Member Spotlight

Lara Effland, LICSW, CEDS-S, has been a member of ADAA for over 10 years. She has presented at the annual conference, joined Special Interest Groups, encouraged other colleagues to join, and attended the many amazing webinars and training courses. Lara finds ADAA to be a supportive and dependable resource for clinicians and providers. The presentations are excellent, they attract experts in the field, and ADAA also cares for and appreciates their members and community. She has met so many wonderful people, friends, and colleagues through ADAA.

Lara Effland is a licensed clinical social worker with over 15 years of clinical experience and 12 years of clinical supervision, training, and leadership experience. In 2021, she founded the Clinician Development Collective, a website dedicated to providing masterful clinician resources: clinical supervision, consultation, and foundational training.

Ms. Effland is a nationally recognized expert in the field of eating, mood, anxiety, and trauma related disorders. She has worked in multiple levels of care throughout the country with individuals who suffer from these conditions. Ms. Effland received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Oberlin College and her Master’s degree in Social Work from Loyola University of Chicago with a concentration in clinical practice. Her training and expertise focus primarily on cognitive, behavioral, and evidence-based interventions, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders, Exposure and Response Prevention, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, and Mindfulness based interventions.

Ms. Effland nationally speaks and trains on the topics of eating, mood, anxiety, and traumatic stress disorders. She brings compassion, competence, and integrity to patient care and strives to ensure that all clinicians and clients receive the support they need to be their best selves.
 

Member Since 2014

Dr. Chadi Abdallah is an Associate Professor and Beth K. and Stuart Yudofsky Chair in the Neuropsychiatry of Military Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the Academic Director of for the Advanced Technology Core Labs, Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CAMRI) at Baylor. Dr. Abdallah received his MD from Lebanese University and completed his Residency at SUND Downstate, a Research Fellowship at Yale University, and Postdoctoral Training at Cornell University.  

Dr. Abdallah has expertise in antidepressants clinical trials, translational clinical neuroscience, multimodal neuroimaging, and the development of rapid acting antidepressant for the treatment of depression, PTSD and other stress-related psychiatric disorders. He employs broad range of pharmacological challenges, neuroimaging modalities, and network neuroscience approaches to study the neurobiology of depression and other psychiatric disorders and the mechanisms underlying treatment response and resistance. His research program focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying trauma, depression, and chronic stress, with emphasis on the role of synaptic connectivity and neuroenergetics.

Dr. Abdallah and ADAA

"ADAA has very impressed by the excellent mix of clinical and research presentations, as well as by the professional diversity of attendees. Since then, I have been attending and/or presenting at the annual meeting almost every year. I enjoy the informative email updates and the participation in the special groups [offered by ADAA]. But my favorite is of course the annual conference.

As a researcher, my involvement with ADAA helps me make new friends and acquaintances within the field and got me exposed to broad spectrum of research and clinical knowledge.

I recently moved to Baylor College of Medicine, where I serve as director of the Core for Advanced MRI (CAMRI) and co-director of the Emerge Research Program. So far, I love the warmer weather in Houston!  I am looking forward to expanding the impact of CAMRI on the local imaging research and to continue and advance the research work that we started at Yale. I am especially excited about our work to establish clinically useful biomarkers of trauma and chronic stress.”

Member Since 1995

Mary K. Alvord, Ph.D. is a psychologist with more than 40 years of clinical experience and is Founder and President of Resilience Across Borders, Inc. with a mission to promote mental health wellness to children and teens who might not otherwise have access.  Dr. Alvord is also director of Alvord, Baker & Associates. She specializes in treating children, adolescents, and adults using evidenced-based therapies. A central focus is building resilience in children.  She has published articles and chapters on resilience and stress over the past 20 years and has co-authored two books, Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens and Resilience Builder Program for children and adolescents.

Member Since 2018

Dominique Apollon, M.Ed, LCPC, NCC is a clinical mental health therapist working at NVision You, a Chicago-based private practice in the Loop. Dominique is a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and serves on their public education committee. Dominique also serves on the steering committee of the Social Isolation and Pets Consortium, initiated and supported by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Mars Petcare.

Dominique applies evidence-based treatments, including mindfulness-based techniques, for clients who experience anxiety, depression, OCD, and other stress-related disorders. She strives to help her clients discover what it means to live intuitively, embrace their vulnerabilities and learn to challenge and face uncertainty with more confidence.

Dominique and ADAA

"I became involved with ADAA in 2018 and have been an active member of the Public Education Committee since. I chose to become a member of ADAA because of how resourceful and current they are with mental health topics.

I enjoy being a part of an organization that is constantly striving to be the best mental health resource worldwide. ADAA is genuine and thoughtful in its approach to provide helpful tips, resources and evidence-based research. I have personally enjoyed being able to write blogs and assist in hosting and presenting webinars as an effort to educate others.  

Being a member of ADAA benefits my work because I am constantly able to access helpful information to help me learn and grow as a mental health professional. I am grateful to be able to share ADAA as a resource to clients, friends and family and feel proud to say I am a member and advocate. 

I am thrilled to share that my most recent accomplishment allows me to give back to the mental health community! I started Shrink Designs, which is a newly launched Chicago-based company that works with therapists, psychologists and all healthcare workers on all things design. Shrink Designs' mission is to assist in cultivating a space to help with work/life balance for healthcare professionals while giving back a percentage of their proceeds to different mental health organizations worldwide. 

Member Since 2000

Dr. Asmundson is a Registered Doctoral Psychologist and Full Professor of Psychology at the University of Regina. He received his doctorate in Psychology from the University of Manitoba in 1991, completed postdoctoral training from 1991-1993, and in 2005-2006 trained as a Beck Scholar at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research. I am also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders and Clinical Psychology Review, past Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Examples of career awards include Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada and investiture in the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. I have published more than 340 peer-reviewed papers, 70 book chapters, and nine books.

Dr. Asmundson and ADAA

"I attended my first ADAA conference in 1992 while doing my postdoctoral training with Murray Stein and John Walker. They suggested that I would enjoy the learning opportunities and collaborative atmosphere of the meeting and organization. They were right. I have been a member at involved with ADAA in several capacities since that first conference attendance. My ADAA membership has a number of perks but, for me, the annual conference is the highlight. I am proud to say that I have attended the conference very year now for 28 years. The excellent research and clinical content, combined with a very welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for all attendees, is second to none."

Member Since 2017

Dr. Averill is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston. She received her PhD from the University of Utah and completed a Fulbright fellowship at the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (now Phoenix Australia), internship in clinical psychology at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX, and postdoctoral fellowship at the NCPTSD-CND and Yale’s Department of Psychiatry.  Dr. Averill has expertise in translational clinical neuroscience with emphasis on pharmacoimaging trials of rapid-acting glutamate-based drugs evaluating behavioral and neural alterations in suicidal thoughts and behaviors in trauma- and stress-related psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Averill and ADAA

“I first became involved with ADAA in 2015 when my colleague suggested the meeting to me. I presented some of my research and found all of the conversations to be invigorating – leaving with a host of new perspectives, novel ideas for future work, and connections for potential collaborations. The following year I had the honor of participating in the CDLP Award Program and found this to be an outstanding experience, gaining direct feedback on my research and career trajectory from leaders in the field and also networking with peers. The CDLP experience also facilitated my receipt of some pilot data for a grant submission and my selection for a leadership role in the Genetics and Neuroscience Special Interest Group (GAN SIG), which has been great fun.”

“I really appreciate the broad and diverse membership, the nice blend of presentations at the annual conference, and the community engagement and opportunities for continued learning and development between annual meetings. ADAA does a very nice of blending clinical practice, research, policy/advocacy and doesn’t shy away from ‘hard’ or potentially controversial topics. I’d also give a shout out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) who have a nice footprint at the ADAA annual meetings and always host a lunch for past and present awardees, which has been a great way to connect with people doing highly relevant and diverse work.”

“As a clinician and investigator, I have benefited greatly from the nice blend of learning and educational /CME opportunities, both at the annual meetings and the webinars throughout the year. Being involved with the Genetics and Neuroscience SIG has been helpful in connecting not only with my co-chairs who I consider friends and colleagues, but also with the broader community of ADAA who have overlapping interests. The CDLP was a fantastic experience and really a solid catalyst in my career trajectory (I highly recommend early career researchers and clinicians look into this opportunity). I’ve also benefited from the ‘Find a Therapist Directory’ both in getting some referrals for my own (very small) private practice as well as helping to find potential providers for others through the resource.” 

“I recently relocated to Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. I completed my internship here in 2012-13 and it is exciting to be back! This position included a faculty promotion and the opportunity to continue a close collaboration with my friend, colleague, and Co-Director of Emerge Research Program (and co-chair for the 2022 Annual Conference). I am excited about our work exploring novel treatment approaches for stress- and trauma-related conditions including suicidality. Recently, I have been working with Texas Legislators on a bill that would support the study of select psychedelic medicines for the treatment stress- and trauma-related conditions (PTSD and suicidality ), expanding the promising work already established in this area. I’m excited to continue exploring novel approaches with potential to provide rapid, robust, and enduring positive effects in chronic stress pathology through better understanding the mechanisms of how these therapeutics work, what clinically-relevant/useful biomarkers may exist, and ultimately how we (as a field) can not only save lives, but help people to create lives they truly want to live.”

Member Since 2010

Dr. Amanda Baker is a research and clinical psychologist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baker received her Ph.D. from Boston University and completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baker is an active member of several professional societies such as the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. 

