Student Committee

Stephanie Chin

University of Louisville

Student Representative

Clinical Interests: Culturally sensitive and appropriate counseling; AAPI and BIPOC college-aged and young adult populations; depression/mood, anxiety, and trauma related diagnoses; psychological assessments

Research Interests: AAPI mental health; cultural and familial risk and protective factors; resilience and coping; intersectionality; retention of BIPOC students in academia

Journa Cobite

University of Houston

Mentorship Committee Co-Coordinator

Research Interests: Exploring health disparities related to accessibility and quality of mental healthcare, biopsychosocial determinants of drug vulnerability and social/cultural influences as they relate to stress physiology, particularly among Black and ethnic minority groups.

Clinical Interests: Providing behavioral health services within integrated clinical settings and working with the OCD & anxiety disorders.

Doreen Frimpong-Brago

Midwestern University

Student Liaison

Clinical Interests: Immigrant and underserved populations, developing culturally sensitive interventions for ethnic minorities, mood disorders, psychoeducation on mental health.

Research Interests: Acculturation processes and its impact on African immigrant family systems and mental health, eradication of stigma surrounding mental health especially within the African/African-American community, mood disorders

Jocelyn Gomez, MA

(she, her(s), ella)

University of Houston – Clear Lake

Clinical Interests: Treatment and psychosocial support for children, adolescents, and young adults struggling to cope with issues related to complex medical diagnoses and long term hospitalization. Provide services in Spanish and English.

Research Interests: Quality of life within complex medical diagnosis and psychosocial factors impacting treatment outcomes. Further, health inequities within the Latino and Black communities.

Pooja Mamidanna

California School of Professional Psychology (San Francisco Campus)

Division 45 Conference Co-Chair & Campus Representative.

Clinical Interests: Pooja’s clinical interests include collaborating with clients from racial/ethnic minorities. Pooja works from a globally social justice and trauma-informed care lens. Pooja is ardent in discussing diversity issues such as race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and culture. Pooja’s clinical experience includes substance use, crisis residential treatment facilities, and community mental health outpatient clinics (children, adolescents, adults, families, couples, and the elderly population).

Research Interests: Pooja’s research interests include multicultural psychology, decolonizing therapy, BIPOC mental health, South Asian mental health, grief, loss, intergenerational, and complex trauma.

Hajr Muhammad

Wayne State University

She obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Michigan State University and her MA from WSU. Her research interests include strong black woman schema, colorism, and African American/Black mental health. Hajr is passionate about the work of psychology and believes it is a staple for the wellbeing of society.