University of Southern California
Post-Doc, Psychology
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Thesis Title: Psycholinguistic Indicators of Motivation for Substance Use Behavior Change among Individuals with Serious Mental Illness
About
I received B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, and my M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of Maryland, College Park. I completed my clinical internship at the Long Beach VA Healthcare System.
My research interest is substance use disorders and co-occuring psychopathology. Most of my research was conducted among individuals in inner-city residential substance abuse treatment centers. In this population, I examined behavioral and emotional processes underlying antisocial personality disorder and psychopathic traits. My interest in processes underlying treatment outcomes led to my dissertation research which examined psycholinguistic indicators of motivation for substance use behavior change among individuals with serious mental illness. Currently, as a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Susan Luczak on the Joint Child Health Project in Mauritius, I will be examining risk and protective factors for alcohol and substance use involvement. I am particularly interested in the generalizability of current developmental pathway models for externalizing and internalizing behaviors to a non-Western culture.