Dr. Baker's clinical and research interests involve mediators and moderators of the etiology of and cognitive behavioral treatments for anxiety. She recently completed a two-year grant from Harvard Catalyst/The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center/National Institutes of Health to study intra-individual networks of panic disorder in hopes of being able to personalize CBT treatments in the future. She was recently awarded a NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. She has been trained in a variety of evidence-based assessment methods and cognitive behavioral therapies for anxiety, mood, OC-spectrum and traumatic stress disorders. Dr. Baker was previously awarded a Livingston Fellowship for Young Investigators from Harvard Medical School to conduct research on anxiety sensitivity and suicidality in OC-spectrum and anxiety disorders. She has numerous published peer-reviewed papers and chapters on these topics. 

Dr. Baker and ADAA

 “I joined ADAA in grad school in 2010 as the organization is extremely well aligned with my clinical and research interests. I am continually impressed by the multidisciplinary approaches used and presented by ADAA researchers and clinicians. The annual conferences are a highlight for me! I first went to the conference in 2010 and have been every year since. I have gotten involved in a number of ADAA activities, committees, and award programs outside of general membership which have been invaluable to me. One specific example comes from the CDLP program which I participated in in 2016 and helped me to refine a grant proposal which was subsequently funded!”

Dr. Amanda Baker is a research and clinical psychologist and Clinical Director at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School where she has worked since 2013. Dr. Baker received her Ph.D. from Boston University in 2013 and completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baker is an active member of Anxiety and Depression Association of America where she is vice-chair of the Early Career Special Interest Group. Dr. Baker's clinical and research interests focus on the development, validation, and dissemination of empirically based psychosocial treatments for anxiety and related disorders. She has a current NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Foundation examining the use of ecological momentary assessment and wearable psychophysiological assessment to develop intra-individual networks of panic disorder and assess change in CBT."

Member Since 2015

Bryan Balvaneda is an advanced doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts Boston in Boston, MA. He is interested in studying the interpersonal context of clinical processes and providing alternative mental health service delivery models for reaching underserved populations. Bryan Balvaneda es un estudiante avanzado de psicología clínica en la Universidad de Massachusetts Boston. Bryan se identifica como un hombre Latino, y está dedicado a servir a la comunidad Latina con servicios en Español, así como trabajando con otras comunidades desventajadas.

Bryan and ADAA

"I was introduced to ADAA upon entering graduate school through the suggestion of my advisor, Sarah Hayes-Skelton. She described ADAA as having a more intimate, connected community of professionals and pre-professionals, and that the conference often provided more opportunities for integrating research into clinical practice. These two factors sounded like a great fit for my career goals, and I have felt that ADAA would be a great professional home for me since my first conference in 2015 .  

As an ADAA member, I've enjoyed the intimate network of community members that allows me to easily connect to others and become aware of opportunities. Often, ADAA members and leadership have presented me with opportunities to become involved with ADAA initiatives that align with my interests and career goals, without me even needing to reach out!  

I have always returned from an ADAA conference with clear ideas and skills for improving my clinical practice, and as a trainee that has been always invaluable. Moving beyond my formal graduate training, I foresee these opportunities to improve my practice continuing given the great work I have consistently seen from ADAA members. In addition, the opportunities to frequently and easily communicate with and interact with ADAA leadership has enabled me to visualize a role in organizational leadership that I had not imagined before.

Recently I was awarded the Distinguished Student Practice Award by APA Division 12 and it has been a great honor to be recognized for my work in outreach and supporting underserved communities. I also matched for internship at the University of California, Riverside and am excited to return to an area I call home and serve my community!"

Member Since 2003

Dave Carbonell, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in helping people overcome fears, phobias and worry. He is the author of four self- help books: Panic Attacks Workbook, The Worry Trick, Fear of Flying Workbook, and Outsmart Your Anxious Brain: Ten Simple Ways to Beat the Worry Trick. He is the “coach” of the popular self-help site, anxietycoach.com, and has taught workshops on the treatment of anxiety disorders to more than 10,000 therapists in the U.S. and abroad.  He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from DePaul University in 1985 and has maintained a practice devoted to the treatment of anxiety disorders in Chicago since 1990. He lives in Chicago with his wife and a pair of rescue dogs. 

Member Since 2008

R. Nicholas Carleton, Ph.D., is a Professor of Clinical Psychology, a registered doctoral clinical psychologist in Saskatchewan, and is currently serving as the Scientific Director for the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment. He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and encyclopaedia entries exploring the fundamental bases of anxiety and related disorders. He has completed more than 360 national and international conference presentations. He also serves as an active member of several national and international professional associations. Dr. Carleton has received several prestigious awards, including a 5-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Salary Award, and operating grants. He has also received an Outstanding Young Alumnus Crowning Achievement Award, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Brain Star Award, a Canadian Association for Graduate Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in Engineering, Medical Sciences, and Natural Sciences, and a Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal. Dr. Carleton is actively involved in clinical and experimental research, with his interests including the biopsychosocial measurement, assessment, and treatments of trauma, anxiety, and somatic disorders, focusing on transdiagnostics, fundamental cognitions (i.e., lower-order factors such as intolerance of uncertainty), and shared emergent properties (i.e., higher-order factors such as extraversion). He is currently serving as the principal investigator on the Longitudinal Study of Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He enjoys teaching and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students, and maintains a small private practice for military and public safety personnel who have anxiety and related disorders, particularly posttraumatic stress.

Dr. Carleton and ADAA

"I joined ADAA in 2004 as a new Master's student enrolled in the University of Regina graduate psychology program. The ADAA conference that year was held in Miami and would involve several firsts for me; specifically, my first conference attendance, my first poster presentations (I was fortunate enough to have two accepted), and my first time in Miami. Every aspect of the conference was spectacular and, for a nascent student, the experience was enthralling, but surreal. I was able to attend numerous symposia, many being presented by researchers I had read about and cited who suddenly became tangibly larger than life. I was able to interact with a tremendous number of like-minded researchers who were as excited about anxiety-related research as myself, as well as more welcoming and inclusive than I would have ever imagined. The entire experience was engaging and invigorating, and from that point on I was hooked — I have attended the ADAA conference every year since and the experience has been consistently excellent! I now have the privilege of giving back to an organization that has been such a salient and supportive part of my own professional growth. My own graduate students regularly attend the ADAA conference with me, which then make this terrific organization part of their own professional adventure. I look forward to many more years of growing together and I hope everyone reading continues to join us. I am certain we can all collaborate to continue building on the successes we have seen in improving mental health."

Member Since 2004

Karen Cassiday, PhD, ADAA Past President's areas of interest are anxiety disorders in children and teens, social anxiety disorder, treatment-refractory OCD, and working with children and teens who suffer from both developmental concerns and anxiety disorders. Her research has focused on information processing in posttraumatic stress disorder and cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders in children, teens, and adults.

Dr. Karen Cassiday is a lively, sought-after speaker and commentator on national media such as Nightline, The Today Show, Animal Planet, The Joy Behar Show, Huffington Post, public radio and many more. She is a TEDx speaker who shared her personal experience as a mother overcoming her own anxious perfectionism in the middle of Walt Disney World! She is the host of the Moms Without Worry radio show. She served as the President of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and is the founder of the Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago, the longest-running clinic to first use modern exposure-based treatment for anxiety disorders in the Chicago region. She won the Anxiety and Depression Association of America’s prestigious Clinician of Distinction Award and is a Clinical Fellow. She is also a Diplomate and Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, served as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Chicago OCD Foundation/Beyond OCD, and has been listed on numerous Who’s Who lists.  She has published numerous scientific articles and articles on parenting and managing anxiety. Dr. Cassiday is dedicated to helping mothers overcome the cultural pressure to be perfect and to raise perfect kids. She enjoys using her expertise from over thirty years in the field to help families overcome the dilemmas of parenting in a high-stress digital world. Her goal is to help all mothers embrace the messy hilarity of parenting with unshakable self-confidence so they can raise kids who thrive!

Dr. Cassiday and ADAA

"My graduate school advisor, Rich McNally, suggested ADAA would be a great place to join as a student so I could present my research and network with other like-minded people who were really interested in researching and treating anxiety disorders.”

“ADAA has given me many things I needed at different stages of my career that were either unavailable or hard to find.  Early in my career, I was often the only professional who knew about evidence-based therapies for anxiety and I needed a place to be with my own kind without having to explain myself and combat skepticism. Then I needed inspiration from the ideas of scientists and other clinicians so I could improve my clinical skills. ADAA also gave me a multi-disciplinary group that mirrored my daily work life and that felt great. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to share my knowledge by giving presentation. Lastly, ADAA has given me the opportunity to serve humankind in a bigger way by sharing my leadership skills on committees, the Board and as president.”

“I have depended on my ADAA colleagues throughout my career to give me inspiration, encouragement and mentoring for my clinical dilemmas and business dilemmas. The friendly non-competitive atmosphere has made it easy to call up anyone to get their advice. I don't believe that my patients and staff would have fared as well as they have had I not been very involved with ADAA."

Dr. Chapman is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, founder and director of the Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (KYCARDS) where he specializes in the assessment and treatment of anxiety and related disorders. Dr. Chapman is a Diplomate and Certified by the Academy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (A-CBT), and is a nationally recognized expert in the implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. Additionally, Dr. Chapman serves as a consultant for the creation of evidenced-based, anxiety treatment protocols due to his additional expertise related to the intersection of multiculturalism and mental health. Similarly, Dr. Chapman has published numerous papers in scientific journals and has written several book chapters. Dr. Chapman is on the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board for the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) and is a Mental Health Expert for TrueSport, a subsidiary for the United States Antidoping Agency (USADA). Dr. Chapman serves on several Editorial Boards including the Journal of Anxiety Disorders and Clinical Child and Family Psychologist Review. Additionally, Dr. Chapman is a Media Psychologist and regularly contributes to and serves as a consultant for multiple media outlets including A&E and other production companies. Along these lines, Dr. Chapman is also on the Psychology Expert Media Panel for the Coalition for the Application and Advancement of Psychological Science (CAAPS). Most recently, Dr. Chapman was the Program Psychologist for Seasons 1 and 2 on A&E’s hit documentary 60 Days In. Dr. Chapman has been featured in US News and World Report, USA Today, NBC Health, Bloomberg Business Week, Men’s Health, and numerous other outlets including the Nick News documentary Worried Sick: Living with Anxiety, a feature on adolescent anxiety. Dr. Chapman also serves as the Team Psychologist for the Louisville City Football Club. Dr. Chapman previously served as an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Chapman completed a BS in Psychology from Centre College, a MS in Clinical Psychology from Eastern Kentucky University, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville.

