Mental Health Services Bios

Bashir Abdullah completed his BA in psychology at the University of Central Oklahoma. He entered a doctoral program in counseling psychology at the University of North Texas in 2009. His interests include marriage and family counseling, mentoring, advocacy, multicultural competency, substance abuse and mental health in military families.

Anjali Alimchandani earned her MA in public policy from Harvard University and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in counseling psychology at New York University. Her priority is to address substance abuse problems within the larger context of mental health promotion and mental illness prevention and treatment with at-risk populations of color.

Rueben Brock earned his MS in counselor education from California University of Pennsylvania in 2008. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in counseling psychology at West Virginia University. Rueben recently accepted an adjunct faculty position in the psychology department at Community College of Allegheny County. He is interested in role modeling and academic self-efficacy in Black students.

M. Cristina Cruza-Guet (postdoctoral fellow) received her PhD from Lehigh University in 2010 and began a postdoctoral position at Yale University School of Medicine. She plans to specialize clinically in work with Hispanics with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, engage in public sector initiatives that address disparities in access to mental health care among this population, and develop community-inclusive and peer-based interventions for them.

Erika Dawkins attended Howard University, where she earned her BS in psychology in 2008. In the same year, she began pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Widener University. Her interests are varied and include African Americans and interpersonal relationships, racial identity development, sexuality and sexual addiction, sexual identity development and sexual experiences, working with couples, Bipolar I and II.

Michelle Flores (policy fellow) earned her MA in psychology from the California State University, Los Angeles in 2009 and began pursuing her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the same year. She is primarily interested in issues of race and racism toward Latinos in the United States, relating these constructs to minority mental health and substance abuse. She hopes to help clients of color build a self-sustaining “toolkit” of coping strategies so they do not resort to self-harming behaviors.

Jennie Fretts received her MA in psychology from the New School for Social Research in 2009. In the same year, she began pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Montana. She is interested in cross-cultural psychology, American Indians, body images, eating disorders and health psychology.

Pura Garcia-Serrablo graduated from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in 2008 with a master’s degree in counseling psychology. In 2008, she enrolled at Ponce School of Medicine and Health where she is currently studying for a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. She is most interested in neuropsychology, cognitive decline, substance abuse, neurodevelopmental disorders and health psychology.

Daniel Gaztambide attended Union Theological Seminary, where he earned his MA in Psychiatry and Religion. He began a doctoral program at Rutgers University in 2009 in clinical psychology. He is interested in microaggressions in psychotherapy, rupture and repair processes and their relation to treatment outcome and drop-out with ethnic minorities, liberation theology and psychology, relational psychoanalysis, psychotherapy integration, psychology of religion and spirituality, ethnic identity development, treatment of complex trauma and depression, political philosophy and psychoanalysis and social justice.

Jessica Graham earned her MA in clinical psychology in 2011 from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, where she is also currently pursuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology. Her particular area of focus is anxiety disorders in Black populations.

Jennifer Hsia received her MS in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2007. She entered the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of South Dakota in 2009. She is interested in increasing access to mental health services in rural communities, particularly for ethnic minority populations in these areas, and in issues involving ethnic minority children and their families.

Gihane Jeremie-Brink (policy fellow) received her MA in community counseling from Loyola University Chicago in 2010. She is also currently pursuing a doctoral degree in counseling psychology at Loyola. She is especially interested in treatment for trauma, outreach and preventive interventions with at-risk youth in urban settings, racial socialization of youth in African American and Black immigrant populations, coping and resilience, and acculturation and enculturation processes.

Howard Lloyd received his MA in counseling psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2010. He is pursuing his doctoral degree in psychology at the University of Kentucky where his studies are focused by his interests in identity development in African American males, academic achievement in persons of color, academic self-efficacy among African American males, academic disidentification among African American males, intersectionality of African American males, unique psychological risk factors in persons of color, outcomes of diversity training, family systems in persons of color, and obstacles in higher education for persons of color.

Hugh Love Jr. earned his MA in counseling for mental health and wellness from New York University in 2010. He is currently studying at Fordham University in pursuit of a doctoral degree in school psychology. His studies are focused on gender roles and masculinity, minority adolescents, coping styles and resilience, and sexual risk behavior.

