Team

Dr. Warter received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkely, California, completed his Predoctoral Internship at USC’s Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at USC’s Institute for Integrative Health and Wellness. Dr. Warter has also been trained at UCSF School of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente, and in community clinics in rural, underserved communities in Argentina and Paraguay. Dr. Warter has received training in providing parents with guidelines to help prevent behavior problems and enhance communication skills and strategies to promote children’s social, emotional, and academic competence. Dr. Warter has also published and presented at the University of Naples and the University of Buenos Aires on subjects related to Third Culture Kids and the impacts of Social Media on Personality and Self Esteem.

Dr. Aaron Mirsky is a finance professional with 14 years of experience in financial management, venture capital, and investment valuations. Currently, he serves as the General Partner of a venture capital fund focused on technology and is a member of the investment committee of a BBB+ reinsurance company. In prior roles, Dr. Mirsky was the portfolio manager of venture capital funds focused on technology. He held a senior associate position in a private equity fund, where he was responsible for financial accounting, investment valuations, and financial management.

Dr. Mirsky has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University. He also has a Master’s in Finance from Hult International Business School in London and a Bachelor’s in Finance from Florida International University.

Dr. Kuo is PRI’s Executive Clinical Director. She has worked with children and young adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and related disorders for four years, during which she supervised behavioral therapists providing treatment. Dr. Kuo received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkely, California. She completed her predoctoral internship through Integrated Health Psychology Training Program at George & Cynthia Miller Wellness Center and Martinez’s Health Center. Her postdoctoral residency was at Kaiser Permanent, working on both the Child & Family and Adult teams as a generalist with rotations in trauma, ACT, DBT, and IOP. Prior to joining us, Dr. Kuo continued working with Kaiser Permanente as a case manager working with patients’ post-hospitalization, with chronic and/or acute suicidal ideation, and at moderate to severe symptom severity.

Amanda Alfonso is a finance professional with 5 years experience in technology and social impact investing, portfolio management, accounting, and business development. She has worked in various financial roles, including financial analysis, budgeting, and forecasting, and has a keen eye for detail when it comes to financial reporting. Amanda has co-founded two non-profit organizations serving homeless youth in the Caribbean. Additionally, Amanda is the General Partner of a venture capital technology fund focused on SaaS solutions. Amanda has a BS in Business with concentrations in Finance and Sustainable Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Dr. Troy Kurz, MD, MS, is a board-certified child & adolescent psychiatrist specializing in psychopharmacology, integrative psychiatry, and psychotherapy. He sees patients of all ages but is keenly interested in children and adolescents. He cares for patients with a wide range of mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar, PTSD, and personality disorders. Pertaining to pediatrics and adolescents—he concentrates on autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, LGBTQIA+ health, trauma, and mood disorders. Dr. Kurz received his medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine. He completed his general psychiatry training and child and adolescent psychiatry specialty training at the University of California Riverside. He is certified in the Standards of Care 8 with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Dr. Lamia has authored six books reflecting her scholarly interests, including: Emotions! Making Sense of Your Feelings; What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success; The Upside of Shame: Therapeutic Interventions Using the Positive Aspects of a “Negative” Emotion; Understanding Myself: A Kid’s Guide to Intense Emotions and Strong Feelings; The White Knight Syndrome: Rescuing Yourself from Your Need to Rescue Others; and, forthcoming, Grief Isn’t Something to Get Over. In addition to her role as a professor at the Wright Institute, Dr. Lamia works with adults, adolescents, preteens, and couples in her Marin County private practice. Her blogs on Psychology Today, Thrive Global, and PsychWire, along with extensive media interviews and commentaries, exemplify her endeavor to convey an understanding of emotion and its significant role in who we become. With that same goal in mind, for nearly a decade she hosted a weekly call-in talk show, “KidTalk with Dr. Mary,” on Radio Disney stations.

Dr. Alterman has more than twenty years of experience, including being director of a child and family clinic at Kaiser Permanente Richmond adjunct academic faculty at the Wright Institute, training doctoral students in neuropsychological testing and neurodevelopmental problems of childhood. Dr. Alterman has more than 20 years of experience providing comprehensive psychological and neuropsychological evaluations; diagnosing and designing treatment plans for children with ADHD and behavioral problems; conducting individual and family psychotherapy for children with anxiety and depression; providing counseling and co-parenting advice to divorcing parents; and leading workshops for parents of strong-willed children.