Terence Ching is one of the inaugural recipients of ADAA’s member-sponsored, diversity membership scholarships.

“I applied for the opportunity to have the chance to connect with researchers and clinicians doing cutting-edge work in understanding and addressing problems in living as they intersect with people's diverse cultural backgrounds.”

“I believe that having an ADAA membership allows me to take advantage of various networking opportunities. This actually helps scaffold my development into an early-career researcher and clinician who is able to tap effectively into his professional network for collaboration and peer supervision and consultation.”

“I am completing my clinical psychology internship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center soon, and will be starting as a research postdoctoral associate in summer 2021 at the Yale OCD Research Center mentored by Ben Kelmendi, MD, and Christopher Pittenger, MD, PhD. I'm excited to dive deeper into research and treatment innovations for OCD in the near future!”

Terence Ching, MS is a clinical psychology intern at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He will begin his term as a postdoctoral associate at the Yale OCD Research Clinic in summer 2021. Terence received his Master’s degree in clinical psychology and completed his doctoral academic training at the University of Connecticut. Prior to moving to the United States, Terence received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in psychology at the National University of Singapore. Terence has clinical and research interests at the intersections of OCD and clinical anxiety, trauma and PTSD, cultural diversity, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for difficult-to-treat mental disorders.

Member Since 2015

Dr. Ashley Clausen, Ph.D. is a Staff Clinical Health Psychologist at the Kansas City VA Medical Center. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Tulsa and Laureate Institute for Brain Research with an emphasis in neuropsychology and neuroimaging. Dr. Clausen completed her clinical residency at the Durham VA Health Care System and her post-doctoral fellowship at the VA VISN 6 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center and Duke University Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. Dr. Clausen’s research has primarily focused on the neurobiology, brain function and treatment of PTSD in trauma exposed populations. Dr. Clausen has been a member of ADAA since 2012 and was a CDLP – Basic Neuroscience Track recipient in 2017. She served as the co-vice chair of the Early Career SIG in 2018 and is presently servicing as the co-chair. She is looking forward to continued engagement in the ADAA community!

Dr. Clausen and ADAA

“I joined ADAA in 2013 during my first year of graduate school. My graduate school mentor, Dr. Robin Aupperle, provided an incredible opportunity for me to attend ADAA’s annual conference in 2013. My experience at the conference highlighted the strong commitment of ADAA towards early career professionals in anxiety, depression, and trauma-focused disciplines and provided a supportive outlet for professional development. ADAA has been one of the few communities that has provided interdisciplinary opportunities combining my interests in neurobiology, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. ADAA quickly became my professional home and I became more and more involved in the ADAA community. My involvement in ADAA has not only increased my professional network, but my own confidence and expertise as a scientist-practitioner, as well through online trainings and seminars. In 2018 I joined the Early Career SIG leadership and further expanded my appreciation for all ADAA has to offer to its community! I look forward to cutting-edge research, having really excellent and stimulating conversations with experts in the field every year at the annual conference!”

Member Since 2014

​NYC Cognitive Therapy founder Noah Clyman has dedicated his life to helping people work past problems for happier, more fulfilled lives, with a specific focus on anxiety problems and depression. After earning a Master's degree from New York University he completed intensive post-graduate training in CBT at the Beck Institute, including ongoing case consultation and supervision with CBT founder Aaron Beck, MD and colleagues.  Noah is a certified cognitive therapy provider since 2010, after completing the rigorous certification process, which includes the close evaluation of the applicant's academic knowledge and clinical expertise before a certificate in CBT is awarded. 

In his private practice, Noah works with adults in individual and couples therapy. His practice includes clients who are dealing with anxiety and depression, addictive disorders, relationship and communication problems, and life transitions. Noah's therapeutic approach is active and practical and he likes to work collaboratively with clients. He provides support and practical feedback to help clients resolve current problems and long-standing patterns. With sensitivity and compassion, Noah works with each client to help him/her build on strengths to identify and achieve life goals. Before starting NYC Cognitive Therapy, Noah provided psychotherapy in a broad range of settings including: a psychotherapy training institute, a community mental health clinic serving clients living with HIV/AIDS, a psychiatric emergency room, and a mobile crisis team.

Noah and ADAA

"I joined ADAA in 2014 to increase professional connections and friendships, and to stay abreast on the most cutting edge treatments. Aside from making the decision to pursue post-graduate training in CBT, the act of joining ADAA has been the most important step of my professional career. I am thankful to be a part of ADAA for many reasons. (1) ADAA has one of the best annual conferences for mental health providers. (2) The conference includes workshops that target psychotherapy conceptualization and methods, with particular focus on evidence-based approaches, and I have gotten to meet many of the world-renowned educators and leaders in the field whose writings inspired my work. (3) ADAA has afforded me opportunities to teach workshops at the annual conference. For example, I had the honor of co-teaching the workshop session, " Trial-Based Cognitive Therapy: A Novel Approach to Changing Core Beliefs in CBT" with TBCT creator Dr. Irismar Reis De Oliveira, MD. (4) Conferences are held in cities that are fun to visit and explore outside of conference times. (5) unlike other conferences I have attended, the ADAA conference is not overwhelming in scale, there is always something stimulating to attend, and there are no additional fees to see your favorite presenter."

“I decided to apply for ADAA’s diversity membership scholarship because of ADAA’s commitment to diversity and the integration of clinicians and researchers with diverse backgrounds in medicine, psychology, neuroscience, and other disciplines to advance science and treatment.”

“The access to ADAA information has been an excellent opportunity for me to improve my scientific and clinical knowledge because of its mental health professional member base and the broader scientific community that shares research techniques, data, and approaches.”

“It has been a fantastic experience being a ADAA member because it is related to my career interest. It provides a network of diverse peers and professional development opportunities. These aspects help me navigate my final graduate school years and focus my academic and professional goals.”

“I am currently the Chief Intern at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Fear and Anxiety (CETMA) of the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus. In November 2020, I was the Third prize winner in the oral presentation category at the 5th Behavioral Health Student Research Symposium of Southern Puerto Rico, Ponce Health School of Medicine (PHSU), Ponce, P.R.”

Stephanie Ortiz Domenech, BA, is a PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Her clinical and research work as a graduate student mainly focuses on anxiety-related disorders. She has worked as a trainee therapist for three years at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Fear and Anxiety (CETMA) of the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus. This center consists of an interdisciplinary group of psychiatry residents and psychology doctoral students, providing culturally adapted treatment for anxiety related disorders in Puerto Rico. Currently, she is the Chief Intern at CETMA and a psychology intern at PORTI; a NIMH RAISE Early Treatment Program. Her research interests lie in cognitive processes, decision making, problem-solving, and anxiety disorders. She is particularly interested in the differentiation between risky and ambiguous decision-making and the role of anxiety in this cognitive process.

Elizabeth DuPont Spencer, LCSW-C, is a licensed clinical social worker, ADAA Clinical Fellow, Board-approved supervisor, and trainer. She is a graduate of Columbia University. She earned the Clinician Outreach Award (2012) and the Clinician of Distinction (2017) from ADAA. She has co-authored several books, including "CBT for Anxiety: A Step-by-Step Training Manual for the Treatment of Fear, Panic, Worry and OCD" with her Anxiety Training business partner, Kimberly Morrow LCSW.  

Dr. Eda Gorbis, PhD, LMFT is the Founder and Executive Director of the Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders in Los Angeles, California and a Clinical Assistant Professor (V) at the USC Keck School of Medicine. The Westwood Institute is often called an intensive center of 'last resort' for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), and other anxiety disorders. By integrating treatment methods with a multidisciplinary team of experts, Dr. Gorbis has brought hundreds of people with prior treatment failures to normal functioning. Her expertise was prominently featured on programs, such as "20/20," "60 Minutes," and "MTV's True Life.”  She has given over 170 conference presentations on topics related to her intensive treatment of OCD, BDD, and anxiety disorders around the world.

Member Since 2018

Dr. Jessica Graham-LoPresti is co-founder of BARE Mental Health & Wellness, LLC and an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Suffolk University.  Dr. Graham-LoPresti graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Psychology and American Studies and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has focused her career on promoting the resilience, health, and well-being of people and communities of color and has published extensively on the multi-level impact of racism on mental health as well as barriers to quality and effective mental healthcare for underserved and underrepresented communities.  In addition, Dr. Graham-LoPresti owns a clinical private practice where she helps clients cope with a range of psychological struggles including anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, as well as stress associated with marginalization and oppression.

Scott Granet, LCSW specializes in the treatment of OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, and anxiety disorders. He has presented at numerous conferences worldwide and has taught continuing education classes at universities and other institutions throughout the U.S., including the Rutgers University School of Social Work, the UC Berkeley Extension, the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and the NYU Silver School of Social Work. In 2008, he opened the OCD-BDD Clinic of Northern California in Redwood City. Mr. Granet is the author of The Complete OCD Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Free Yourself from Intrusive Thoughts and Compulsive Behaviors and Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Mine and Yours: A Personal and Clinical Perspective. Learn more at http://www.ocd-bddclinic.com/.

