Yale Child Study Center welcomes new clinical trainees for the 2023-2024 academic year

Each summer, the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) welcomes new trainees to its world-renowned educational fellowships, internships, and practicum programs. YCSC training programs share a common goal of providing a deep understanding adaptive and maladaptive development in children and their families. This is gained through supervised clinical intervention delivery, didactic experiences, and involvement in research initiatives designed to increase knowledge and inform clinical decision-making.

The following outstanding trainees joined the department’s education and training programs this year. Look for another announcement next week highlighting some of the department’s incoming research trainees.

Nora Abdullah, MD, MPH graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Science in biology and minors in history, chemistry, and Arabic. She received her medical degree with a distinction as a Global Health Scholar from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, TX. During her medical school tenure, she went on many global health trips and established a global health site in Amman, Jordan. She completed her general psychiatry training at UT Southwestern where she was a part of the Global and Cultural Psychiatry concentration. As a resident, Abdullah established a site serving Syrian refugees and displaced people with both mental health education and psychiatric care.

Alexis Benedetto, MD, MPH was born and raised in Easton, Connecticut and attended Trinity College in Hartford where she studied neuroscience, volunteered, and conducted research at Hartford Hospital. She recently returned there as an assistant professor. After college, Benedetto went to St. George’s University (SGU) in Grenada, West Indies. In her third and fourth year, she fell in love with the field of child and adolescent psychiatry through her work with complex patient cases in Elizabeth, NJ. She also pursued a master’s degree in public health, for which she dedicated her capstone project to investigating the deficit of child and adolescent psychiatrists and the impact on the patient population. Benedetto’s residency at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island involved child and adolescent psychiatry exposure as well as dedicated child and adolescent psychiatry quality improvement projects.

Kayla Isaacs, MD is originally from Cincinnati and attended Mills College in the Bay Area, Yale for medical school, and Penn for her residency. She is glad to be returning to Yale for this fellowship. Isaacs is interested in physician mental health and how physicians can use their lived experience to destigmatize psychiatric illness for their colleagues, patients, and the public. She greatly admires this generation of children and adolescents for their openness in discussing mental health, though she notes that there is still progress to be made.

Isaac Johnson, MD is originally from Massachusetts and received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University. He graduated from medical school at Yale, where he completed his thesis research year with Michael Bloch, MD and conducted psychiatry research in Brazil and Japan. He completed his adult psychiatry residency at University of California, San Francisco, where he served as co-vice president of the Resident Association and was active in the Cultural Psychiatry Area of Distinction. During residency, Johsnon spent two years as an American Psychiatric Association Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow and served on the APA Council on International Psychiatry. He has pursued additional psychotherapy training opportunities in psychodynamic psychotherapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Currently, he is an active member of an international research workgroup called the Early Childhood Peace Consortium with James Leckman, MD, PhD.

Nelson Jorge Rubio Giraldo, MD was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. After graduating with his MD, Magna Cum Laude from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, he spent two years working at the Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago and one year at the Hospital Regional Universitario Cabral Y Baez. Giraldohas spent substantial time rotating through different hospitals in the United States and the Dominican Republic, learning about the intricacies that envelop both systems. He completed his adult psychiatry training at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Elmhurst), New York City, where he worked with a diverse Latino population helping bridge mental health access and barriers such as language. He was part of the wellness committee and was actively involved in establishing activities encouraging resident bonding and well-being.

Yvonne Uyanwune, MD, MPH was born in Nigeria and has lived in multiple places throughout her life. She attended adult psychiatry residency at the Yale School of Medicine and completed medical school at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Long School of Medicine. Uyanwune’s passion for education, global mental health, and service has led her to become involved in many mentorship roles and programs serving underrepresented minorities in medicine. She has held leadership roles within the Yale Department of Psychiatry including recruitment and retention efforts for increasing underrepresented minorities in medicine through applicant outreach. She was also involved in the department’s education curriculum efforts as well as global mental health projects affiliated with her birth country, Nigeria.

Bonnie Yam, MD was born in Canada, and graduated from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She completed her general adult psychiatry residency training at MetroHealth Medical Center. She is particularly interested in psychotherapy and working with the adolescent patient population.

