Luz Towns-Miranda, Ph.D. 

Luz Towns-Miranda, Ph.D., received her doctorate in clinical psychology from NYU and was licensed in 1985. She received a postdoctoral certificate from NYU's Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in 1998. Her varied experiences have included assessing and treating foster care children, running a therapeutic nursery, and teaching family medicine residents at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center and Montefiore Medical Center.

She has been a proud member of NHHRI's Leadership Advisory Board (LAB) since June 2025, where she advocates for research that benefits Latino and other underserved communities. She has served as a consultant, working with the Community Association of Progressive Dominicans, where she was instrumental in developing its mental health programs, and with Acacia, a South Bronx provider of mental health and substance abuse recovery services.  For over 20 years, she served on the 18B panel in all five boroughs, providing court-appointed forensic evaluations for people who cannot afford private services, in custody and visitation matters. Her knowledge and experience are powerfully influenced by infant attachment research, mentalization-based treatment, and trauma research.   

Dr. Towns-Miranda worked as a firehouse clinician in an NYC firehouse following 9/11, from 2002–2004. She serves on the board of trustees of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the American Theater Wing, and on the national board of directors of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the not-for-profit advocacy and nonpartisan political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She also served on the New York State Board of Psychology from 2000–2020.

Luz and her husband, Luis A. Miranda Jr., have been married for over 45 years and raised Luz Miranda-Crespo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Miguel Towns in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood. They are the proud grandparents of six and great-grandparents of one.