Faculty & Staff Biographies

Robert Reiser, Ph.D. Clinic Director & Associate Professor

Dr. Reiser, Kurt and Barbara Gronowski Clinic Director,
is a licensed Psychologist with major interests in the area of developing and transporting evidence-based treatments into real world practice settings. With a background as an executive-administrator in large mental health systems, over the past several years he has consulted to California county mental health systems on issues related to quality improvement and clinical guidelines in mental health services. His primary interests involve developing and improving treatment guidelines for clients with bipolar disorder and studying a cognitive behavioral group-based approach to improve treatment outcomes.

Dr. Reiser is a Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Reiser’s primary orientation is cognitive behavioral therapy with a focus on treating individuals with major depression, bipolar spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. An Associate Professor of Psychology at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, he also teaches classes in cognitive behavioral therapy and provides workshops, consultation and technical assistance related to improvements in the treatment of bipolar disorder in community mental health settings.

Click here: www.robertreiser.com for more information about Dr. Reiser's approach to treatment and what to expect in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Click here for information about Dr. Reiser’s book on “Bipolar Disorder: Advances in Psychotherapy- Evidence-based Practice”.

Click here (PDF) for an article on the Academy of Cognitive Therapy

Sandy Macias, Ph.D. Assistant Clinic Director & Assistant Professor

Dr. Macias, Assistant Clinic Director and Assistant Professor
is a licensed clinical psychologist who received her Ph.D. in Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, she was trained and licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and worked primarily with abused and neglected children and their families. Dr. Macias’ continues to focus her clinical work on the treatment of children, adolescents, and their families, specifically focusing on clinical issues such as: behavioral problems, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, parenting issues, attachment problems, and maltreatment. Another focus of her clinical and research work is in the area of Couples Therapy.

Dr. Macias' past research experience has included the examination of self-esteem and locus of control issues in mothers without custody of their children; school bonding and its relationship with ethnicity and acculturation; evaluation of a three-year after school homework program; evaluation of a three-year juvenile drug court treatment program; and the intergenerational transmission of child abuse. Her current research projects include: examining the impact of attachment-based couples therapy on couple and child functioning; and evaluation of a police mentoring program targeted at reducing recidivism in juvenile offenders.

Perrin L. French, M.D. Psychiatrist

Perrin L. French, M.D.
Diplomat, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
California Physicians and Surgeons Certificate No. G-023857

Dr. French attended Harvard College and received his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland, completing a rotating internship in Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology at Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco. For his psychiatric training he spent four years on two Harvard Medical School teaching services: McLean Hospital, Belmont MA (inpatient), and Beth Israel Hospital, Brookline MA (outpatient).

In 1985, after years of part-time private practice, he began full-time work at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital (a Stanford Medical School teaching facility). From the 1970s through the mid 1990s, Dr. French served on the Faculty at Stanford Medical School, first as a Clinical Instructor and later as a Clinical Associate Professor. At the beginning of 2006, Dr. French retired from the staff of the Palo Alto VA and began part time work as a Senior Staff Member in the Psychiatry Clinic at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara.

Peter Goldblum, Ph.D., MPH PGSP Director of Clinical Training

Dr. Goldblum, MPH, PGSP Director of Clinical Training
is a pioneer in the development of gay affirmative psychotherapy, with 30 years experience as a psychotherapist, author, teacher, and researcher. He is currently senior psychologist and coordinator of the Considering Work Project at the UCSF AIDS Health Project. Dr. Goldblum has been instrumental in the development of many community-based programs in the Bay Area, including the Gronowski Clinic at PGSP, The Pacific Center, New Leaf (formerly Operation Concern), and was a founder and the first deputy director of the AIDS Health Project. His publications include two highly acclaimed books: Strategies for Survival: A gay Men's Health Manual for the Age of AIDS (co-authored with Martin Delaney) and Working with AIDS Bereavement (co-authored with Sarah Erickson). The material presented in this course has evolved over many years of teaching doctoral students at PGSP, clinical interns, and continuing education to licensed professionals.

"Dr. Goldblum is open and clear in explaining issues that may be very sensitive. He gave practical guidelines which are helpful for actual therapy."  (comment from class evaluation of Cultural Issues: Gay Issues in Psychotherapy taught at PGSP.)

Joyce P. Chu, Ph.D. PGSP Assistant Professor

Joyce P. Chu:
is currently an Assistant Professor of clinical psychology at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto, CA. Dr. Chu's work is focused around the treatment of mood disorders in young adults, adults, and elderly populations. She has a particular emphasis on ethnic minority populations and diversity work. Her research is community-collaborative and aims to understand barriers to service use and develop culturally congruent outreach and treatment options for underserved communities. She runs the Ethnic Minority Mental Health Research Group, and directs the Diversity and Community Mental Health program at PGSP. She also serves as cultural consultant on a grant project developing research infrastructure for Family Service Agency in San Francisco.