Dr. Paul Greene is the director of the Manhattan Center for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in New York City. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Boston University and completed postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Greene served as an assistant professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine for six years. He is an expert in the treatment of anxiety and related disorders, and the application of mindfulness in cognitive-behavioral clinical interventions.

Member Since 2013

Kat Harris, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Co-owner of OakHeart, Center for Counseling, Mediation, and Consultation. Dr. Harris is also an Adjunct Professor and Graduate Faculty Scholar at Northern Illinois University. She obtained her Bachelor's Degree from Michigan State University and her Doctoral Degree from Northern Illinois University where she was a member of the Anxiety Disorders research lab under the mentorship of Dr. David Valentiner. She completed her Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship at the Ann Arbor VA in association with the University of Michigan, and her Post-Doctoral Residency at the University of Michigan, Clinical Psychology Consortium under the mentorship of Sheila Rauch, PhD. Dr. Harris is an active member of the ADAA community, serving as the Vice-Chair of the Women’s Mental Health Special Interest Group. She is also a member of the OCD SIG and Social Anxiety SIG.

Dr. Harris and ADAA

"I became involved with ADAA in graduate school. My mentor, Dr. David Valentiner, encouraged me to present at the conference. I presented at ADAA for the first time in 2010 and was hooked!"

"I absolutely love attending the conferences. They are an incredible way of connecting with colleagues. The presentations are always excellent and help me keep up with the latest innovations and research. I feel reinvigorated every time I go and plan to continue going annually as long as I can."

"There are many ways being an ADAA member benefits my work. I own a practice called Oakheart, Center for Counseling, Meditation, and Consultation. I treat primarily individuals with OCD and anxiety disorders on an outpatient basis. I also supervise students and mentor licensed professionals who have an interest in specializing in exposure-based interventions for OCD and anxiety. Therefore, as a practice owner, clinician, supervisor and mentor, it is critical that I continue my education. ADAA provides opportunities for continued education in so many ways! Between the conference, special interest groups, webinars, and journal access, I am able to feel confident in my ability to treat OCD and Anxiety and teach others to do so as well."

"As a practice owner and practicing psychologist, being a member also benefits me by allowing me to list myself and my specialized staff on the “Find a Therapist” directory. Being a member also allows me to contribute and share via blog posts. I refer community members and my clients to the resources available on the ADAA website frequently."

"Last, it has allowed me to volunteer my time in a field that I am passionate about. I am currently a vice-chair of the Women’s Specialty Interest group at ADAA. I have enjoyed building relationships with my colleagues and working to better serve women in mental health."

"Two years ago I opened a private practice with 3 amazing colleagues and friends. We now have 14 employees, 4 students, and 2 locations! I am thrilled to offer evidence-based cognitive behavioral treatment to those with OCD and Anxiety and to have a team of specialists by my side, including one of my co-owners Vanessa Osmer, M.A. We believe in providing high-quality evidence based treatment and I am able to do so with the help of communities like ADAA. I am a proud member!"

Arash Javanbakht, MD., is the director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC) at Wayne State University. Dr Javanbakht and his work have been featured on the National Geographic, The Atlantic, CNN, Aljazeera, NPR, Washington Post, Smithsonian, PBS, American Psychiatric Association, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and tens of other media. His clinical and research work is mainly focused on anxiety trauma related disorders. In his clinic, he helps civilians and first responders with PTSD, utilizing pharmacotherapy (medication), psychotherapy, exercise, and lifestyle modification. Several research studies at the STARC examine the impact of exposure to war trauma in refugees, biological and psychological factors of risk and resilience, and art, dance and movement therapies. STARC is also birthplace to cutting edge augmented reality and telemedicine technologies for treatment for anxiety disorders and PTSD. Dr Javanbakht is the author of the book “AFRAID: Understanding the Purpose of Fear, and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety” that covers many aspects of fear and anxiety, including evolution, brain and body, why we love to be scared, how to unlearn fear, fear and bravery, meaning, creativity, diseases of fear and trauma and their cutting-edge treatments, and politics of fear and media 

My involvement with ADAA comes from a personal commitment to help the clients. I'm a functional therapist, meaning I want to help people function in their inner world, outer world, and interpersonal relationships.

In the commitment to help clients, I'm hunting for language and personalized tips to meet the nuanced needs of people. I enjoy listening to other clinicians as they navigate the same educational materials and training - and finding ways to build bridges between theory and practical patient help.

ADAA is a central hub for me to meet up and connect with other providers committed to high standards of practice, ethics, and service delivery.

Kama Jensen, MEd, LPCC, is the founder of Conscious Living Counseling & Education Center in Fargo, North Dakota. She offers contemporary anxiety interventions to those living in rural areas. Kama provides CBT-based treatments for adults struggling with disorders on the anxiety spectrum, including stress disorders, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and health anxiety. She enjoys addressing common barriers to successful treatment of an anxiety disorder, including social awareness skills and executive function skills.

Her counseling experience includes providing assessment and mental health services in for-profit and non-profit organizations, private practice, and academia. Additional work history includes serving as the Executive Director of a mental health organization and teaching masters-level counseling courses.

Member Since 2009

Tanja Jovanovic, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and the David and Patricia Barron Chair for PTSD Neurobiology at Wayne State University. Dr. Jovanovic's research program focuses on the interaction of traumatic experiences, neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology, and genetics in stress-related disorders in adults and children in high-risk populations. She directs the Detroit Trauma Project (www.detroittraumaproject.com), which investigates the impact that urban trauma exposure has on the brain. Her research employs psychophysiological (e.g. fear-potentiated startle, skin conductance response, heart-rate variability) and brain imaging methods (e.g. MRI, fMRI) to investigate biomarkers of risk for trauma-related psychopathology, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her laboratory developed novel human fear conditioning, fear inhibition, and extinction paradigms for PTSD patients. Dr. Jovanovic is the lead investigator on several federally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health and has an independent investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and served on national and international grant review panels.  https://psychiatry.med.wayne.edu/profile/gr561. Dr. Jovanovic is an ADAA Board Member and a co-chair of the ADAA CDLP Program.

Dr. Jovanovic and ADAA

"I first became involved in 2008, when my mentors Kerry Ressler and Barbara Rothbaum, who were very active in ADAA, encouraged me to apply for the Travel Award.  I was fortunate to get the award in 2009, and have been coming to the ADAA conference every year since then.  I have found ADAA to be a wonderful place to network with clinicians and researchers—it is small enough to be able to get to know most members, but also bring in new mentees to the field of anxiety. It is an excellent place to learn and grow a career.  Over time I became more and more involved with ADAA and in 2015 Dr. Ressler and I were co-chairs of the conference program. I have now become more involved in mentoring trainees—after several years of being a mentor on the Career Development Leadership Program (CDLP) by ADAA, I am now one of the co-chairs of this program—this allows me to provide the kinds of career opportunities that ADAA gave me more than a decade ago. Now I bring my own mentees every year and have several receive travel awards!"

"I consider ADAA to be my scientific “home”, the membership and the community aspects of this organization have always provided a strong base for communicating my research and learning about the best approaches to studying and treating anxiety. In recent years, ADAA has also become the “home” for my lab, with many students, postdocs, research assistants, and junior faculty attending and presenting at the conference every year. I truly enjoy meeting up with outstanding colleagues in the field and being able to introduce them to my mentees. Because ADAA members are so supportive of early career clinicians and researchers it provides a unique opportunity for networking and new collaborations."

"My research is focused on trauma exposure and how it changes the brain in a way that makes individuals vulnerable for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. As an ADAA member, I have a platform in which to present my research to the community that is most invested in the same population, whether from a clinical or research perspective.  Though the conference and webinars, I am also able to learn the most up-to-date developments in trauma research."

"Last year, I moved my lab from Emory to Wayne State University in Detroit to build a program to better understand urban trauma exposure, especially during development. It has been an exciting time, and even in a short time, we have found Detroit families very interested in our research program. Detroit has been especially impacted by COVID-19, and our communities of color have been disproportionately affected.  My lab has been reaching out to our participants to survey and offer resources to those most affected by the pandemic."

Dr. Debra Kissen is CEO of Light On Anxiety CBT Treatment Center. Dr. Kissen specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. Dr. Kissen is the co-author of Overcoming Parental Anxiety: Rewire Your Brain to Worry Less and Enjoy Parenting More,  Panic Workbook for Teens, Rewire Your Anxious Brains for Teens: Using CBT, Neuroscience, and Mindfulness to Help You End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry (The Instant Help Solutions Series) and Break Free from Intrusive Thoughts: An Evidence-Based Guide for Managing Fear and Finding Peace. Dr. Kissen is the Co-Chair of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Public Education Committee. Dr. Kissen was the recipient of the 2020 Gratitude for Giving Spirit Award and the 2018 Anxiety Depression Association of America Member of Distinction Award. 

Dominique L. La Barrie is an inaugural recipient of ADAA's member-funded, diversity membership scholarship.

“I had been interested in being an ADAA member for some time, but I didn't have the opportunity to join as a student. My very first conference ever was with ADAA, and the experience was great. I enjoyed how there was a balance between applied professionals and research and the ability to network and learn from my peers' conferences. When I learned about the diversity membership scholarship, I was excited about an opportunity that made membership accessible to students.”

“I have enjoyed being a member of ADAA this past year as it's allowed me the opportunity to interact and network with other graduate students and early career researchers. Other members are so quick to help and provide advice when needed. It's been a wonderful experience so far. Being a member in a virtual world this year, I thought, would be challenging. However, being a member and using the existing online member platform for networking made transitioning to an online virtual world much easier than expected.”

