California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine Building an Affirming Life and Navigating Challenging Emotions (Balance Study)(2024-2027)

Dr. Hajcak is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, whose research has involved large and longitudinal studies to better understand the development of anxiety and depression among adolescents and young adults—focusing on valid and reliable EEG/ERP biomarkers of brain function.

His research has involved large and longitudinal studies to better understand the development of anxiety and depression among adolescents and young adults; this work has established a number of neural biomarkers of risk for anxiety and depression. He has received continuous funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) since 2000 (PI or Co-I on 20+ grants) and has published more than 375 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Hajcak has also received many awards, such as the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology from the American Psychological Association (2016), the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science (2012), and the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychophysiology (2012). He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delaware and was Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and Stony Brook University before joining the faculty at Santa Clara University.

Dr. Alley is a developmental health psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research explores how social determinants of health and systems of inequality—particularly those affecting LGBTQ+ communities—shape health and development. Dr. Alley earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Utah.

Ms. Chun currently serves as the Director of the Community Services Unit at Alum Rock Counseling Center in San Jose. She brings over a decade of experience in program management, volunteer coordination, event coordination, and wellness and educational support. Ms. Chun’s work has focused on supporting and empowering communities, youth, and families.

Dr. Feinstein is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, where he directs the Sexuality, Health, and Gender (SHAG) Lab. Dr. Feinstein obtained a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Stony Brook University, completed a clinical internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. His current line of research focuses on sexual and gender minority (SGM) health, bisexuality and pansexuality, stigma-related stress and coping, and developing and testing interventions to improve SGM health.

Dr. Pachankis directs Yale’s LGBTQ+ Mental Health Initiative, which serves as a home for scholarship devoted to understanding and improving the mental health of LGBTQ+ populations in the US and around the world. Dr. Pachankis earned his Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook in clinical psychology and completed a clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. His National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research program examines the efficacy of LGBTQ+-affirmative mental health interventions delivered via novel technologies, in diverse settings, and across the spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community.

Dr. Slavich’s research focuses on the conceptualization, assessment, and management of life stress; psychological and biological mechanisms linking stress with mental and physical health; and systems and policies for reducing population-level health disparities caused by stress and adversity. Dr. Slavich earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon, completed a clinical internship at McLean Hospital and a clinical fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and postdoctoral fellowships in psychoneuroimmunology at UCSF and UCLA.

Dr. Wei is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator for the LGBTQ+ Emphasis in the Counseling Psychology Department at Santa Clara University. His research broadly aims to address health disparities affecting sexual and gender minority populations with multiple marginalized identities and/or those living in developing countries, by understanding the intersectional nature of discrimination/oppression and designing culturally affirming-interventions (e.g., mindfulness). Dr. Wei earned his PhD in Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and completed his pre-doctoral Clinical Psychology internship at Richard J. Donovan State Prison.