Faculty and Staff


	John Piacentini, Ph.D., ABPP Director Director Dr. Piacentini is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine and Director of the Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Program at the UCLA Semel Institute. His research, teaching and clinical work focus on the development, evaluation, and implementation of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and other effective treatments, including medication, for children with OCD, other anxiety disorders, tic disorders and trichotillomania.

John Piacentini, Ph.D., ABPP Director
Director
Dr. Piacentini is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine and Director of the Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Program at the UCLA Semel Institute. His research, teaching and clinical work focus on the development, evaluation, and implementation of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and other effective treatments, including medication, for children with OCD, other anxiety disorders, tic disorders and trichotillomania.

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	R. Lindsey Bergman, Ph.D. Associate Director Dr. Bergman is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine and Director of the Pediatric OCD Intensive Outpatient Program at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. Dr. Bergman is a researcher and clinician who specializes in cognitive behavioral treatment for children and adolescents with OCD, selective mutism, and related disorders.
	James McCracken, M.D. Medical Director Dr. McCracken is the Joseph Campbell Professor of Child Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA NPI-Semel Institute in Los Angeles. His current areas of research include developing and testing innovative treatments for cognitive defects associated with child psychiatric illness, family-genetic studies of childhood disorders, and the testing of new pharmacologic treatments for a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders in children.
	Susanna Chang, Ph.D. Research Faculty Dr. Chang is an Assistant Professor of Child Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute. Her research interests include investigations into the neurocognitive correlates of treatment response in childhood tic, OCD and related conditions, as well as how cognitive training paradigms like attention bias modification may help to improve disorders such as OCD and anxiety.
	Audra Langley, Ph.D. Research Faculty Dr. Langley is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is a clinician and researcher who specializes in cognitive behavioral treatment for children and adolescents with PTSD, anxiety, and related disorders. Dr. Langley’s work seeks to increase school-based access to evidence-based interventions for underserved populations of children.
	Tara Peris, Ph.D. Research Faculty Dr. Peris is an Assistant Professor at the UCLA Semel Institute. Her clinical specialty is in evidence-based treatments for child and adolescent anxiety disorders. Her research interests center on family factors that influence how youth fare in treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, and related disorders.
	Melody Keller, Ph.D. Program Manager Dr. Keller is the program manager of the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Program, and the Associate Director of the UCLA Pediatric OCD Intensive Outpatient Program.
	Monica Wu, B.A. Study Coordinator Ms. Wu coordinates multiple clinical research studies for youth with anxiety and tic disorders. She also coordinates the Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Outpatient Clinic.
	Jennifer Zelaya, B.A. Study Coordinator Ms. Zelaya coordinates an OCD research study and works with Dr. Audra Langley in Santa Monica Title I Elementary Schools to help children develop resiliency following traumatic experiences.
	Mina Yadegar, B.A. Study Coordinator Ms. Yadegar coordinates multiple research studies for youth with OCD.