My research focuses on how social influences shape individuals’ health behaviors in both constructive (e.g., physical activity) and risky ways (e.g., alcohol use). I take a translational approach to my research in that I aim to understand how social processes, such as normative influences, relate to behavior so that we can leverage these influences to reduce harm and improve health.
Specific areas of interest include alcohol and other substance use, mental health, and gambling/sports betting. My primary focus is helping young adults during the transition into adulthood.
I have a background in sport psychology, and am passionate about helping athletes navigate the unique stressors involved in high-level sport. In this domain, I serve as a fellow at the U.S. Center for Mental Health and Sport.
I am a pediatric psychologist who specializes in working with patients with cancer, tumors of the central nervous system, hematological disorders, and immunological disorders, including patients undergoing a stem cell transplant. I provide psychosocial care to children, adolescents, and young adults seen in the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
In addition to clinical care, I engage in program development, quality improvement projects, and research. My research focuses on understanding psychosocial needs and improving psychosocial assessment and interventions for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and their families across the treatment trajectory. I have specific interests in survivorship, adolescent and young adults with cancer, and adolescent peer relationships.
Dr. Walukevich-Dienst (hear my name) is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington.
Her research is focused on identifying psychosocial and contextual factors associated with alcohol and cannabis misuse and co-use among young adults, including social influences (e.g., romantic partners, use partnerships), affect management motives, co-occurring mental health concerns, and high-risk substance use events and contexts.
Dr. Walukevich-Dienst aims to leverage this information to develop and test innovative, technology-informed prevention and intervention efforts to disseminate in real world settings.
She also provides psychotherapy to patients at the University of Washington’s Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic and provides supervision and training to psychology graduate students and psychiatry residents in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Link to Dr. Walukevich-Dienst’s CV.
I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist with interests in medical education, infant and early childhood mental health, and psychotherapy. I direct psychotherapy training for child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) fellows, co-lead the CAP fellows’ didactic curriculum, and coordinate the CAP training experiences of general psychiatry residents.
My clinical work includes treatment in the outpatient setting for young children through adolescents, working closely with their families. In my own work, and in teaching trainees, I am passionate about psychiatrists supporting families comprehensively. I seek to use not only medications (if appropriate) but also behavioral/psychotherapeutic approaches.
My research focuses on expanding behavioral treatments for young children by involving peer supports—caregivers who have previously participated in the programs for their own children—as members of the care team. I am especially interested in this increasing access and fit of the treatment for underserved communities, and currently work in partnership with the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic.
Dr. Blayney’s research aims to understand the risks for and consequences of sexual victimization. More specifically, this work centers around how social contexts influence sexual victimization risk as well as variation in post-victimization recovery, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviors.
Dr. Banta-Green studies substance use involving opioids and stimulants and interventions to support recovery and reduce substance-related harms. He is particularly interested in developing interventions that are accessible to all people, including those who are most marginalized, such as those who are unhoused, utilizing services syringe service programs, and/or in the criminal legal system. He provides technical assistance and evaluation services for public health and safety interventions including the website http://stopoverdose.org, and information for the general public and professionals about effective treatments at http://learnabouttreatment.org. As an epidemiologist he develops innovative approaches to measuring the use and impacts of substances as well as service utilization. His health services research involves clinical trials, implementation research, and secondary data analyses. He serves on local, state, and federal workgroups and committees related to epidemiology, policy, and interventions for illicit substance-related problems. He is a member of the U.S. Health and Human Service’s Interdepartmental Substance Use Disorders Coordinating Committee.
Dr. Neuhaus has a broad research focus on social-emotional processes in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or inherited or de novo genetic events. Dr. Neuhaus’s research is informed by a number of methodological approaches, including clinical/behavioral assessment and physiological measures such as EEG and autonomic biomarkers. Dr. Neuhaus is particularly interested in how social and emotional processes relate to brain function and development, and in how they interact with one another to influence diagnostic outcomes (e.g., phenotypes within autism) and psychiatric trajectories over the course of development. Clinically, Dr. Neuhaus specializes in diagnostic assessment of ASD.
I completed my adult psychiatry residency at the University of California, Davis and went on to complete my child & adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Seattle Children’s. My clinical work is focused on inpatient psychiatry and psychopharmacology. I have a particular interest in working with families and children in management of disruptive behavior disorders.