“Being an ADAA member has benefited me immensely this past year. This membership has helped me connect to other researchers with similar research interests that I otherwise may not have gotten the chance to cross paths. Additionally, ADAA has adapted to the virtual world this past year, making networking with other scholars much easier. The virtual ADAA conference was another opportunity that benefited my early career development by making recorded talk presentations available for more extended periods. This has allowed me the chance to "attend" all the talks I was interested in and learn about new research areas and methodologies I can learn further about and possibly apply to my work.”

“One of my most recent accomplishments was having my work acknowledged by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) and Psi Chi when I was awarded the Junior Scientist Fellowship this past summer. I also recently had my first first-author manuscript published, which was a super exciting experience.”

Dominique L. La Barrie is currently a graduate student at the University of Georgia's Behavioral and Brain Sciences PhD program, focusing on developmental psychology. At UGA, she is a member of Dr. Anne Shaffer's FRESH lab. Her main research interests are how trauma and intergenerational trauma exposure impact the family unit in Black and Latinx communities. Specifically, her main research interests include how forms of trauma affect family relationships, child internalizing disorders, and highlighting existing processes such as racial socialization that serve as buffers against trauma exposure's adverse effects. An important area of her work as a graduate student also includes increasing diversity within academia, creating an equitable space for historically marginalized students.   

Dr. Krystal M. Lewis received her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, where she worked closely with Dr. Thomas Ollendick at the Child Study Center. She has experience providing one-session treatments to children with Specific Phobias and extensive experience assessing and treating pediatric populations with anxiety and depression. Dr. Lewis completed her pre-doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a two-year services fellowship at the Urban Youth Trauma Center at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her clinical interests include pediatric anxiety, stress, and mood disorders. Currently, Dr. Lewis is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

She has a small private practice and also conducts psychoeducational testing with children and adolescents. SDAN seeks to understand how information processing in the brain differs among children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety and depression across the lifespan. Dr. Lewis specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and has interest in identifying the mechanisms of change in psychological treatment for pediatric anxiety, specifically CBT. Self-efficacy is an identified mechanism of therapeutic change and important target in CBT and Dr. Lewis has interest in further exploring the role of self-efficacy in exposure work with youth. In addition, she has a particular interest in minority mental health and is working towards increasing representation within research trials and clinical treatment by becoming more involved with diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at NIH. Dr. Lewis has conducted many media interviews and has given numerous community talks in an effort to highlight the important of mental health and share evidence-based practices.

Dr. Lewis has been a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) for over 10 years. She has participated in the Career Development Leadership Program as an awardee, mentor, and now Co-Chair and is an ADAA Clinical Fellow. She received the Emerging Leader Award from ADAA in 2019 and initially joined the board as the early career professionals representative. She has held several leadership positions with ADAA and is invested in bridging research findings and clinical practice to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders. With her continued tenure on the board, Dr. Lewis will focus on developing the Diversity Membership Scholarship program and has plans to start the first podcast for ADAA focused on highlighting ADAA researchers and clinicians and disseminating scientific and clinical insights for the public.

“It is an honor and privilege to continue my tenue on the ADAA Board- I look forward to working closely with colleagues and membership to develop innovative ways to increase our reach and promote scientific findings and clinical application for the public as well as working towards reducing the burden of anxiety and depression disorders."

I became involved in ADAA as a postdoctoral fellow. I joined ADAA because I appreciate the close links between research and clinical practice that can be found at ADAA. There are few other organizations that are as accessible to patients, providers and researchers, and that help bridge the gaps between these individuals.

I enjoy the close, supportive community, and the opportunities that exist for members of all levels to get involved and have their work promoted and disseminated.

As a clinical psychologist engaged primarily in research at this stage in my career, ADAA helps keep me in touch with the patient and clinician experience, which helps in crafting better research questions. It also helps me connect with some of the most pre-eminent researchers in my field.

I am thrilled and humbled to have been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award. I am also grateful for a recent 5-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, which will allow my lab to continue our work on comorbidity load in the anxiety disorders.

Dr. MacNamara is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

Research Interests:
Emotions convey important information about events and people in our environment. They motivate us and are essential to survival (e.g., fear motivates a fight or flight response). However, when an emotional response is not well-matched to the situation (e.g., the sound of a car backfiring elicits fear), it ceases to be adaptive, and may hinder a person’s ability to function effectively in society. People with anxiety and depression struggle with emotional responses more than others. Why is this and how can we best help these individuals?

Work in the Multimethod Affect and Cognition (MAC) lab uses brain and psychophysiological measures such as event-related potentials (ERPs), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eyeblink startle and skin conductance response to investigate emotions in psychiatric health and disease. One aim of this work is to characterize the parameters of emotional response and the cognitive factors that can affect this in healthy individuals. Another aim of this work is to better understand how these factors go awry in psychiatric disorders. The long-term goal of this research is to reduce the cost and suffering associated with emotional disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression) by improving diagnosis and guiding new treatments.

Dr. Annmarie MacNamara (Texas A&M University) is a clinical affective neuroscientist who uses fMRI and EEG to examine emotion generation and regulation across the internalizing psychopathology spectrum. Consistent with the mission of ADAA, Dr. MacNamara's long-term goal is to reduce the suffering and cost associated with emotional disorders by bringing diagnosis and treatment more in line with underlying pathophysiology. Dr. MacNamara is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Psychophysiology, a member of the NIH F-16 study section and was recently designated as a "Rising Star" by the Association for Psychological Science.

Member Since 2015

"I attended my first ADAA conference during graduate school in 2013, at the suggestion of my wonderful mentors Drs. Barbara Rothbaum and Kerry Ressler. Attending my first ADAA conference, I was grateful for the suggestion because I felt that I found my professional home. Within our field, many often note the importance of basic science informing applied science, and research informing practice and vice versa, but these can be difficult bridges to construct—however, ADAA does a great job at both of these goals. I love attending conferences and feel that the dialogue between these areas is very strong. At every conference, I've learned cutting edge information that informs my research as well as my clinical practice. I also really enjoy the sense of community and connecting with colleagues who work in similar areas. I look forward to continuing to be involved in ADAA in the future!"

Dr. Maples-Keller was the 2017 Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award recipient.

Member Since 2016

Julia Martin Burch, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who works with children, teens, and parents in the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program. She specializes in evidence-based treatments, including cognitive behavior therapy and exposure and response prevention therapy, for youth anxiety and obsessive compulsive and related disorders. Dr. Martin Burch is also a member of the McLean School Consultation Service which trains school-based mental health staff around Massachusetts in the use of scientifically proven mental health treatments. She is interested in disseminating to the lay public scientifically proven practices for child anxiety, including writing blogs focused on child anxiety for Harvard Health and the American Psychological Association. To accompany child-oriented educational picture books, she also writes “Notes to Parents and Caregivers,” which include proven strategies to support anxious children.

Dr. Burch and ADAA

“A supervisor encouraged me to join ADAA in 2016 because of the excellent learning and networking opportunities for students and early career psychologists. I joined on her recommendation and soon after became part of the Child and Adolescent SIG leadership team and attended my first conference. I was blown away by the quality of the conference programming - I often wanted to attend three or four workshops per time slot - and left with many new evidence-based clinical insights and ideas. Since then, ADAA has become my favorite professional organization by far, due to the exceptional annual conference, professional development and networking opportunities, and the robust SIG programming. There are also so many ways to engage with the organization, such as the CDLP mentoring program or writing blogs for the lay public. I now encourage my own supervisees to join ADAA to build their professional networks and participate in the best conference around.”

Karen G. Martinez-Gonzalez, MD, MSc is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  She is an Associate Professor at the University of Puerto Rico where she directs the Center for the Study and Treatment of Fear and Anxiety and is the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. She also completed a Post-Doctoral Master’s in Clinical and Translational Research in 2006 and is now the Principal Investigator (R25MD007607) and Director of this program.  Dr. Martínez-González is a founding member of the University of Puerto Rico Center for Perinatal Mental Health where several research projects understanding stress, perinatal mental health and child development in Puerto Rico are being conducted.  She is an active member of several professional organizations, such as the Anxiety and Depression Association of America where she recently received the Member Recognition Award for her work on the Multicultural and the Women’s Mental Health Special Interest Groups.  She is also part of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Trauma and Disaster Committee and president of the Puerto Rico Chapter; member of the board of directors and past president of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS). 

Katherine Martinez (she/her/hers) is a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia, Canada. She owns BehaviouralParenting.com where she specializes in cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment of anxiety, mood, and childhood disorders in youth, provides parent training to families, and conducted workshops and in-service trainings on CBT. She has co-authored the book, Your anxious mind: A teen’s guide to anxiety and panic (Magination Press, 2009), and, Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty for Teens: 10 Tips to Overcome Anxiety, Fear, and Worry (New Harbinger, 2022). In addition, Dr. Martinez
is a staff writer and contractor for Anxiety Canada, a charitable organization and leader in developing online, self-help, and evidence-based resources on anxiety, and supervises and mentors students in psychology.

Member Since 2015

Elizabeth McIngvale, Ph.D. was diagnosed with OCD at age 12. She underwent both inpatient and outpatient therapy, eventually achieving success in her personal journey. Making a difference in the lives of those with OCD has become Elizabeth’s life goal.

Current activities:

• Director of the McLean Houston OCD Program, one of the leading OCD treatment centers in the world
• Creator of OCDChallenge.org, a self-help website for OCD
• Founder of the Peace of Mind Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to improving access to care and treatment for OCD
• Board member of IOCDF, the International OCD Foundation. Elizabeth was the first-ever national spokesperson for the IOCDF.

