and young adults with ASD; and 3) pilot projects to develop service delivery strategies for adults with ASD. The latter two announcements were reissued in 2016. She has worked in collaboration with an economist colleague to foster studies on the financing of autism services and developed a career transition announcement to enable established, mid-career researchers in other areas to conduct autism services research.

Juliano-Bult is an adjunct instructor of master’s level research methods at the National Catholic University School of Social Services and in the George Washington University Art Therapy program. She has a master’s degree in social work from the Catholic University of America. Prior to joining the federal government, she was a social worker and an outpatient therapist in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.