Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorders at Yale

Dr. Areti Vassilopoulos is a Pediatric Health Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics & Child Psychology at Yale School of Medicine. Following her PhD, she completed her doctoral internship specializing in Pediatric Psychology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine & Kennedy Krieger Institute, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship within the Psychiatry Consultation Service and Pediatric Transplant Service at Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School. Dr. Vassilopoulos is fully embedded within Pediatric Neurology to provide integrated behavioral health care and pediatric health psychology follow-up services. She works with children, teens, and young adults with a variety of conditions, including chronic pain, headaches/migraines, functional neurological disorder (FND), muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and related sleep concerns. Dr. Vassilopoulos is the site director for Comfort Ability Program in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital, which is an internationally disseminated workshop for pediatric pain and functional symptom management. She is also certified in Retraining and Control Therapy. Dr. Vassilopoulos is involved in training Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) fellows within the Pediatric Psychology track. She is the sole supervisor for the advanced pediatric psychology externship at YCSC, accepting 1-3 students a year in pediatric neurology. She also works closely with residents in Pediatric Neurology, and provides lectures in comprehensive pediatric pain management for the Medical Clerkship series through Yale School of Medicine. With regards to research, Dr. Vassilopoulos focuses on quality improvement initiatives, outcomes of clinical interventions, and the relationship between health and behavior pediatric medical ambulatory clinics. Her current ongoing research includes headache, sleep disruption, chronic pain, FND, transition from pediatric to adult medical care, and pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis. She is currently site primary investigator on the first and only NIH-Funded study for treatment of pediatric FND. Dr. Vassilopoulos is the co-chair of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society (FNDS) Psychological Therapy SIG. Dr. Vassilopoulos values community outreach. She often collaborates with non-profit organizations, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association and CanDo Multiple Sclerosis, for community presentations and online workshops.

Alison Fletcher is a Clinical Psychology Doctoral (PsyD) candidate with a concentration in Health Psychology at Antioch University New England (AUNE). She has completed two, year-long practicum trainings within the Pediatric Psychology track at Yale Child Study Center under the supervision of Dr. Vassilopoulos. Her clinical work includes working with patients and families with headache, chronic pain, functional neurological symptom disorder (FNSD), and a variety of other neurologic disorders. She also assists with clinic coordination and liaison between the medical team, patient, family, and schools. Fletcher is a team member of the Yale Comfort Ability Program (CAP) for pediatric pain as well as the Yale CAP for Sickle Cell Pain. Her current research explores the relationships between anxiety, depression, pain catastrophizing, and functional disability in pediatric pain patients. Her areas of interest lie in working with children, teens, and young adults with chronic health conditions as they navigate the complex intersections of physical and emotional wellbeing. Fletcher has served as a guest lecturer. She is currently a teaching assistant for Quantitative Research Methods & Statistics at AUNE. She is a research assistant exploring lifestyle impacts on psychological wellbeing. Fletcher has also been an ad-hoc reviewer for Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, mentored by Dr. Karen Meteyer, Ph.D.