Meet the Team

Dr. Jocelyn Meza is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine and Associate Director of the Youth Stress and Mood Program. Her current clinical, teaching, and research focuses on the development and evaluation of culturally-adapted treatments for self-harm/suicide for ethnic/racial minority youth impacted by different social systems. 

Dr. Joan Asarnow is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine and Director of the Youth Stress and Mood Program. Dr. Asarnow specializes in cognitive-behavioral, DBT, and patient and family centered treatments and has done extensive work developing, evaluating, and bringing effective treatments into the community care settings where youth receive care. 

Kelsey Stiles, PhD, Program Director (she/her) is a Staff Psychologist at the UCLA Semel Institute and the Program Director for the PCORI-funded YPIC-SP Study. Following her doctoral training at UCLA, Dr. Stiles completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Semel Institute, with her fellowship experience focusing on clinical trials testing interventions for emotional and behavioral problems in youth. 

Gia Chodzen, PhD, NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow is a NIMH T32 funded Postdoctoral Scholar in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, under Dr. Meza and Dr. Asarnow's mentorship. She graduated with her doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA in 2024. Dr. Chodzen’s research interests focus on assessing and intervening on co-occurring trauma and suicidality, particularly in acute psychiatric settings.

Virginia Otis graduated with a B.A. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on complex trauma. Virginia currently splits her time between the Youth Stress and Mood Program as a Study and Clinic Coordinator and the Health Equity, Access Research, and Treatment Lab as the Research Coordinator. At YSAM, Virginia is a part of the PCORI-funded Youth Partners in Care for Suicide Prevention (YPIC-SP) study and is the Clinic Coordinator for the YSAM Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills clinic.

Andrew Alvarez, BA, Staff Research Associate graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2023, with a B.A. in Psychology. In his role at YSAM Andrew supports emergency department recruitment for the PCORI-funded Youth Partners in Care for Suicide Prevention (YPIC-SP) study, and supports patient recruitment and scheduling for the YSAM Dialectical Behavior Therapy Clinic