Alexandra “Ali” Cupito, Ph.D., LP, HSP is a pediatric psychologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the Cone Pediatric Teaching Program.  Dr. Cupito teaches pediatric and family medicine residents in psychological and behavioral health concepts. Dr. Cupito is particularly interested in the intersection of physical, behavioral and emotional health and health promotion and prevention. She is passionate about working with children and adolescents coping with chronic illnesses and complex medical needs. Working collaboratively with patients, families and medical providers, she provides compassionate, patient-centered care using a cultural humility perspective. She enjoys working with families from diverse cultural backgrounds and provides LGBTQ-affirming care.  Her research focuses on improving interdisciplinary team communication, and coordination and quality of care for patients and families.  Dr. Cupito earned her B.A. in Psychology at UNC Chapel Hill and M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at UNCG.  She completed her predoctoral clinical internship specializing in pediatric integrated behavioral health and neuropsychology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Cupito received additional postdoctoral training in pediatric integrated care at UNC Children’s Hospital.  

Alex graduated from University of San Diego with a BA in Psychology and minors in Business Administration and Media Studies.  He subsequently taught secondary English as a Teach For America corps member in Oakland, California, where he received an MA in Education with an emphasis in Teaching.  He then earned an MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from UNCG. Predoctoral internship in health service psychology at New Mexico VA Health Care System included emphases in family psychology as well as residential substance abuse and trauma rehabilitation.  Postdoctoral residency at UC San Diego included program development in positive psychology. He also focuses clinically on testing, assessment, and evaluation. His research has included community-based collaboration and risk and protective factors in context of acculturation for migrant-origin persons, including trauma and factors related to sociocultural identity.

Dr. Yesenia Mejia, Ph.D., is a bilingual, licensed Clinical Psychologist and serves as core faculty at AltaMed’s Family Medicine Residency Program. She supports faculty and residents in her role as Behavioral Health Specialist and also provides behavioral health therapy services to AltaMed patients. Dr. Mejia was born and raised in the Los Angeles area and received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Mejia approaches her research, clinical, and advocacy work through a social justice lens that seeks to reduce inequities in mental health care access and engagement for underserved youth and families by addressing the effects of structural and systemic marginalization. She has expertise in cultural influences to mental health conceptualization, assessment, and treatment, and accessible and culturally-responsive evidence-based services for Latino/e communities and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Her clinical experiences include working with diverse children and families, with a focus on Spanish-speaking, Latinos/es, in community mental health, inpatient, and school contexts. She also has extensive research experience in community-based participatory research, cultural developmental psychopathology, children’s mental health services, and implementation science. On her free time, she enjoys trying new restaurants and spending time outdoors with friends and family.

Joseph Sircar is a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. His research is focused on the individual, familial, and cultural sources of strength that support well-being and on expanding mental healthcare access, including through community-delivered models of care and digital mental health. He earned his B.S. and B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Nadia Huq, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and Instructor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University. She is currently working for the School-Based Mental Health Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center providing clinical services for children and families in an underserved low-income community. Her research interests include acculturation conflict, ethnic identity development and psychological adjustment among Latino youth. She earned her B.A. in Brain, Behavior, & Cognitive Science at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her M.A. and Ph.D in Clinical Psychology at UNCG. She completed her pre-doctoral clinical psychology internship at Children’s National Health System in Washington D.C. and her post-doctoral fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center.

Andrea (Ande) Kulish-Avery, Ph.D., is the owner and a Licensed Psychologist at Strong Start Psychological Services, PLLC in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. She provides early identification and early intervention services to young children with neurodevelopmental/developmental concerns and mental/behavioral health needs. Ande completed her B.A. in Psychology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., while volunteering in rural schools in Central and South America during the summers to support the implementation of behavioral intervention programs. Ande earned her MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina- Greensboro. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Early Childhood Mental Health at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, DE.

Michele Chan, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at Montefiore Einstein. She earned her B.A in psychology and biology (2013) from the University of Georgia, her M.A in psychology (2018) from Wake Forest University, and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology (2024) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She  Previously, Michele investigated the role of ethnic identity in Asian American adolescents’ relationships and multiracial identity integration. She is interested in how ethnic racial socialization informs ethnic-racial identification for multiracial individuals. Additional topics of research interest include: protective barriers for discrimination, and the psychosocial adjustment of minority and underserved populations.

Juan Prandoni, M.A., is currently working at El Futuro, Inc. - a non-profit outpatient mental health clinic in Durham, NC - as their new Associate Training Director for the La Mesita Mental Health Training Network. La Mesita is a virtual networking and training project aimed at disseminating the latest research on culturally sensitive evidence-based practices for the Latinx community. Juan recently finished his pre-doctoral internship at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, NJ.  He earned his B.A. in Psychology and French at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.A. in Clinical Psychology at UNCG. His research focuses on identifying the need for and implementation of treatment adaptations to evidence-based practices to better serve the Latinx community.

N. Keita Christophe is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at McGill University. He received his PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he also earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. Keita is also a former NICHD T-32 Predoctoral Fellow at the Carolina Consortium on Human Development. Keita’s research employs developmental psychopathology and cultural developmental science perspectives to better understand factors that influence psychosocial wellbeing and healthy development among racially and ethnically minoritized youth exposed to racialized stress.

Puja Patel, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She completed her B.A. in Psychology from Meredith College (2014), her Masters in Global Health from Duke University (2018), and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2024). Her research interests include immigrant family units and parent-child communication and how these interactions contribute to youth and parent outcomes. She is also interested in the development and implementation of intervention research as it applied to the immigrant population in the community.