Dr. Simkin has 50 published articles and is an Associate Professor, University of Buenos Aires. Visiting Scholar, Tel Aviv & Haifa University. Additiobnally, Dr. Simkin has twelve years of experience with ex-pats as a clinical psychologist and professor in Israel, Argentina, and Germany. Dr. Simkin is a leading expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Arthur Kleinberg, PsyD, is a California state licensed clinical psychologist. Dr. Kleinberg is a graduate of the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, and is currently employed as a staff psychologist with Kaiser Permanente in their Oakland Psychiatry department. He has 7 years of clinical therapy experience with youth, adults, and seniors, working from an integrative approach that blends primarily psychodynamic and third wave CBT modalities, and utilizing a relational style in the treatment process. Dr. Kleinberg is also passionate about education and mentorship in the field of psychology. He is the present group supervision leader for Kaiser Oakland’s internship training program, and is also an individual mentor for Kaiser Northern California career mentorship program for pre and post-doctoral candidates. His intention is to continue these activities while also stepping back into the classroom to teach doctoral students. Dr. Kleinberg is excited to join the team of supervisors at PRI this coming summer.

Vanessa Tam is an associate therapist at PRI. She received her master’s in clinical mental health counseling from the University of San Diego. Vanessa has worked with children and families to address symptoms of trauma, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression, in addition to volunteering for suicide awareness on her college campus and for the Crisis Text Line. She enjoys utilizing DBT, CBT, and ACT to provide support to patients and cultivate wellness in patients and their families.

Shayna Kaler is a passionate mental health care professional who cares deeply about supporting the well-being of underserved and vulnerable populations. She received her undergraduate degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she worked in the Cognitive Development Lab and served as a Teaching Assistant. For the past four years, she was a dedicated Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) working closely with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), where she developed a deep understanding of behavioral interventions and crisis support strategies. Her unique blend of clinical experience and organizational skills ensures the smooth operation of PRI’s day-to-day activities.

Dr. West is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Psychology, and Psychiatry & the Behavioral Sciences, Director of the CHLA Child Clinical and Pediatric Psychology Internship, and Associate Training Director for Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Dr. West is a Board-Certified Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychologist with clinical and research interests in psychosocial interventions for the treatment of pediatric mood and anxiety disorders, including studying predictors and mechanisms of treatment response, and the application of psychosocial interventions to underserved, ethnic minority populations. She was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health to develop and study a family-based intervention for children with bipolar spectrum disorders. This treatment, called child- and family-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CFF-CBT), or the RAINBOW program, was determined to be highly efficacious through a randomized clinical trial and published as part of Oxford University Press’s prestigious “Treatments that Work” series. Dr. West has trained over 350 clinicians in this model and delivered workshops nationally and internationally. Currently, the model has been adopted in Sweden, Portugal, and Japan and is established as an effective science-based psychosocial intervention for youth with PBD. Dr. West also has research interests in the developmental psychopathology of mood and anxiety disorders in children, preventing suicidal behavior in youth, perinatal mental health, and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) mental health and substance use disparities. She has been funded by NIMH, PCORI, SAMHSA, CA DHHS, and multiple private foundations for her research in these areas. She is currently a Co-I and the Director of CBT implementation on a large clinical trial studying medication and CBT treatment sequencing for pediatric anxiety disorders in a predominantly underserved, ethnic minority population. Dr. West received a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia, and completed her pre-doctoral internship in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital Boston. She then went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship as a Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) fellow in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital Boston. She spent 12 years on the faculty in the Pediatric Mood Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois in Chicago before coming to CHLA and USC in 2017.

