People | UCSF Health Psychology

Nicki Bush, PhD

Associate Professor

Dr. Bush’s research focuses on the manner in which early social contexts interface with individual differences to affect developmental trajectories across the life course. She examines how socioeconomic, parental, and environmental risks for maladaptive behavior and developmental psychopathology are modulated by individual differences in children’s temperamental, neurobiological, and genetic reactivity to stress.

Elissa Epel, PhD

Professor and Vice Chair of Adult Psychiatry

M_Psych-Core-Rsch

Dr. Elissa Epel's research bridges health psychology, health disparities, neuroendocrinology, and cell biology. She is interested in the process of adaptation to chronic and acute stress, how different profiles lead to vulnerability vs. resilience, and how to transform toxic stress to positive stress. How does chronic stress lead to maladaptive coping and patterns of reactivity and biological changes at the cellular level? What does a 'thriving' response to stress look like? How can interventions promote better emotion regulation and cognitive function?

Aric Prather, PhD

Associate Professor

M_Psych-Core-Rsch

Aric Prather is a psychologist who treats insomnia with individual cognitive behavioral therapy. He also provides behavioral therapy to help patients adjust to using their continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) equipment.

Prather's research focuses on how poor sleep impacts physical health and emotional well-being. He measures sleep habits to determine which study participants are vulnerable to sleep-related health problems and which are resilient, with the goal of developing new treatments.

Aaron Fisher

Associate Professor, Psychology - UC Berkeley

Dr. Fisher is an associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. Fisher's research in his Idiographic Dynamics Laboratory focuses on studying psychopathology and psychotherapy at the level of the individual leveraging multivariate time series data on a person-by-person basis to model, describe, predict, and intervene upon individual thoughts, feelings and behavior.

Deborah Barnes, PhD

Recall Faculty

M_Psych-Core-Rsch

Dr. Barnes is internationally recognized as an expert in the epidemiology of brain health, cognitive decline, and dementia. There are currently nearly 7 million Americans and 55 million people worldwide living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and prevalence is expected to more than double by 2050. Dr.

Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD

Professor in Residence

M_Neurology

Dr. Carhart-Harris’s research focuses on the neurobiology of consciousness and the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds for mental health disorders.

Jennifer Felder, PhD

Assoc Professor in Residence

M_Psych-Core-Rsch

Jennifer Felder, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist dedicated to promoting mental health during pregnancy and early parenting. In her research, Dr. Felder evaluates treatments to improve sleep and prevent depression. She is committed to increasing access to evidence-based interventions, particularly among populations disproportionately affected by poor health outcomes. To this end, she investigates innovative formats for disseminating interventions, such as digital, co-located, and integrated services. In her clinical work, Dr.

Johanna Folk, PhD

ASSOC PROF IN RES-HCOMP

M_Psych-ZSFG-Child-ICAP

Johanna Folk, PhD (she/they) is a licensed clinical psychologist, Assistant Professor, Associate Director of the Juvenile inJustice Behavioral Health Lab, and the Director of Research, Evaluation and Analysis in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Dr. Folk's research and clinical work focus on addressing the behavioral health needs of youth and families impacted by the legal system.

Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD

Professor

UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences

Dr. Gazzaley's laboratory studies neural mechanisms of perception, attention and memory, with an emphasis on the impact of distraction and multitasking on these abilities. His research approach utilizes a powerful combination of human neurophysiological tools, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial electrical and magnetic stimulation (TMS, TES). A major focus of his research has been to expand his understanding of alterations in the aging brain that lead to cognitive decline.

Stephen Hinshaw, PhD

Professor and Vice Chair

M_Psychiatry

Stephen P. Hinshaw is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC San Francisco. He focuses on neurodevelopment (especially ADHD) through longitudinal studies, clinical trials, and a focus on developmental pathways in girls and women. His other core area is related to stigma reduction, including both narrative accounts and research studies.

Andrew Krystal, MD

Professor In Residence

M_Psychiatry

Dr. Krystal is the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry, Director of the Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders, Director of the UCSF Interventional Psychiatry Program and Co-Director of the TMS & Neuromodulation Clinic. He is Board Certified in Clinical Neurophysiology by the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and Board Certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Christina Mangurian, MD, MAS

Prof and Vice Dean for Faculty

M_Psych-Core-Rsch

Dr. Mangurian’s research focuses on improving the health care of people with severe mental illness, particularly among economically disadvantaged populations.