Child F.I.R.S.T.

Focus on Innovation and Redesign in Systems and Treatment

Program Director

Bruce F. Chorpita, Ph.D. is currently Professor of Psychology, at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York and held a faculty position with the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaii from 1997 to 2008. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Chorpita served as the Clinical Director of the Hawaii Department of Health's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division. Dr. Chorpita is widely published in the areas of children's mental health services and childhood anxiety disorders, and he has held research and training grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Hawaii Departments of Education and Health, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He published a book on Modular Cognitive Behavior Therapy in 2007 with Guilford Press and recently published the MATCH-ADTC protocol, tested in the Child STEPs multi-site clinical trial.

Program Staff

Alyssa M. Ward, Ph.D.is a UCLA Post-Doctoral Scholar, Clinical Supervisor, and Project Site Co-Director for the Child STEPs Clinic Treatment Project. Dr. Ward graduated Magna Cum Laude and received her B.A. in Psychology from the George Washington University in 2001. Dr. Ward pursued her graduate work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Southam-Gerow, and she received her doctorate from VCU in 2007 after completion of her Clinical Internship in Pediatric and General Child Psychology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her research interests include childhood internalizing disorders, the dissemination and transportability of evidence-based treatments for youth, and  issues of training and supervision as related to therapist competence and treatment integrity.

Michelle C. Levy, Ph.D. is a UCLA Post-Doctoral Scholar, Clinical Supervisor, and Project Site Co-Director for the Child STEPs Clinic Treatment Project. Dr. Levy earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Purdue University, under the mentorship of Dr. Jean Dumas. Her doctorate was received in 2009 following her clinical internship at Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Levy's research interests include childhood anxiety disorders, parenting, and the dissemination of evidence-based treatments into community-based clinical settings with emphasis on therapist training, as well as engagement and treatment efficacy for youth and families.

Angela Chiu, Ph.D.is a UCLA Post-Doctoral Scholar, Clinical Supervisor, and Project Site Co-Director for the Child STEPs Clinic Treatment Project. Dr. Chiu earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and completed her doctoral work in clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her doctorate in 2010 following a clinical internship in child and adolescent psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Chiu's research interests include studying the process of dissemination, clarifying the effects of evidence-based interventions for youth in school and community service settings, adapting interventions to meet the needs of ethnically diverse clientele, and exploring therapeutic processes that facilitate treatment progress.

Andrea M. Letamendi, Ph.D., is a UCLA Post-Doctoral Scholar, Clinical Supervisor, and Project Supervisor for the Child STEPs Clinic Treatment Project. Dr. Letamendi received her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University in 2002 and received her doctoral degree from the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology in 2011. She completed her psychology internship at the West Los Angeles VA in 2011. Dr. Letamendi's research interests include bridging the gap between scientifically-driven interventions and community mental health care systems serving youth and families, as well as improving cultural competency in evidence-based practice.

Matthew Fierstein is the lab manager for the Child FIRST Program. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Harvard University in 2011. His research interests include mechanisms of change in psychosocial treatments for adolescent depression as well as nonspecific factors associated with psychiatric improvement in youth.

Priya Korathu-Larson is a research associate for the Child STEPS LA County project. She received her B.S. in Pyschology from Northeastern University in 2011. Her research areas include child and adolescent anxiety disorders, cognitive behavior therapy, and the dissemination of evidence-based practices to the community.

Graduate Students

Adam Bernstein received a coterminal B.A. in Computer Science and M.A. in Psychology in 2004 from Stanford University. He is interested in adapting treatment and clinical systems knowledge to make the products of research compatible with and attractive to real-world service settings.

Nicole Starace received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. Her interests are in child anxiety and depression, traumatic stress, cognitive behavior therapy, and dissemination of evidence based practices.

Jennifer Regan received her B.A. in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 2006. Her interests are in exploring efficacious treatments for child and adolescent anxiety disorders and disseminating evidence-based practices to community settings.

Michael Reding received his B.A. and coterminal M.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 2006. He is interested in the evaluation, improvement, and dissemination of evidence-based treatments for anxiety and mood disorders.

Rachel Kim received her B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University in 2009. She is interested in the dissemination of evidence-based treatments in schools and communities and in designing culturally sensitive interventions to reduce gaps in mental health treatment for underserved populations.