William Martinez earned his MA in forensic psychology from the John Jay College in 2004. In 2008, he began pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at DePaul University. His areas of interest include development and implementation of evidence-based interventions for immigrant and ethnic minority populations, pediatric stress and anxiety disorders, cultural and contextual influences on the mental health of Latino children and families and culturally responsive tests and measures.

Michaela McLaughlin is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota. She earned her BA in psychology from St. Olaf College in 2010. She sees substance abuse prevention as intricately tied to substance abuse treatment and is interested in promoting mental health in an effort to prevent the development or worsening of mental illness and substance abuse.

Hong Nguyen currently is pursuing a doctoral degree in adult clinical psychology at the University of Washington, where she also earned her MS in psychology in 2010. Her clinical interests focus on cultural issues associated with substance use, sexual victimization and sexual risk taking.

Randi Noel graduated from Northeastern State University in 2008 with an MS in counseling psychology. She began the PhD program in counseling psychology at Oklahoma State University in 2009. She is interested in increasing the overall wellness of individuals, families, and communities by increasing the availability of effective mental health services and promoting community-based programs and systems of care and partnering with other service providers, organizations, and family or community members when there are emotional, educational, family and social needs.

Jennifer Alexis Ortiz earned her MS in psychology from the University of New Mexico in 2010. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology from the same institution. She is interested in Latino health disparities, stress and coping, application of mindfulness to Latino populations and resilience.

Cecily Reber attended Teachers College in New York for her MA in clinical psychology. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium. She is primarily interested in providing mental health treatment to ethnic minorities, although she also has a strong appreciation for, and understanding about, the interaction between mental health and co-occurring substance abuse.

Alvina Rosales received her MA in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles in 2008 and entered Georgia State University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology the same year. Her focus is on addressing childhood trauma and childhood experiences of life-threatening or chronic illness.

Leah Squires (postdoctoral fellow) graduated in 2012 with her PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University and began a postdoctoral position at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. She is interested in providing behavioral health and substance abuse services to diverse patient groups and the intersections between substance use and chronic health conditions.

Elizabeth Terrazas-Carillo attended Midwestern State University, where she earned her MA in clinical psychology in 2007. She is currently enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where is pursuing a doctoral degree in educational psychology. Her areas of interest include ethnic minorities and mental health, international student adjustment and personality assessment with ethnic minorities.

Jessica Turral graduated with a BA in psychology from John Hopkins University in 2009 and will begin a doctoral program in psychology at Loyola University in 2012. She is particularly interested in the correlation between mental health diagnosis, substance abuse, and criminal activity and in providing services to weaken this correlation.

Angel Vasquez began pursuing his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2009. He received his MS in clinical psychology in 2012 from the same institution. His primary interests are addictions, health disparities, treatment provider effectiveness and communitywide interventions for mental health and substance use disorders.

Michele Vella-Healey (policy fellow) attended the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism for her MS in journalism, The City College of New York for her MA in Spanish, and Lehigh University for her MEd in counseling and human services. She is currently enrolled at Lehigh University where she is pursuing a doctoral degree in counseling psychology. Her interests include domestic and international mental and physical healthcare disparities in ethnic and racial minority populations including concomitant substance abuse and psychiatric issues and HIV/hepatitis C risk behaviors (infectious disease) with special emphasis on psychological adjustment and resiliency in environments affected by war and/or poverty and the psychological aspects of international peace and war.

Speshal Walker attended the University of Connecticut and received her BS in psychology/women studies in 2008. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her interests lie in patient-centered resources for resilience and recovery; partnerships between consumers, providers, and policymakers in addressing mental health needs for diverse and underserved communities; trauma and recovery; and culturally sensitive treatment for women of color.

Lynn Walsh-Blair received her MA in mental health counseling from Boston College and began pursuing a doctoral degree in counseling psychology at the same institution in 2007. Her areas of focus are positive youth development for students of color and multicultural training for providers of mental health services.

Henry Wynne graduated from Morehouse College in 2009 with a BA in psychology and began pursuing his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Arizona State University in 2010. He is pursuing a career as a clinical psychologist focused on the promotion and prevention of mental health through interventions aimed at building resiliency with ethnic minority youth.