Faculty and Staff

Assistant Professor of Psychology. Dr. Mahrer received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Arizona State University in 2015. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, followed by a research postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mahrer’s current interests are in the areas of child psychology, health psychology, culture, and prevention. Her research focuses on understanding the risk and protective factors that predict physical health and mental health functioning in ethnically and culturally-diverse children, adolescents, and young adults. She also does work in pediatric hospital settings, seeking to understand the interplay between physical and mental health symptoms in youth, and to better integrate mental health services into traditional medical settings. Ultimately, Dr. Mahrer hopes to develop culturally-informed, evidence-based preventative interventions that can be delivered within an integrated healthcare setting, in order to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for underserved youth and their families. Dr. Mahrer is a licensed psychologist and designated as core doctoral faculty. She teaches courses in cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, supervision, assessment, and statistics.

Interests

Research

My research interests are in the areas of child psychology, health psychology, culture, and prevention. I focus on understanding the risk and protective factors that predict physical health and mental health functioning in ethnically and culturally-diverse children, adolescents, and young adults. Some of my current projects are investigating the role of environmental (e.g., stressors) and family-level (e.g., parenting) factors in the development of mental health and physical health outcomes in youth and examining whether there are ethnic and cultural differences in these processes. I also conduct research in pediatric hospital settings, seeking to understand the interplay between physical and mental health symptoms in youth, and to better integrate mental health services into traditional medical settings. Through collaborations with the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, my projects focus on studying the risk factors for the development of chronic pain in children and evaluating interdisciplinary treatment approaches aimed to improve quality of life in this pediatric population. In addition, I have recently partnered with a virtual reality start-up company to develop and test ways to effectively deliver evidence-based mental health interventions in a socially distanced world. Ultimately, I hope to bridge my areas of research together in order to develop culturally-informed, evidence-based preventative interventions that can be delivered safely within an integrated healthcare setting, in order to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for underserved youth and their families.

Teaching

I enjoy teaching and mentoring students both in the classroom setting and through collaborative engagement in research. In my courses, my goal is to help students not only learn, but also be able to apply the course material either in their work with clients, in their research, or in future classes and careers. I employ multimodal instruction that includes lecture and skills practice and use multi-faceted teaching tools, such as technology, to complement assigned readings. I encourage my students to identify the limitations in current theory, connect course material to their personal experiences, and develop ideas for future research and/or advocacy. I also help my students build professional competencies in writing, presentation skills, and critical thinking that transcend beyond the course material and will help them to be successful in their academics and subsequent careers. I like to tailor my teaching strategies to the needs of students and therefore solicit student feedback on an ongoing basis to make real-time adjustments to my approach. Additionally, I welcome student involvement in my research lab where they can offer their unique and valuable perspectives and learn about and participate in my work. I support students in selecting independent projects that they feel passionate about and offer guidance throughout the research process spanning from research design to data collection to data analysis, with the goal of presenting their findings at a conference or writing them up for publication.

Clinical

My clinical interests are in the areas of child/pediatric psychology and assessment. I have worked primarily with underserved children and families with co-occurring physical and mental health concerns, delivering therapeutic services in both English and Spanish. I use an integrated treatment approach that incorporates the family and draws from evidence-based cognitive behavioral and third-wave approaches (i.e. mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy) in order to reduce distress and improve overall quality of life. I have experience conducting psychodiagnostic, psychoeducational, and neuropsychological assessments with both children and adults. I use a therapeutic assessment approach that emphasizes culturally and linguistically-appropriate assessment and delivers feedback in a way that clients can understand and use to advocate for themselves and improve their functioning.

Dr. Mahrer’s scholarly work can be found at Google Scholar and ResearchGate.