Dr. David G. Zelaya (he/him/él) is an Assistant Professor (Research) at Brown University School of Public Health (SPH) within the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS), Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and a research fellow at Harvard Medical School within the Department of Psychiatry. His program of research focuses on examining health disparities, from an intersectionality and minority stress lens, among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and sexual and gender minority communities and links to HIV risk, mental health, and substance use. Clinically, he is interested in providing culturally competent behavioral health services to historically underserved communities (e.g., Spanish-speaking Latinx people; sexual and gender diverse people). Dr. Zelaya received his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in counseling psychology, he was a psychology resident at Harvard Medical School’s Cambridge Hospital (part of the Latinx Mental Health Program, the Gender and Sexuality Clinic, and the Psychiatric Emergency Service), and he completed his fellowship within the Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH) and CAAS at Brown SPH. Dr. Zelaya is actively involved in service at the national and local level. For example, he is an appointed member of the APA workgroup on Journal Reporting Guidelines for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Justice in Psychological Science, co-chair of the Early Career Psychologists Committee for the Massachusetts Psychological Association, he was a board member of the Massachusetts Psychological Association, and an APA Minority Fellow alumnus. Additionally, he serves as the Director for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the SAMHSA-funded New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center. He has been the recipient of numerous social justice awards, his research has been published in the flagship journals of his field, and he serves on the editorial board for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity journal. At Brown, Dr. Zelaya teaches Introduction to Health Disparities.

Dr. Moorea Blythe is the Project Manager for the UCSF Center for Advancing Dyadic Care in Pediatrics. Prior to this role, Dr. Blythe completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Early Childhood Integrated Primary Care Behavioral Health program at UCSF, working with the HealthySteps team at the Children’s Health Center at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Her clinical experiences and training have focused on providing culturally responsive, strengths-based, trauma-informed treatment across the lifespan, with a particular interest in primary care consultation and dyadic infant, early childhood, and perinatal mental health. In addition to Dr. Blythe’s clinical interests, she is passionate about understanding systems of care and has engaged in quality improvement and program evaluation projects, training of pediatric residents, as well as research, to better understand billing practices and equitable access to care.

Kiefer Cowie, will recieve his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California and his Predoctoral Internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cowie has received graduate clinical and research training at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Kaiser Permanente, as well as community clinics and juvenile justice facilities in northern California. Mr. Cowie has experience providing individual, group, and family therapy to adolescents as well as young adults with substance use disorders within juvenile-justice and medical centers. His clinical interests are working with adolescents and adults to address anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders. He has contributed to clinical intervention research through UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse Programs in addition to conducting research on the social determinants of addiction recovery with the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Vidhi Thakkar, Psy.D., earned her doctorate in school psychology at Nova Southeastern University with a specialization in pediatric health psychology. She completed her internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in pediatric psychology and her fellowship at Dell Children’s Medical Center in pediatric health consultation-liaison psychology. Thakkar is currently a licensed psychologist and a doctorate in school psychology. Currently, Dr. Thakkar is a Clinical Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist where she is engaged in program development in creating a consultation-liaison program for pediatric psychology within the hospital. She is also creating a clinic to provide short-term services to patients discharged from the hospital until they are connected to long-term care. Additionally, she is engaged in creating an inpatient pain program for pediatric patients. Dr. Thakkar has a special interest in working with kids diagnosed with FNSD/PNES and acute and chronic pain. Additional interests include addressing institutional and individual levels of resident wellness and providing lectures and discussions to medical interns, residents, and fellows about wellness interventions.

Dr Patricia Cantrell graduated from University of Southern California Medical School in 1994 and completed her pediatric internship and residency at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in 1997. She has been practicing general pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente San Diego since then and has developed a special interest in childhood obesity. She created and runs a multidisciplinary childhood obesity clinic at Kaiser Permanente. She was on the executive committee at the AAP Chapter 3, San Diego for 10 years and recently finished her tenure as president. Currently, she is on the planning committee for the AAP California Las Vegas Seminars and a member of the AAP’s National committee, COPAM and the AAP’s Bright Futures Periodicity Schedule working group. Dr. Cantrell loves to spend time with her husband and two grown sons along with their family pets. She continues to stay active by hiking, playing tennis and riding horses.

Dr. Lori Rappaport received her Masters and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California. She did a Child and Pediatric Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where she developed the Growing Up Great! Parenting Program. Dr. Rappaport also completed a Family Medicine Fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles. Dr. Rappaport has worked at several Children’s Hospitals, including Boston, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Diego. She is the Co-Founder and current Director of the San Diego ADHD Center for Success.