Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Biographies 

Michelle Boyd

Michelle Boyd is a Social Science Analyst in the Division of Children and Youth Policy in the Office of 

the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Office (ASPE) at the Department of Health and 

Human Services. Michelle’s work at ASPE focuses on policies and programs that affect youth and young 

adults (typically defined as young people ages 10 to 24). The topic areas in her portfolio include: 

bullying, disconnected or opportunity youth, financial literacy and education, and violence prevention. 

Much of her work involves interagency coordination and collaboration. This includes participation in 

various interagency workgroups and efforts. One of her primary responsibilities is to help staff the 

Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs and maintain the Working Group’s public website 

(youth.gov). An emerging interest and area of work for Michelle is implementation and evaluation of 

evidence-based programs and interventions.

Prior to joining ASPE, Michelle was a SRCD Congressional Policy Fellow on the Democratic staff of the 

U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, specifically with the Health and Human 

Resources Subcommittees. Prior to her fellowships, she was a researcher at the Institute for Applied 

Research in Youth Development on the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a longitudinal 

assessment of the key characteristics of positive youth development and key ecological assets that 

promote positive youth development. In addition, she was a researcher at Tisch College of Citizenship 

and Public Service on projects investigating the links between civic engagement and psychosocial wellbeing among college students and the civic engagement of proven-risk youth. Michelle holds a B.S. in 

psychology from Howard University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in child development (with a focus on 

adolescent development) from Tufts University.

Cheri Hoffman

Cheri Hoffman is the Director of the Children and Youth Policy (CYP) Division in the Assistant 

Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Office (ASPE) at the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The CYP Division develops and reviews policy initiatives focused on the well-being of children and 

youth, including those in early childhood learning settings, the child welfare system, and youth programs 

across federal agencies. Previously, Cheri was the Legislative Director for Congresswoman Louise 

Slaughter (NY-25), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee where she was responsible for the 

identification and progression of the Congresswoman’s legislative agenda and had primary responsibility 

for health, women’s issues, and children and youth issues. Cheri previously served as the American 

Psychological Association’s Congressional Fellow in the Office of Congressman Pete Stark (CA-13), 
where she focused on health, mental health, and child welfare issues. She has also led evaluations of 

SAMHSA systems of care for children’s mental health and campus suicide prevention grants, and the 

Nashville Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative for youth transitioning out of foster care. Cheri has 

experience working with youth in residential and community-based settings and has learned lessons from 

brave, inspiring young people around the world. 

Cheri has a Ph.D. in Community Research and Action from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Marriage 

and Family Therapy from Trevecca Nazarene University, and a BS in Child Development from Syracuse 

University. She completed a NIMH pre-doctoral fellowship in child and adolescent mental health 

services research, and her dissertation focused on the characteristics, experiences, and strengths of 

homeless youth in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sarah Oberlander

Sarah Oberlander is a Social Science Analyst in the Division of Children and Youth Policy in the Office 

of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Office (ASPE) at the Department of Health and 

Human Services. Sarah joined ASPE as a Society for Research in Policy Fellow from 2009-2011. Prior to 

joining the federal government, Sarah held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland 

School of Medicine examining the link between childhood maltreatment and subsequent initiation of 

sexual intercourse and adolescent pregnancy. Sarah’s graduate work focused on adolescent pregnancy and 

parenting in multigenerational households after welfare reform. She holds and Ph.D. and M.A. in 

Community-Social Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a B.S. in 

Psychology from Indiana University.

Sarah’s current activities include policy analysis related to youth issues, including teen pregnancy 

prevention, youth violence prevention, and co-staffing the Interagency Working Group on Youth 

Programs. Sarah is the lead for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review, which is the 

Department’s evidence-based program directory for programs that prevent teen pregnancies, sexually 

transmitted infections, and associated sexual risk behaviors. She also works on the Teen Pregnancy 

Prevention Replication Study, a five-year implementation and impact study of nine grantee sites 

replicating three evidence-based programs. Much of Sarah’s work portfolio includes coordination and 

collaboration activities related to youth issues across HHS and the federal government.