Cara Kiff, Ph.D.

Dr. Cara Kiff is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Her clinical and research interests are in the development and treatment of child and adolescent anxiety and depressive disorders. Dr. Kiff's work aims to understand the interplay of biobehavioral predispositions (psychophysiology, temperament) and familial experiences (socioeconomic adversity, parenting) that influence the developmental course and treatment of anxiety and depression. Guided by a diathesis-stress framework, Dr. Kiff examines how children's biobehavioral characteristics and experiences of adversity interact to predict the development of anxiety and depression, with the goal of improving our understanding and treatment of pediatric internalizing disorders. She received her Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology with a minor in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Washington. Dr. Kiff's work has been supported by grant awards from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the American Psychological Association (APA).