Dr. McIngvale and ADAA

"I have been involved in ADAA as early as graduate school. From conferences, resources to information, ADAA has been an incredible resource to me and our field. I enjoy the community and opportunity to be connected to a national organization with the goal in mind of providing effective care for individuals with an anxiety disorder. ADAA benefits the work that we do in every way from providing research and presentation opportunities, being a part of a community working towards the same goal and allowing us to be in the know about upcoming research and treatment for patients with anxiety and related disorders. I have recently been named the director of the newly formed McLean OCD Institute of Houston (houstonocdprogram.org), previously known as the Houston OCD Program. I am honored to be able to lead a group of amazing clinicians and staff to make a positive impact in lives of those with OCD and anxiety in Houston and across the globe. Thank you to ADAA for all that you do and will continue to do for providers and patients."

Member Since 2004

Dr. Douglas Mennin has developed an active program of research in clinical trials and basic research into the nature of chronic and recurring bouts of anxiety and mood disorders, particularly worry, stress, and depression. He has conducted numerous studies of the basic psychological and physiological mechanisms of generalized anxiety and depression and regularly conducts psychotherapy outcome and mechanism research. Specifically, he has been developing an emotion regulation-based approach to treatment that integrates basic affect science and neuroscience and delineates a number of cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms that may help explain how the therapy is effective. Along with colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and in Denmark, he has also recently adapted this approach to treat distressed caregivers of patients with cancer.  Read more about Dr. Mennin. 

Dr. Mennin and ADAA

"I joined ADAA over 20 years ago after attending the conference my first year in grad school. I remember being struck at how much ADAA cared about understanding anxiety and helping those suffering about it. Their mission was clear and it seemed they wanted to do something to make a real difference. This initial observation is what I have observed time and again from ADAA. I have continued to be impressed over these many years. As the Chair of the Scientific Council, I am excited to actively contribute to that multi-pronged mission and aid the organization in elucidating the science of anxiety and depression as well as providing my services to help ADAA get the word out to the public and improve the lives of those suffering from these conditions." 

Member Since 2015

Jamie Micco, Ph.D. is Co-Founder of The Concord Center in Concord, MA, and Lecturer of Psychology (Part-Time) at Harvard Medical School. She is Board Certified in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology. She specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and mood disorders. She has first-authored or co-authored peer-reviewed publications on topics related to child/adolescent anxiety and depression, CBT, and information-processing biases. She is also the author of “The Worry Workbook for Teens" (New Harbinger). An active member of ADAA, Dr. Micco currently serves as Chair of its Professional Education Committee.

Dr. Micco and ADAA

“My first ADAA conference was in 2001 as a first-year graduate student. This was when it was still acceptable to present a student research poster on construction paper! Since then, I have attended many more ADAA conferences because of their perfect balance of in-depth clinical content, cutting edge research presentations, and networking opportunities. I served five years on the Conference Committee, and I am now Chair of the Professional Education Committee, promoting the dissemination of new research and empirically supported treatments on a year-round basis.

Though I always enjoy the annual conference, my ADAA membership also provides me with top quality, low cost clinical training through our webinars — and new this year, our online mental health forum! Being a member of ADAA has given me the opportunity to connect with colleagues whose work intersects with mine. This has led to some rewarding collaborations. For example, without ADAA, I would not have met Patricia Zurita-Ona, PsyD—my conversations with her led to us developing and presenting clinical workshops comparing and contrasting different approaches to the treatment of youth anxiety and OCD.

I’m happy to announce the opening of my new group practice: The Concord Center. Located outside of Boston, MA, we provide CBT and DBT for people with anxiety, OCD, depression, mood disorders, and more. Check us out at www.concordcbt.com.”

“I applied for ADAA’s diversity membership scholarship opportunity to help me develop personally and professionally in an evidence-based, interconnected, and diverse organization committed to supporting clinicians and researchers to care for minoritized communities. Through the membership opportunity, I hoped to hone my leadership skills, establish long-term relationships with mentors, collaborators, and peers, and develop the clinical and research skills to be a culturally humble, sensitive, and competent clinician-researcher in the treatment of anxiety-related disorders.”

“One thing that I enjoyed the most about my ADAA membership was contributing to the ADAA 2021 Clinical Practice Symposium: The Nuts and Bolts of Working with PTSD, Depression, and Micro-Aggressions with Minority Clients Through the Lenses of CBT, ACT & FAP. It was a meaningful endeavor to underscore cultural considerations in clinical practice and disseminate applicable, culturally sensitive, and evidence-based interventions for trauma and OCD in diverse individuals. I am eager to continue working with ADAA as my values and goals align with the organization.”

“As an ADAA member, I am grateful to access the extraordinary annual conference, special interest groups, exclusive webinars, and robust journal articles, bolstering my educational and professional growth. I am also able to refer community members to ADAA’s resources on specialized topics, including the model minority myth, gender identity and OCD, and antiracism. Additionally, I have a platform to share my clinical research and learn about the most cutting-edge research on anxiety-related disorders in a supportive community.”

“Recently, I have been working on my first, first-authored manuscript on treatment outcomes in ethnoracial and non-Hispanic white individuals in a CBT and DBT-based partial hospital program under the mentorship of Dr. Courtney Beard. This has been a personally valuable opportunity to examine treatment outcomes in racially and ethnically diverse communities. I also will be starting clinical practicum at the OCD Institute at McLean Hospital, and I am eager and humbled to learn and grow as a student!”

I am clinical psychology doctoral student at William James College (WJC) in the Department of Clinical Psychology. I have primarily worked in community mental health and outpatient treatment settings. As a student research assistant in Dr. Courtney Beard’s Cognition and Affect Research and Education (CARE) lab at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, I am assisting in examining culturally sensitive approaches to identify interpretation bias in anxiety and mood-related disorders among diverse populations. Additionally, I am examining the efficacy of CBT and DBT in ethnically and racially diverse populations in a partial hospital program. My research and clinical interests include developing and implementing affirmative, evidence-based treatments for anxiety-related disorders and trauma-related disorders in culturally diverse communities, including marginalized subgroups within ethnoracial communities (e.g., LGBTQ+ populations). In addition, I am interested in the traumatic sequalae of racism and ways in which systemic oppression relate to the development and maintenance of anxiety and trauma-related conditions.
 

Angela Neal-Barnett, Ph.D., is a leading expert in Black mental health, emphasizing anxiety disorders among Black women and girls. Her latest efforts center around expectant mothers—Black women in particular—who may be suffering from PTSD or other stressors that can lead to increased pre-term births, infant mortality, and mother mortality. Through her Spirit of Motherhood program, pregnant women and their preschool children receive a multi-level intervention for PTSD. 

Dr. Neal-Barnett founded and directs the Program for Research on Anxiety Disorders among African Americans (PRADAA) Lab, which currently receives funding from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, American Psychological Association, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and the Women’s Endowment Fund of the Akron Community Foundation. The recipient of the 2020 ADAA Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award, Dr. Neal-Barnett is the author of Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fear (Simon & Schuster).
 

Member Since 2008

Dr. Paulus is the Scientific Director and President of the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) in Tulsa, OK. Dr. Martin Paulus joined the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) in Tulsa, Oklahoma as the Scientific Director and President in May 2014. Prior to this transition, he had been a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and the Director of Telemental Health at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health Care System (VASDHS). Dr. Paulus had been at UCSD since arriving as a postdoctoral fellow in 1986 and has been funded continuously by the NIH since 1997. LIBR focuses on using neuroscience approaches to develop better assessments for diagnosis or prognosis of mental health problems and to develop neuroscience based novel interventions. Dr. Paulus' research focuses on pragmatic academic psychiatry, i.e. how to use neuroscience-based measurements to generate individual level predictions that can be useful for clinicians. Moreover, Dr. Paulus is interested in whether computational approaches can be useful to better develop explanatory basis for psychiatric disorders that can be submitted to rigorous scientific examination. In particular, Dr. Paulus is interested whether individuals with increased levels of anxiety have difficulty differentiating random fluctuations from probabilistic but useful information. Dr. Paulus is the co-chair of the ADAA Scientific Council and ex-officio board member.

Dr. Paulus and ADAA

"Murray Stein told me a long time ago 'I will make you into an anxiety researcher' and I think he succeeded and I am very happy about it too. My first ADAA meeting was in Saint Louis in 2007 and I have been coming every year ever since. ADAA is a natural home for high quality research in mood and anxiety disorders and provides the unique opportunity to connect with clinicians and those affected by mood and anxiety disorders." 

Sheila A.M. Rauch, Ph.D., ABPP, led design and now serves as Deputy Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program and Director of Mental Health Research and Program Evaluation at the VA Atlanta Healthcare System. Dr. Rauch has been developing programs, conducting research and providing PTSD and Anxiety Disorders treatment for over 20 years. Her research focuses on examination of mechanisms involved in the development and treatment of PTSD and improving access to effective interventions. She has led several PTSD treatment outcome and mechanisms trials funded through VA/DOD and other sources and has been training providers in PTSD treatment since 2000 including working with a team to establish a PTSD training network in Japan following the triple disaster in 2011. She has published scholarly articles, chapters, and books on anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) focusing on neurobiology and factors involved in the development, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety disorders, psychosocial factors in medical settings, and the relation between physical health and anxiety. She is an author of the second edition of the Prolonged Exposure manual and patient workbook as well as the PE for Intensive outpatient programs manuals.  Dr. Rauch has been involved in the modification and adaptation of proven psychotherapeutic interventions for anxiety disorders for various populations and settings, including primary care. She is a fellow of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT), was granted membership in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and served as a member of the ADAA Board of Directors.

Dr. Rego is Chief of Psychology and Director of Psychology Training at Montefiore Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. He is Board Certified in Cognitive Behavioral Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, Certified in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy by the Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies, and Certified as a Cognitive Therapy Trainer/Consultant by the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies. He is also a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies and a Founding Clinical Fellow of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.  