Dr. Chu earned her BA and MA in psychology at Stanford University, her Ph.D.
in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

Larry E. Beutler, Ph.D. PGSP Professor

Dr. Beutler, PGSP Professor,
is the Editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology and a former Editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He is the Past-President of the Society for Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of APA), a Past President of the Division of Psychotherapy (APA), and a two-term Past-President of the (International) Society for Psychotherapy Research. He is the author of approximately 300 scientific papers and chapters, and is the author, editor or co-author of fourteen books on psychotherapy and psychopathology. . Dr. Beutler is currently Co-Editing (with L. G. Castonguay) a book on "Empirically defined principles of therapeutic change" that is co-sponsored by the Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12) and the North American Society for Psychotherapy Research. He is also finishing a second edition of his book on personality assessment.

Marilyn Foley, Ph.D. PGSP Faculty - Clinical Supervisor

Dr. Marilyn Foley:
is a graduate of PGSP. Her training as a psychotherapist included several years in community mental health programs working with chronically mentally ill adults, and with San Mateo County’s Geriatric Outreach program. She completed her internship at La Familia Institute working with children, adolescents, couples and families. Her specialization is in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and addiction treatment.

Dr. Foley’s current position is clinical supervisor and treatment coordinator at The Sequoia Center, Redwood City, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. There she is developing a formal internship-training program, which will include chemical dependency theory and technique, along with DBT, CBT, psychodynamic, and family systems approaches toward the treatment of addiction. At Sequoia she also coordinates the Mindfulness-Based skills training groups, and lectures extensively on mindfulness and forgiveness in relapse prevention.

In her private practice her counseling specialties include working with individuals with borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse/dependence. She conducts Dialectical Behavioral – Family skills (DBT-FSG) groups for family members of individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Roger Greene, Ph.D. PGSP Professor

Dr. Roger Greene,  PGSP Professor
has focused his interests on the area of self-report measures of personality for a number of years. He is currently working on a number of issues with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), such as how to match a specific MMPI-2 to prototypic profiles, the assessment of self- and other-deception, the nature of the critical items, the stability of specific profiles, and whether MMPI-2 code types are taxonic or dimensional. He has written a number of books and articles on the MMPI and MMPI-2.
Dr. Greene received his Ph.D. from Washington State University in 1974. He was a faculty member for 18 years in both the Psychology and Psychiatry Departments at Texas Tech University before coming to PGSP in 1992. Dr. Greene has been an active member of APA and was elected to Fellow status in 1993. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Personality Assessment and the Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment.

Area of Clinical Practice:
Dr. Greene has worked in a variety of clinical settings during his career: outpatient mental health clinics; inpatient and outpatient substance abuse centers; a number of medical departments (Anesthesiology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry); and private practice. He also works as a consulting expert in forensic assessment with the MMPI-2.

Dr. Moffett:
received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University. From 1974 to 2008, he was a Staff Psychologist at the VA Health Care System in Palo Alto, and from 1975 to 2003 he was Clinical Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. From 1991 to 2006 he was a Consulting Associate Professor in the School of Education at Stanford University. In September 2008 he joined the PGSP faculty full time. He teaches Foundation of Ethics and Professional Psychological Practice, Substance Use Disorders Treatment, and Group Therapy and Supervision. He has specialized in the treatment of substance use disorders, personality disorders, therapeutic community, and group psychotherapy. His publications include research on aesthetics and therapeutic communities for substance-dependent persons, and clinical papers on group therapy, therapeutic communities, personality assessment, drama therapy, and supervision.

Nicole Shiloff, Ph.D. Director Shyness Clinic

Dr. Nicole Shiloff:
 is the Director of the Shyness Clinic, a specialty clinic of the Kurt and Barbara Gronowski Clinic. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who received her doctoral degree from the University of Miami. After completing her Ph.D., she received additional training as a pre-doctoral intern at the University of California at San Diego; she completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center where she worked primarily with adolescents and children with anxiety disorders and eating disorders. As Director of the Shyness Clinic, she provides individual therapy to children, adolescents, and adults with shyness and social anxiety. She also runs several groups for young adults and adults, using a cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal approach, based on Dr. Lynne Henderson’s Social Fitness approach to treating social anxiety. Dr. Shiloff currently supervises 2nd- year doctoral candidates in clinical psychology at the Kurt and Barbara Gronowski Clinic. She has also had significant experience working with adolescents and young adults with eating disorders in an intensive outpatient setting.

Allison Briscoe-Smith, Ph.D. PGSP Assistant Professor

Dr. Briscoe-Smith, PGSP Assistant Professor
earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. She then received her Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley and she completed her internship and postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. Throughout her training her studies were focused on child psychopathology and diversity issues. After her postdoctoral work she was the Program Director of a mental health program serving children as they entered into the Alameda county foster care system. She now serves as the research consultant of that program. In addition, she provides clinical services at Children’s Health Council.