Laelia Benoit, MD, PhD is of African and Hispanic descent and grew up in France. She has published 43 peer-reviewed publications including 6 first-authored publications and 13 senior-authored publications. She is the creator and director of GroundedLab, a qualitative methods and Grounded Theory workshop for healthcare professionals. Benoit has provided international consultations in qualitative methods for large corporations and universities. At Yale, she was initially awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to work with Andrés Martin, MD, PhD and is currently co-director of QUALab, a Qualitative and Mixed Methods Lab at Yale developed with Martin. She is a leader in research examining eco-anxiety among children and has also done seminal work examining school refusal.

Vincent Mirabella: MD, PhD received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech and doctorate in cell and developmental biology from Rutgers, where his focus was on examining neurotransmitter release and synapse formation from patient-derived neurons with SCZ-associated gene variants. With his mentor, Zhiping Pang, he also developed a stem cell model for first de novo mutation in autism (neuroligin 3 R451C), worked on strategy for real-time detection of endogenous neuropeptide release, worked with AACAP on child mental health advocacy, organized MSTP symposiums, and was on the MSTP admissions committee.

Marissa Bivona, MEd is a first-year early childhood psychology fellow at the YCSC and a doctoral candidate in the combined clinical and school psychology program at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Education, Health, and Human Development. Prior to her graduate studies, she completed the Harris Fellowship in Early Childhood Education at the Child Study Center and Calvin Hill Daycare and worked as an early childhood educator for eight years. This experience shaped her clinical and research interests which focus on meeting the needs of young children and their caregivers across home, school, and medical settings. Bivona’s research focuses on community-based applied research-practice partnerships. She is interested in supports for educators and the children and families they serve as well as program implementation in early childhood education settings. .

Barbara Storch, MA is the incoming first-year pediatric psychology fellow at the YCSC and a doctoral candidate in the health psychology and clinical science program at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University, where she double majored in Cognitive & Brain Sciences and Child Studies & Human Development. After graduation, Storch worked as a clinical research coordinator in the Pediatric Psychopharmacology & Adult ADHD Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, primarily coordinating a laboratory classroom study for children with ADHD. As a graduate student, she has trained clinically in a variety of settings, including medical subspecialty clinics focused on working with children and families with chronic medical illness and comorbid psychosocial concerns, as well as outpatient settings specializing in treatment for childhood anxiety and mood disorders.

Leah Wang, MA is a first-year psychology fellow with a focus on autism and developmental disabilities. She is currently a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania studying with Dr. Robert Schultz. As a graduate student, Leah has received clinical training at a variety of hospitals and specialty clinics, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Nemours Children’s Health, and Hall-Mercer Community Mental Health Center. She has specialized training in early developmental assessment and autism diagnostic assessment, as well as broader experience providing comprehensive psychological assessment, individual therapy, and family-based therapy for children and adolescents. Leah’s research focuses on social communication development in autism spectrum disorder, with a particular interest in understanding the interaction between motor and social behavior.

Kristina Washington, MEd is a first-year child trauma fellow at the YCSC and a PhD candidate in school psychology at Lehigh University. She received her bachelor’s in psychology and criminology with a minor in children maltreatment advocacy studies from the Pennsylvania State University. During her graduate training, she has had the opportunity to provide intervention and assessment services in schools, hospitals, residential facilities, and juvenile detention centers. In schools, she has conducted psychoeducational assessments, behavioral assessments, behavioral interventions, and academic interventions in both general and alternative education settings. Within hospital settings, she has provided outpatient therapy to children and adolescents at Nemours Children’s Health and conducted clinical interviews at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a part of research study examining adolescent depression.

LaTricia Mitchell, MSW graduated with a dual title master of social work and infant mental health from the Wayne State School of Social Work. She received her undergraduate degree in Africana studies from The College of Wooster. While at Wayne State, Mitchell was involved with the National Association of Social Workers, the National Association of Black Social Workers, the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and WSU’s Rad(ical) Social Workers. She has served as a direct clinician in psychiatry, working with marginalized children and caregivers facing complex trauma. Mitchell is currently a student researcher in Carolyn Dayton’s lab, assisting with the “Baby on Board” study. She recently presented at Wayne State’s Social Work Research Symposium, exploring the significance of depression among the study’s African American fathers.

