Clinical Psychology @ Teachers College

Faculty

Full-Time Faculty

Core Faculty

George A. Bonanno, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and former Chair of the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1991. His research and scholarly interests have centered on the question of how human beings cope with loss, trauma and other forms of extreme adversity, with an emphasis on resilience and the salutary role of self-deception, positive emotion and emotion regulatory processes. Professor Bonanno's recent empirical and theoretical work has focused on defining and documenting adult resilience in the face of loss or potential traumatic events, and on identifying the range of psychological and contextual variables that predict both psychopathological and resilient outcomes. He has also been exploring the salutary role of genuine smiling and laughter in coping and is co-editor of Emotion: Current Issues and Future Directions (Guilford) and author of The Other Side of Sadness (Basic Books). You may find out more information about his Loss, Trauma, and Emotion laboratory by visiting: http://www.tc.edu/LTElab/ . Email: gab38@columbia.edu

Barry A. Farber, Ph.D. received his doctorate from Yale University. Clinically, he has had training in behavioral, client-centered, and psychodynamically oriented psychotherapies. His research and scholarly interests are in the areas of psychotherapy process and outcome (e.g., the ways in which patients construct internal representations of the therapist and the therapeutic relationship; self-disclosure in patients, therapists, and supervisees), the impact on the therapist of doing psychotherapy, the development of psychological-mindedness, and the ways in which interpersonal disclosure is influenced by emerging technologies (e.g., texting, emailing, blogging). He was Director of Training in the clinical program here for 21 years (1990-2011); he's the incoming editor (as of May, 2012) of Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session. He's also the incoming secretary of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association. He has recently authored Self Disclosure in Psychotherapy (2006, Guilford) and Rock 'n Roll Wisdom: What psychologically astute lyrics can teach about life and love (2007, Praeger). Email: farber@tc.columbia.edu

Suniya S. Luthar, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology at Columbia University's Teachers College. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1990. Dr. Luthar's research involves vulnerability and resilience among various populations including youth in poverty and children in families affected by mental illness. Her recent work has focused on children in affluent communities, and her findings on problems among these youth -- particularly pertaining to substance use and anxiety -- have received much attention in the scientific community, among parents and school administrators, and in the national media. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, Dr. Luthar's books include most recently, Resilience and vulnerability in childhood: Adaptation in the context of adversities. She is Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology and Development and Psychopathology. She has served as Chair of a grant review committee at NIH, member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research on Child Development, and of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Socioeconomic Status.Email: suniya.luthar@columbia.edu

Elizabeth Midlarsky, Ph.D. received her doctorate from Northwestern University. Her clinical training was in both psychodynamic and social learning approaches, across the lifespan, and in both individuals and in family groups. She has research and scholarly interests in altruism and aggression through the life-span, gender and racial differences in mental health health-seeking, eating disorders, gender roles, and helping behavior as a means for coping with stress. Current applications of her interest in helping include investigations of the effects on mental health of helping during the Holocaust, among older adults, and in families in which a child or an adult has an illness or disability. Among numerous publications she has also edited the following books:Violence in schools: Cross-national and cross-cultural perspectives (Springer) and Altruism in later life (Sage). Email: em142@columbia.edu

Lisa Miller, Ph.D. is the Director of Clinical Psychology and Professor in the Clinical Psychology Program. Dr. Miller obtained her B.A. from Yale University and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied under Dr. Martin Seligman. Her research and scholarly interests are in spirituality and mind-body pathways to wellness, basic science at multiple levels of analysis on spirituality development, and prevention and treatment interventions for children and adolescents in poverty, increased access to treatment among low SES populations, intergenerational transmission of risk and resilience factors, and development of spirituality in children and adolescents. Dr. Miller's lab over the past fifteen years has been funded by a William T. Grant Faculty Scholars Award, an NIMH K-Award and a number of corporate and family foundations. Dr. Miller received the Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award from American psychological Association and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Email: lfm14@columbia.edu

Helen Verdeli, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has been teaching graduate psychology students on research and practice of empirically based treatments, specifically IPT and CBT with adolescents and adults. She is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at the New York State Psychiatric Institute where she has been teaching psychotherapy to psychiatric residents, postdoctoral fellows and psychology interns. Dr. Verdeli's research focuses on treatment and prevention of mood disorders through psychotherapy, and involves two areas. One is on use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy as a preventive intervention for symptomatic adolescents of Bipolar parents. For this work, she has received a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, a Sol Goldman Trust award and recently an NIMH Research's Career Development K23 Award. Dr. Verdeli's other area of research involves adapting and testing in randomized controlled trials psychotherapy for depressed people in developing countries. She collaborated with academic and humanitarian groups in the US and abroad and had a major role in the cultural modification of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for use in resource-poor communities: depressed adults in South Uganda, depressed adolescents in refugee camps in North Uganda (many of whom were children soldiers) and distressed patients in primary care in Goa, India. Dr. Verdeli is a member of the Mental Health Advisory Committee for the Millennium Villages Project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University (directed by Jeffrey Sachs), a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Scientific Advisory Board of DBSA. Email: hv2009@columbia.edu