Her research has focused on two different topics: trauma/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how children understand race. With these topics she has had the opportunity to work broadly with many families and schools on issues salient to them. Her current research focuses on the mental health risks and collection of basic information of children who are commercially sexually exploited (prostituted).

Clinically her focus is on working with adult victims of abuse and trauma and also working with children. In particular, she focuses on dyadic and relational therapies for young children and behavior disorders for older children. She also has worked as a school and child care consultant and enjoys the opportunities that consultation brings. She hails originally from Hawaii and has also lived and worked in the Caribbean.

Area of Research:  Trauma, PTSD, children’s understanding of race, prejudice, commercial sexual exploitation of children
Area of Clinical Practice:  Trauma, behavior disorders of children, dyadic therapy, consultation with schools or community agencies
Publications:

• The Linkages Between Child Abuse and ADHD.  Briscoe-Smith, A.. and Hinshaw, S. (in press)
• Child Abuse and Neglect.  Briscoe-Smith, A., Weaver, C., Van Horn, P., Kimerling, R., Drescher, K. and Lieberman, A. (under review).
• The Factor Structure of PTSD: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Women Assessed with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale.  Lieberman, A., Briscoe-Smith, A. and Van Horn, P. (in press)
• Violence in infancy and early childhood.  Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Roundtable.

Lynn C. Waelde, Ph.D. PGSP Professor

Dr. Waelde, PGSP Professor,
is a Research Associate at the Palo Alto VA Health Care System. Dr. Waelde is a licensed clinical psychologist who is interested in the therapeutic uses of yoga and meditation. A major focus of Dr. Waelde’s current research is the empirical validation of Inner Resources^TM, a psychotherapeutic meditation intervention that she developed. Inner Resources^TM is currently being tested in a series of randomized controlled clinical trials in collaboration with colleagues at Stanford University School of Medicine, the Palo Alto VA Health Care System, and the New Orleans VA Medical Center. The results of a successful pilot study of Inner Resources^TM have recently been published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Dr. Waelde is also interested in the diagnosis and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with special emphasis on trauma-related dissociation.

Dr. Waelde received her Ph.D. in Developmental Child Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1995. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the New Orleans VA Medical Center. She was previously appointed as a Research Associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder before coming to PGSP.

Fran Leili, Ph.D. PGSP Faculty - Clinical Supervisor

Dr. Leili, PGSP Clinical Supervisor
began her career as an elementary school teacher with a masters' degree in special education. She transitioned into the field of mental health in the mid 1970's working in a community mental health center. Dr. Leili received her doctorate from Fordham University in New York in 1993, having completed an internship in the adolescent inpatient unit of Yale University Hospital. From 1996 to 1999, Dr. Leili was the clinical director of the children's program at a mental health center in New Hampshire. She moved to California in 1999 where she was director of training for EMQ, a large community mental health center focused on services to children and adolescents. Dr. Leili's expertise is in the area of the treatment of sexual abuse trauma and she has taught and spoken on this topic throughout the Bay area. Dr. Leili has been affiliated with the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology since 2005.

Dr. Wong, PGSP Clinical Supervisor
Dr. Jorge Wong is the Director of Behavioral Health Services at Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), the largest nonprofit health and human services provider focused on Asian Americans in Santa Clara County. He serves in countywide oversight and policy development committees for the Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Departments. At the state, Dr. Wong serves on the Consumer and Family Leadership Committee of the MHS Oversight and Accountability Commission, the Advisory Committee for the DMH’s Loan Assumption Program, and the Advisory Panel for Kaiser Permanente’s Research Project on Genes, Environment, and Health. He currently Chairs the Membership Committee for the California Psychological Association and is on the Board of the California Psychology Internship Council (CAPIC).

Dr. Wong received his Doctorate from PGSP and completed an APA Internship at Cermak Health Services of Cook County Department of Correction. He is certified in Healthcare Compliance and Ethics, teaches in the Diversity and Community Mental Health proficiency track with a focus on administration, policy development, procurement and advocacy. In his spare time he enjoys intramural volleyball, dragon boating, and mud runs with his interns and trainees.

Matthew J. Cordova, Ph.D. PGSP Assistant Professor

Dr. Cordova, PGSP Assistant Professor,
is a Staff Psychologist in Behavioral Medicine at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He completed his graduate training at the University of Kentucky, his clinical internship at the VA Palo Alto, and a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Cordova is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in applying empirically-supported interventions to assist medical patients and their families. As co-director of the PGSP Early Intervention Clinic with Dr. Josef Ruzek, he is interested in developing and researching the effectiveness of early interventions to prevent the development of problems in patients who have recently been traumatized.