Laura E. Gallardo, MSW received her master’s in social work with a concentration in cultural competence from the University of Texas at San Antonio. During her graduate training, she participated in the Graduate Archer Fellowship as an intern with Pear Therapeutics and completed social work internships at both the City of San Antonio and Family Service of San Antonio. She is an advocate for accessibility for disadvantaged communities, particularly through culturally responsive intervention planning on all levels from individual to federal. She enjoys working with children and is passionate about providing services that are effective and trauma informed.

Cátia Allen is a marriage and family therapist in training and will graduate from Southern Connecticut State University in 2024. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Universidade do Minho in Braga, Portugal. While living in Portugal, she worked as a High School teacher, a Drama instructor, and a Geriatric Care instructor. In addition, Allen was the primary researcher in a project about the Gypsy Culture in Northern Portugal. After moving to the United States, she maintained her connection with her culture of origin. She became involved in a community project as a Portuguese/heritage language teacher and as a Portuguese/English interpreter.

Abigayel Bryce Philips is working toward a master's of social work at Sacred Heart University and completed a clinical field placement at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, CT. She earned a bachelor’s degree in literature and cultural studies from Fairfield University, with a focus on LGBTQ+ inclusion in YA literature and the role of speculative fiction in cultural movements. They are also a trained intergroup dialogue facilitator for a human rights NGO.

Olivia Caples is a second-year graduate student working toward a master's degree in marriage and family therapy at Syracuse University. She graduated from Old Dominion University in August 2020, receiving a bachelor of science degree in psychology. She currently works with transitional youth (ages 15-26) at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. In addition, she has a wide array of experience working in the mental health field, including foster care, inpatient, and military communities.

Samantha (Sam) D’Anna received a bachelor's degree from Quinnipiac University in clinical psychology, following the child and adolescent track. She is currently enrolled in Antioch University of New England's PsyD in clinical psychology program following the child and adolescent track. During her graduate training thus far, she has worked with children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years primarily within the school system.

Alison Fletcher earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at Plymouth State University and is pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology at Antioch University New England. Her undergraduate honors thesis examined loving kindness meditation as an intervention to reduce implicit bias. She completed a practicum training at LifeStance Health in Nashua, NH and has served as a teaching assistant, guest lecturer, and research assistant. Her current research is focused on developing a measure and examining the relationships between nutrition and mental health outcomes.

Jordan Foster is a doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at Yale University. Foster graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2020. His research focuses on identifying environmental, psychological, and neurobiological factors that contribute to the development, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety and stress-related disorders in children and adolescents. For the past year, he has served as a clinician at the Yale Psychology Department Clinic, where he provided evidence-based and culturally informed treatments to individuals with a variety of clinical concerns.

Kayla Kendall received a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in psychology and wellness at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). She is currently pursuing a master’s in clinical mental health counseling at SCSU. While undergoing her graduate training, she dedicates time as the president of Sigma Chi Sigma Iota and the vice-president of Active Minds at SCSU. Additionally, she engages in work as a Behavior Technician, assisting children with autism. Her current interests are trauma, intersectionality and minority stress.

Elizabeth Kitt is a fourth-year PhD student studying clinical psychology at Yale University. She completed a post baccalaureate research assistantship at the National Institute of Mental Health and received her bachelor’s degree from Yale.

Mykah Knight received a bachelor's in psychology at UConn in 2022. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in social work at UConn. During her undergraduate and graduate training, she competed internships at the Rowan Center, LiveGirl, and Our Piece of The Pie. She currently has over five years of counseling experience working with marginalized populations who struggle with behavioral health. Knight also plans to become a licensed clinical social worker specializing in trauma-informed care for disenfranchised groups.

Jonathan Ruddy earned a bachelor of social work at the University of Missouri St. Louis. He is currently a student at the University of Connecticut pursuing a master’s in social work with a concentration in individuals, groups, and family practice. During his undergraduate training, he completed an internship at Unleashing Potential in St. Louis, MO where he provided care for children, youth, and their families.

Nicholas Vecchiarelli received his master’s and CAGS in school psychology at the University of Connecticut and is in the process of earning his CAGS in Counseling from the University of Bridgeport. He has spent the last decade working with children and adolescents in several capacities including roles in behavior therapy, functional behavior assessment, reading assessment, and academic intervention. Most recently, he practiced as a school psychologist at Branford High School providing assessment, counseling, and case management to students receiving special education services.