Dr. Rego has more than 50 publications (including a book for professionals on the treatment of OCD and a forthcoming book for professionals on the treatment of Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia) and nearly 200 professional presentations. He also co-authored 2 self-help books (The 10-Step Depression Relief Workbook: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach and The CBT Workbook for Mental Health) which have now been translated into German, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Dutch. Dr. Rego has been working with media since 2004 and has specialized interests in the use of social media to educate the public about mental health and the identification, implementation, and evaluation of emerging technologies to improve treatment outcomes. 

Dr. Rego is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). He was the recipient of the 2008 Award for Distinguished Early Career Psychologists by the New York State Psychological Association, the 2015 Peterson Prize from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, and the 2018 Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. In 2021, he was selected to join the Montefiore Physician Leadership Academy's Physician Leadership Program and in 2023 was selected to join the Montefiore Einstein Innovation Biodesign Training Program.

Member Since 2019

Laura Rhodes-Levin, LMFT, is a licensed therapist who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of anxiety, depression, and trauma. She holds a Master of Science in Counseling and is known for her unique approach in the understanding of anxiety and anxiety disorders.

Laura is the Found of The Missing Peace - Center for Anxiety, a facility that offers a variety of modalities, including Psycho Therapy, Neurofeedback, Art Therapy, Olfactory Anxiety Reduction, Group Therapy, Movement, and more to help ease the nervous system and restore the brain, body, and mind to a place of calmness and relaxation.

In the past, she has received many honors for her work including a Recognition Award for Going Above and Beyond in the Assistance of Rehabilitation Programs for the National Council of Jewish Women, and the National Council of Jewish Women has bestowed her with the Unsung Hero Award by the City of West Hollywood, as well. 

Laura has served as an expert on psychological issues on several outlets, and has been seen on KTLA, Good Day LA, FoxNews, KCAL 9, KCBS, KABC, and more.

Laura and ADAA

"I first became involved with ADAA in 2016. I was so thrilled to know that there was an organization that focused solely on mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Mental health is such an important issue to not only our physical health, but to our birth given right to happy and purposeful lives! Around the time I joined ADAA, I founded The Missing Peace-Center for Anxiety in Los Angeles California, an intensive outpatient program that focuses on anxiety depression and trauma. Becoming a part of this organization gives me the chance to help people locally, as well as nationally.

A couple of years ago I was granted the opportunity to become co-chair of the SIG for integrative health at the ADAA. I love the work that we are doing! While medications are helpful in many situations, our SIG is demonstrating efficacy for other more holistic modalities that, we who are out here in the field working with patients directly, get to see real the  improvements in levels of anxiety and depression through these modalities.

Getting to have connections with fellow colleagues in my field has numerous benefits. For example, I have added modalities to my practice that I had never even heard of based on the results and collaborations I have heard about from other members of ADAA.

I believe my center is the only one of its kind on the west coast. I am so proud of the team that I brought together and of the tear-jerking work that has helped free our patients from the grips of anxiety, depression and trauma. I have been lucky enough to appear on many local and national television newscasts because of the progress within my center. Each person that we see get better is an accomplishment that could bring a person joy for a lifetime!"

Nina Rifkind is the owner of The Anxiety & OCD Therapy Center, in Denville, NJ.  She has been practicing in Northwest NJ for more than 20 years, specializing in anxiety disorders, OCD and OCD-related disorders.  Her practice offers telehealth and serves adults and adolescents. Bringing the most current, research-based techniques to her clients is a priority.  

Member Since 2003

Dr. Andrew Rosen is Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He is also a Clinical Fellow of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) and a Diplomate and Fellow in the American Academy of Clinical Psychology (FAACP). He is a Board Member of the National Social Anxiety Clinics as well as Co-Chair for the ADAA Social Anxiety Special Interest group. He is a Clinical Affiliate Assistant Professor at FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. Dr. Rosen is the Co-Founder of the Children's Center for Psychiatry, Psychology, and Related Services. He is an active member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, the Florida Psychological Association (FPA), and the Adelphi Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He has previously served as president of both the Palm Beach County Psychological Society and the Anxiety Disorders Association of Florida. Dr. Rosen founded the Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders in Delray Beach, Florida, where he continues to serve as Director and to work as a board-certified, licensed psychologist providing in-person and telehealth treatment options. 

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Dr. Rosen and ADAA

“I became involved with ADAA when it was still the Phobia Society of America around 1990. I met Jerilyn Ross then and in the early 1990s we initiated a plan to have statewide chapters…in that case the Anxiety Disorders Association of Florida. This proved to not be a practical pathway and was phased out. I attended most of the annual conferences and really enjoyed the learning and the culture of the association as more and more professionals around the country developed a dedication to understanding anxiety and later mood disorders. Before the 1990 period there was little attention paid to these diagnostic entities. I have enjoyed presenting at many conferences and participating in the planning of presentations and a few of the conferences in Florida. Being an ADAA member has benefited me as a psychologist as a person and it has added to the recognition that our Center here in Florida has. Recently, I have become a Co-Chair for the Social Anxiety SIG of ADAA and look forward to continuing its development in offering education to interested members. Although we are all disappointed that our meeting in San Antonio could not be, I look forward to providing help to the many, many people who are and will be hurting from COVID and resuming at next year’s meeting.”

 David H. Rosmarin PhD is the author of Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You (HarperCollins). He is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, a program director at McLean Hospital, and founder of Center for Anxiety, which provides services to over 1,000 patients/year in multiple states. Dr. Rosmarin is an international expert on spirituality and mental health, whose work has been featured in Scientific American, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Good Morning America. He can be reached via the Center for Anxiety website www.centerforanxiety.org. 

Member Since 2009

Dr. Brian Schmaus is a clinical psychologist at the Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago.  He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.  Dr.Schmaus has received training from leading experts in the fields of anxiety and related disorders.  He uses empirically supported treatments and tailors every treatment plan to the specific clinical needs of the patient. Dr.Schmaus has extensive experience working with anxious patients on the Autism Spectrum, and he has given several presentations at national conferences on the topic.  He has also presented on anxiety and anxiety related disorders and has authored publications in peer-reviewed journals. He teaches patients how to manage their worries and fears so they can learn how to tolerate uncertainty. Dr. Schmaus is the chair of the ADAA Membership Committee.

Dr. Schmaus and ADAA

ADAA “helps me stay connected with the latest research and clinical practice for treating anxiety and related disorders. I first joined ADAA in 2008 and attended my first conference that year. It was towards the end of my graduate school training that I first learned of ADAA. One of my supervisors encouraged me to join ADAA and attend the annual conference. I enjoy being involved in a community where I get to meet and connect with a great number of people with similar clinical interests.”

Member Since 2017

Holly Scott, MBA, MS, LPC is the founder of Uptown Dallas Counseling where she specializes in treating anxiety disorders. She serves on the board of the National Social Anxiety Center where she works with other therapists to broaden the quality and availability of Social Anxiety treatments. She is a Diplomate in the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and has received extensive post-graduate training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy from The Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy, New York Institute of Cognitive Therapy, Icahn School of Medicine, and the National Cancer Institute.

Holly and ADAA

"I joined ADAA in 2018. I have a special interest in treating Social Anxiety and joined the Board of the National Society Anxiety Center (NSAC) in January 2018. The members of this board are all active ADAA members and several of them were presenting training sessions on Social Anxiety at the 2018 ADAA Conference. Based on their strong recommendations, I joined ADAA and attended the annual Conference. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn from experts in the field. Since joining ADAA, I have been able to learn and collaborate with fellow clinicians in the following ways:

• Live & Recorded Webinars for CE credit
• Mass General Hospital Psychiatry Webinars
• Annual Conference Clinical Sessions, Research Symposium, & Exhibits
• Social Anxiety Special Interest Group
• Co-hosting an Hour of ADAA Twitter Q&A
• Working toward Clinical Fellow status

This membership allows me to feel confident that I am maintaining a high level of training on the latest evidence-based practices to treat Anxiety and Depression."

Member Since 2007

Neal Sideman recovered from disabling panic disorder & agoraphobia in 1998. For the last 22 years, he has served as an internationally-known coach and teacher for people recovering from panic disorder and agoraphobia. Neal's website, paniccure.com, has reached over 800,000 people. Neal has provided support, guidance and coaching to over 4,000 people working for their recovery from panic attacks, panic disorder. Neal is the co-chair of the Public Education Committee.

Neal and ADAA

ADAA was essential to Neal's recovery. In 1997, he came across Jerilyn Ross' book "Triumph Over Fear." He contacted ADAA, and found his amazing CBT therapist as a result. After completing his recovery work, Neal joined ADAA. He attended his first ADAA conference in San Diego, in 1999. The following year, the journal of the ADAA, The ADAA Reporter, published Neal's essay: "How I Achieved My Cure of Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia: An Open Letter to Those on the Healing Path." Neal started giving presentations at ADAA conferences in 2005. In 2011, Neal was invited to participate in the newly-formed ADAA Public Education Committee, under Sally Winston's leadership. Sally initiated the public education webinars the following year, and Neal began hosting and then helping to organize the webinar series. Neal is excited to continue contributing to ADAA's mission! 

“I became a member of ADAA about 6 years ago, when I first started off in private practice. What keeps me rejoining this organization every year is the fact that in a field that is saturated with new information, approaches, and research I feel like I don't have to keep up with it all on my own. I can turn to ADAA for the newest and most applicable information to my clinical work without feeling quite to overwhelmed. I think of ADAA as a trusted source both for myself as a clinician AND for my clients when I'm trying to point them to further information and resources. The annual conference is an experience I always look forward to and find so much growth opportunity in! Also, (I'm not going to lie) as a mom to three I jump at the opportunity to travel to a cool city each year!”

