About Eileen Escarce
PhD, MA, MSN
Eileen Escarce Ph.D., M.A., M.S.N., is a licensed clinical developmental psychologist, school psychologist and pediatric nurse practitioner.
Dr. Escarce began her work with children as a nurse in pediatric oncology and pediatric ICU at KU Medical Center. Inspired to combine work with travel while on a college public health nursing rotation in London, home visiting new moms and babies, she traveled to New Zealand and worked as a “sister” in neuro ICU and cardiac ICU. At Auckland’s Greenlane Hospital she completed a year-long training in pediatric and adult cardiothoracic and vascular surgical/intensive care led by Sir Brian Barratt Boyes (who was knighted for developing the technique to make open-heart surgical repairs for infants under 10 kg possible). On returning to the USA she continued work in pediatric ICU and completed a master's degree in pediatric nursing/PNP at Yale University. While at Yale, she trained in newborn assessment (BNBAS) in Dr. T. Berry Brazelton’s Child Development Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. At the time, Dr. Brazelton was studying what the infant brings to the parent-infant interaction, by studying the baby’s behavior at birth and in the first month of life. Dr. Escarce used the Brazelton Newborn Assessment to assess newborns in two hospitals in Kathmandu Nepal for her cross-cultural thesis comparing American and Nepalese “infants’ behaviors.” After graduation, she moved to Stanford University Medical Center to work as a pediatric gastroenterology clinical nurse specialist. After an additional year of special studies in psychology and Spanish at Stanford, she moved to San Diego with her husband. As a CPNP in the maternity ward of UC San Diego Medical Center, she provided newborn admission and discharge exams part-time while also working as a CPNP in well-baby and acute care clinics at the San Ysidro Community Health Center. Seeking to pursue further study in clinical developmental psychology, she completed a master's in human development, certified as a school psychologist, and completed the doctorate at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. At her APA-predoctoral internship at the University of Miami Medical Center, she worked primarily in pediatric oncology, as well as with substance-exposed infants and their mothers, adolescents with diabetes, and children suffering from trauma.
Dr. Escarce began testing children’s cognitive abilities for local public and private elementary schools’ admissions and gifted programs during graduate school. As a certified school psychologist at the Episcopal Academy of Merion, Pennsylvania (1991-1993), she provided admission IQ tests and classroom consultations for Pre-K to grade 3 students. After moving to Los Angeles, Eileen continued to assess children with contracts from the Community Child Health Programs of Cedars Sinai Pediatrics in West Hollywood Elementary schools (2000-2001), St. John’s Child and Family Development Center’s Birth to Five Assessment and Treatment Programs (2001-2003), Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center (assessing infants, preschoolers and school-aged children with suspected developmental delays, autism, and other disabilities (2005-2009), LA County Department of Mental Health AB3632 Unit (assessing school-aged children with severe emotional disorders (2003-2006), and UCLA Family Commons, as a family coach (2010-2011). From 2005-2007, Dr. Escarce was the psychologist on the First 5 LA funded Early Developmental Screening Initiative (EDSI) of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities team. She has been a mental health consultant for Family Services of Santa Monica for SMMUSD's Head Start and State Preschools (2009-2012), and the Growing Place Infant and Child Care settings (2010-present). As a community volunteer, Eileen was a member of the Advisory Council to FSSM Early Childhood Wellbeing Project, and chaired the LA County Psychological Association's Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group from 2006 to 2012.
Dr. Eileen began offering BabyAttuned Mom/Dad & Baby support groups in 2005 at the Pump Station, at the UCLA Family Commons (2010-11) and in private homes. As a Touchpoints Special Needs Training Faculty at Lanterman Regional Center, she offered New Paths Support Groups to address the grief and family adaptations that parents of children with special needs often face.
In private practice, Eileen provides psycho-educational and developmental assessments and consultation for children of different ages, including highly gifted applicants to the Mirman School, the Nueva School, Stanford's Online High School, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Mensa, and the Davidson Young Scholars program. She also provides preschool and school consultations, individual and family therapy and parent coaching.