Anxiety and Worry in Youth - 2020 Fall Forum

Sandra Pimentel, PhD is Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Associate Director of Psychology Training, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She launched and is Director of the Anxiety and Mood Program (AMP), a specialty training program in the Child Outpatient Psychiatry Department, and co-directs the Becoming an Emerging Adult at Montefiore (BEAM) Program, offering developmentally- and transition-focused care across the medical center system. Dr. Pimentel specializes in cognitive behavioral treatments (CBT) for children, adolescents, and young adults with anxiety, mood, trauma, and behavioral difficulties. She provides comprehensive assessments and consultations and individual, group and family therapy. Advanced training, mentorship, and community engagement are at the core of Dr. Pimentel's professional interests. 

Mona Potter, MD is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and is co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of InStride Health, an innovative outpatient program that serves children and adolescents (and their families) diagnosed with anxiety and OCD. She also continues to serve as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, part time, at Harvard Medical School after two decades in the MGH/McLean/HMS system. Prior to co-founding InStride, Dr. Potter served as the Medical Director of the McLean Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Services (including McLean Anxiety Mastery Program, McLean School Consultation Service, and McLean Child and Adolescent Outpatient DBT Program) and served on the Executive Committee of the McLean Institute of Technology in Psychiatry (ITP). She earned a Bachelor of Music from Vanderbilt University and stayed on at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine for her Medical Degree. 

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."

Lynn Lyons specializes in the treatment of anxious children and their parents with a special interest in interrupting the generational pattern of worry in families. She is the author of several books and articles including Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children and the companion book Playing with Anxiety: Casey’s Guide for Teens and Kids.

In addition to her private practice in Concord NH, she presents internationally to mental health and medical providers, educators, school nurses, and parents.

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.”

John T. Walkup, MD, is Head of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a Margaret C. Osterman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. He also serves as Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

His scholarly activity covers three main areas of investigation. His work with movement disorders, specifically Tourette syndrome and the other tic disorders, uniquely spans psychiatry, child psychiatry and neurology.  His expertise in child and adolescent psychiatry clinical trials focuses on the development and evaluation of psychopharmacological and psychosocial treatments and lastly, he has been involved in developing and evaluating interventions to reduce the large mental health disparities facing Native American youth, specifically drug use and suicide prevention.