Kaitlin Soule is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Anxiety and Women's Mental Health Specialist, Writer, Media Contributor, and mom to three under age 7. Her mission is to empower today's woman to say YES to themselves (in a world that so often tells them to say "no") so they can live aligned with their values, instead of guilt and fear. Even as a therapist, like many moms, Kaitlin found herself prioritizing everyone else's needed before her own until an eye-opening experience gave her the epiphany that in order to evolve into the mother and person she was meant to be, she needed to STOP abandoning herself. Kaitlin wrote A Little Less of a Hot Mess: The Modern Mom's Guide to Growth and Evolution, to invite women to care for their mental health with a practical framework, called imperfect growth and evolution™. Kaitlin hosts a podcase called, "A Little Less of a Hot Mess: Off the Couch Conversation with a Therapist" and acts as a Mental Health Expert/Consultant and partner for various businesses and startups.

Member Since 2017

Dr. Sanne van Rooij is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Neuroscience from Utrecht University (the Netherlands) in 2015. Dr. van Rooij's research aims to identify neurobiological predictors for PTSD development and treatment response and the investigation of novel brain-based treatments. As part of her PhD training with Drs. Kahn and Geuze, she performed a pre- and post-treatment neuroimaging study on war veterans with PTSD. She identified predictors for poor treatment outcome, such as a smaller hippocampus and increased amygdala activation. As a postdoctoral fellow with Drs. Ressler and Jovanovic, she studied the role of the hippocampus in the development of PTSD in acutely and chronically traumatized civilians and children. She is an active member of the Neuroimaging Group of the PTSD psychiatric consortium. Dr. van Rooij collaborates with Emory's Department of Neurosurgery to assess the effect of amygdala ablation and direct amygdala stimulation on PTSD symptoms and biomarkers. She has been an active member of ADAA since 2015.

Dr. van Rooij and ADAA

"I became an ADAA member in 2015 when I started as a postdoc at the Grady Trauma Project with Tanja Jovanovic and Kerry Ressler, who co-chaired the conference that year in Miami (the one with the great waterfront dance party). The thing I enjoy the most about ADAA is the community, all the members I have met in the last 5 years. ADAA has also provided me many new opportunities for research and collaboration. I have really enjoyed co-chairing the Genetics & Neuroscience SIG 2017-2019 with Sahib Khalsa. It was a great way to get to know the ADAA organization better and learn more about the conference and what people are most interested in."

Member Since 1993

Gerald Tarlow, PhD received his doctorates in Clinical Psychology from the University of Montana in 1974. Since 1978 he has been on the faculty of UCLA in the Department of Psychiatry where he is currently an Honorary Clinical Professor. He was the Director of Psychological Services at the UCLA OCD Program from 1994 to 2006. Dr. Tarlow served as Director of the OCD Program at Psychological Care and Healing Center from 2017-2018 and is currently the Head Consultant for the OCD and Anxiety Clinic at the center. In 1986 he established the Center For Anxiety Management, an outpatient private practice specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Dr. Tarlow was awarded a Diplomate in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) in 2001. He is currently one of the faculty for the Behavior Therapy Training Institute of the International OCD Foundation. Dr. Tarlow is the author of the Clinical Handbook of Behavior Therapy for Adult Psychological Disorders and the Clinical Handbook of Behavior Therapy for Adult Medical Disorders.

Dr. Tarlow and ADAA

"I originally joined ADAA in the 1980s.  Since I obtained my Ph.D. in clinical psychology I have specialized in treating anxiety disorders. ADAA is a place where I can share my professional interests and continue to learn about the treatment of anxiety disorders. Since 2016 I have been a Clinical Fellow in the organization.

There are so many positive aspects about the organization. Some of my favorites include:  the level of presentations at the conferences, the continuing education presentations online, the Depression and Anxiety journal, the resources that are made available to the community and the Find-a-Therapist Directory.

Being a member of ADAA allows me to stay current on research and treatment of anxiety disorders.  If I need a referral outside of Los Angeles I can always find specialists through the Find-a-Therapist Directory.  I also enjoy the discussions and articles within the member community.

In the past year I have started a new website www.therapycartoons.com where I post my original cartoons related to mental health and therapy.  I am also in the process of completing a self-help book on the topic of treating mental compulsions for individuals diagnosed with OCD."

Member Since 2013

Dr. Lauren P. Wadsworth’s clinical practice and research primarily focus on transdiagnostic features of anxiety disorders, with additional specialties treating anxiety in LGBTQ+ populations and providing ERP for OCD. Lauren’s clinical interests include providing evidenced based treatments (primarily CBT, ERP, and Acceptance-based strategies) to individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders in outpatient settings. Lauren’s clinical and research work are both largely informed by a commitment to continuously striving to increase her cultural humility as a clinician and researcher.

Dr. Wadsworth and ADAA

"I became a member of ADAA my first year of graduate school (2012). My mentor, Dr. Sarah Hayes-Skelton, highly recommended the annual conference as a way to gain additional training and insights on treating anxiety and researching mechanisms of anxiety development and treatment. Since then, I have attended the conference yearly.

I enjoy the conference as a way to connect with other anxiety researchers and clinicians. I appreciate that the conference has historically felt more focused on clinical work and is smaller/more intimate than other conferences I have attended. I also appreciate that ADAA has explicitly committed to increasing the percentage of multiculturally informed presentations and roundtables. Most recently, I have valued serving as a co-chair of the Multicultural Advances Special Interest Group with Dr. Briana Woods-Jaeger.
ADAA has been invaluable in supporting my professional networking, especially with peers/colleagues who hold similar values regarding cultural humility.  

I am so excited to have finally reached my goal of starting an OCD Clinic in my home city of Rochester NY. The city of Rochester and surrounding rural towns have been historically underserved, especially in regards to Evidence Based Treatments for OCD and Anxiety Disorders. After launching Genesee Valley Psychology in July of 2019 we have grown to 12 clinicians- serving over 250 patients with individual therapy, an OCD Intensive Outpatient Program, and numerous OCD/DBT/CBT groups. We are excited to have our first Postdoctoral Fellows and new practicum students joining us in the Fall. I am also excited to be co-authoring "Did that just happen?! Beyond "Diversity"--Creating Sustainable Inclusive Organizations" a forthcoming book (with Dr. Stephanie Pinder-Amaker) on cultural humility in the workplace from Beacon Press."

Member Since 2018

​“I first became involved in ADAA in 2018, when I attended my first ADAA conference. I initially got involved because the conference was so highly recommended to me by my colleagues. ADAA is a unique organization that joins together professionals with a range of different professional backgrounds, who are all focused on similar clinical domains. Because of that, the scope and content of the conferences feel very relevant. I also appreciate that you can attend the conference and expand your clinical and research skillsets in one place.”

“ADAA offers a community of professionals with complementary skills and expertise both clinically and in research.“

“I was recently promoted to Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, in June of 2020.  Additionally, I was awarded a K23 Career Development Award from NIMH in Sept 2019, to fund my research and training focused on smartphone-based detection of high-risk negative emotion states and prediction of related adverse outcomes (i.e., suicidal ideation, substance use) in participants with body dysmorphic disorder. I was selected as runner-up for the 2021 ADAA Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award and I received a 2019 Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS).”

Hilary Weingarden, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a staff psychologist in the Center for OCD and Related Disorders (CORD) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Weingarden received her bachelor's degree from Tufts University and her PhD in clinical psychology from George Mason University. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral training at MGH/HMS and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Massachusetts. Dr. Weingarden's research is focused on cognitive and emotional risk factors for adverse outcomes such as suicide risk in OCD and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Her research also focuses on applying technology to enhance assessment of and interventions for OCD and related disorders. Her work is currently supported by a Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institute of Mental Health. In addition to NIMH, Dr. Weingarden's work has been funded as Principal Investigator or co-Investigator by Harvard Medical School and industry collaborations, and she was a 2019 recipient of the Association for Psychological Science's (APS) Rising Star Award. In addition to her work at MGH, Dr. Weingarden has a private practice where she provides evidence-based psychological treatments for adults with OCD and related disorders. 

Member Since 2016

Stephanie Woodrow, LPC, LCPC, NCC is the owner and clinical director of the National Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center in Washington, DC. She specializes in the treatment of young adults, college students, and professionals with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and related disorders from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Stephanie serves various roles within ADAA, including chair of the OCD SIG, chair of the Membership Committee, member of the 2023 Conference Committee, and lead of the State-of-the-Art Clinicians sessions at the 2023 Conference. 

Member Since 2017

Dr. Briana Woods-Jaeger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at Emory University and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist specializing in traumatic stress and culturally responsive interventions.  She received her PhD and MS in clinical child psychology from the University of Washington. Dr. Woods-Jaeger completed her clinical psychology internship at the University of Illinois at Chicago and then went on to complete a fellowship in public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Woods-Jaeger's research examines social and structural processes that link the experience of child trauma and adversity to mental and physical health disparities. Her work focuses on partnering with communities to identify ways to prevent adverse childhood experiences and support different systems such as education, juvenile justice, and health care in responding to the needs of trauma-exposed youth. She is currently a Principal Investigator on research projects supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on primary and secondary violence prevention and promoting resilience after experiencing trauma and adversity. Dr. Woods-Jaeger is co-chair of ADAA's Multicultural Advances SIG.

Dr. Woods-Jaeger and ADAA

“I became involved in ADAA in 2017 at the suggestion of colleagues who highlighted the balance between research and practice and opportunities for networking and collaboration.  My first year I was immediately struck but just how true these sentiments are and how many opportunities there are to be actively engaged. I enjoy the opportunity to be a part of a thriving network of committed and engaged researchers, clinicians, and advocates.  In particular, ADAA's interest in and commitment to diversity and multicultural issues has provided a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with others across the country committed to this important work. Being an ADAA member benefits my work by connecting me with amazing colleagues and providing a range of training and dissemination opportunities.”