Biography

Dr. Julia LaMotte (she/her), a pediatric psychologist, works with children and families facing chronic or life-limiting health conditions. She advocates for holistic care that addresses both the mind and body. She is Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and Director of Psychosocial Services for the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology & Stem Cell Transplant at Riley Hospital for Children, where she also directs the healthcare transition program within the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program.

Dr. LaMotte's childhood, spent exploring libraries and bookstores across New England, nurtured her lifelong love for reading. She now dedicates her career to supporting children with medical conditions and their families. Additionally, she actively educates future physicians and psychologists, emphasizing the transformative power of knowledge.

Dr. LaMotte specializes in working with children, adolescents, and young adults with chronic medical conditions within the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology & Stem Cell Transplant — and, from 2020 to 2025, the Division of Pediatric Nephrology — at Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children. As a clinical psychologist, she collaborates with an interdisciplinary medical team, integrating psychological principles into pediatric health care through evidence-based methodologies. This approach aims to reduce access barriers to quality mental health services.

Her research follows the same thread, examining how neighborhood opportunity, health literacy, and medical mistrust shape outcomes for children with sickle cell disease — and has produced programs that respond to what it finds, including a neurocognitive screening clinic, home pain management kits, and the Sickle Cell Story Club. She co-facilitates a cross-cultural empathy course designed to promote critical understanding of racism in medicine among pediatric residents, and co-authored A Kids Book About Sickle Cell Disease. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia and completed residency as an Integrated Behavioral Health Scholar at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, TX, followed by a fellowship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.