Director of Training Clinic

Dinelia Rosa, Ph.D. is director of the Dean-Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services at Teachers College. She obtained her Clinical Psychology degree at The Derner Institute, Adelphi University. Prior to her current job, Dr. Rosa worked for 18 years throughout New York City in various clinical and educational settings predominantly with children and families from diverse backgrounds.Dr. Rosa is a founding member of the Health Psychology rotation in the Bellevue-NYU Internship Program. She worked in the Cardiac subspecialty clinic and offered support groups for post-operative patients with coronary artery disease. Additionally, she worked in the Breast Cancer and Infertility clinics also in Bellevue Medical Center. For the last 11 years, Dr. Rosa volunteers in Latino Share, a non-profit organization offering support groups to women survivors of breast and ovarian cancer. Most recently, she ran focus groups for them as part of the Novela Project, aimed at developing a Spanish written story in a soap opera format to educate Latinas about breast cancer in a culturally- sensitive way. Most recently, she co-authored the book, Grief Therapy with Latinos: Integrating Culture for Clinicians with Dr. Carmen Vazquez.

At TC, Dr. Rosa coordinates the practicum training for students of five graduate programs, and teaches and supervises for the Clinical Psychology Program. She is a founding member of the TC Psychological Emergency Response Team (PERT) and supervises the Clinical Graduate Students serving on this team. She is interested in research associated with treatment outcome measures and to that is leading a research initiative at the Dean-Hope Center. In addition, she is interested in issues of bilingualism in training, and received a grant from the APA Committee of Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training (CEMRRAT) to address the need of graduate students in Clinical and Counseling psychology able to speak Spanish and interested in working with linguistic minority populations. Dr. Rosa recently submitted a grant proposal aimed at developing psycho-educational groups with children and adults to help reduce cardiovascular disease risks factors through education and mindfulness techniques. Dr. Rosa has been invited to speak in radio and television, and offers seminars on mental health issues with the Latino community to professionals and community-based organizations. Dr. Rosa is the recipient of the 2007 NYSPA Service Award, and most recently was nominated for President-Elect of the New York State Psychological Association. Email: Rosa@exchange.tc.columbia.edu

Dean Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services

Full-Time Lecturers

Aurelie Athan. Ph.D. is a Full-Time Lecturer and Program Coordinator of the Masters Program in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College where she also received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her scholarly interests center on women's development across the lifespan, with a current emphasis on the transition to motherhood. She researches subjective well-being in mothers, parenting satisfaction, and postpartum psychopathology. She is also examining the history of funding for women's health research and contributing to the rationale for the creation of a new interdisciplinary field of study of maternal theory. Dr. Athan has presented in numerous conferences, published in journals such as the Journal for the Association of Research on Mothering, and sits on the academic advisory board of the Museum of Motherhood. Her clinical orientation is informed by depth perspectives such as Jungian psychology with a focus on the creative expression of the human psyche in art and therapy. She has been honored to work with the Archives for Research on Archetypal Symbolism on a 10-year effort culminating in The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Symbolism (Taschen). As an administrator in higher education, she applies a strength-based and transformational learning framework to foster the positive development of students through innovative curriculum design and academic guidance. Email: ama81@columbia.edu

Randall Richardson-Vejlgaard, Ph.D. received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the New School for Social Research, and completed post-doctoral training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Yale School of Medicine. Previous to joining the clinical faculty at Teacher's College, Dr. Richardson-Vejlgaard was a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Dept. of Psychiatry of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. His research examines the psychological factors that contribute to the initiation of behavior. Specifically, his current work examines the precipitants of suicidal behavior in individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder to better understand the cognitive and emotional states associated with suicide attempts. He teaches Psychological Assessment, Neuropsychological Assessment, Clinical Neuropsychology, and Personality and Behavior Change. Email: rr2761@tc.columbia.edu

Affiliated Faculty

Cathy Lord, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist who received her Ph.D. in psychology and social relations from Harvard University. As our affiliate faculty member, she has also taught at the University of North Carolina, University of Minnesota, University of Alberta, the London Medical Research Council Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Harvard University (Children's Hospital) and University of Chicago. Dr. Lord is renowned for her longitudinal studies of children with autism and for taking the lead in developing the autism diagnostic instruments used in both practice and research worldwide. Dr. Lord collaborates with colleagues internationally on the molecular genetics, patho-physiology and phenomenology of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. She has published over a hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals in addition to numerous books, chapters and articles such as Patterns of growth in adaptive social abilities among children with autism Spectrum Disorders (in press). Dr. Lord is Principal Investigator and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Simons Foundation's Simplex Collection and the Early Intervention in Autism Committee at the NAS. She received the Irving B. Harris Early Childhood Lecture Award in 2004 and was a Finalist for the New York University Child Study Center Scientific Achievement Award in 2005. Email: TBA

Further details regarding the work of our Full-Time Faculty can be found by clicking on their names and or searching for articles highlighting their work on the TC Home Page such as the recent Feature on TC Today Alumni: Uniting our Work Across Disciplines: Psychology is in the House

Clinical Psychology

In the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Faculty

Full-Time Faculty