Karin Best, Ph.D.

Member, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Assistant Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

Biography

Dr. Karin Best directs the UCLA Infant and Preschool Assessment Program and is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. She specializes in child clinical psychology. Dr. Best has been a licensed psychologist since 1994 and is licensed in both California and Massachusetts. Dr. Best’s clinic work is focused on assessment and brief treatment, with specializations in the assessment and differential diagnosis of young children and the treatment of children and families. She has extensive experience in assessment and treatment planning for individuals with developmental challenges and individuals treated in partial day hospital and inpatient settings. Dr. Best received a B.A. in art history from Williams College and a B.A. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Best completed her clinical pre doctoral internship (general child psychology) and clinical post doctoral training (developmental disabilities) at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Her post doctoral research training was completed at Harvard Medical School (Judge Baker Children’s Center) with the multi-site Family Risk and Resilience Consortium. Dr. Best collaborates with many UCLA researchers.

Kataoka, S., Podell, J.L., Zima, B.T., Best, K. Sidhu, S. & Jura, M.B.   MAP as a Model for Practice-Based Learning and Improvements in Child Psychiatry Training, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. in press, ; .

Rotheram-Borus M.J., Rice, E., Comulada, W.S., Best, K., Elia, C., Peters, K., Li, L., Green. S., & Valladares, E.   Intervention outcomes among HIV-affected families over 18 months AIDS and behavior, 2012; 16(5): 1265-75.

Rotheram-Borus, M.J., Rice, E., Comulada, W.S., Best, KM, & Li, L.   Comparisons of HIV-affected and non-HIV affected families over time , Vulnerable Children & Youth Studies, 2012; 7: 299-314.

Best, K.M. & Hauser, S.T.   Origins of adolescent psychiatric hospitalization; Using archival resords to understand the lives of adolescent patients, In P.K. Kerig, M.S. Schultz & S.T. Hauser (Eds.), Adolescence and Beyond: Family processes and development, 2012; 287-303.

Best, K.M., Hauser, S.T., Gralinski-Bakker, J.H., Allen, J.P. & Crowell, J.   Adolescent psychiatric hospitalization and mortality, distress levels, and educational attainment: follow-up after 11 and 20 years Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 2004; 158(8): 749-52.