My primary research and clinical interests are in diagnosis and management of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly, autism spectrum disorder. I am a psychologist at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center where I participate in team evaluations for children and teens with co-occurring medical or psychiatric complexity, and I also see patients through our Gender Clinic. I also work at the University of Washington’s Institute on Human Development and Disability (IHDD) where I see patients in the Infant Development Follow-up Clinic and in the Child Development Clinic. I love the interdisciplinary nature of CHDD and I am proud to be a faculty mentor for the LEND program (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities). Overarchingly, I am invested in learning more about how to support individuals and families, how to embrace the neurodiversity movement, encourage affirming care where strengths are celebrated, and work toward equitable treatment for the families I serve.
My research broadly seeks to understand the ways in which our social and romantic relationships intersect with physical and mental health. Additionally, I work in treatment development and evaluation with the aim of improving and harnessing social relationships to increase physical and mental wellbeing. I was recently funded by a 5-year Career Development Award through VA HSR&D. This award aims to both improve clinicians’ measurement of social relationships in the context of mental health care and modify and test brief, Primary Care-based interventions for PTSD and social support. In this line of research, I am PI of an HSR&D and VAPS R&D-funded nationwide survey of veterans both with and without PTSD that seeks to collect psychometric and acceptability data on social support instruments for future use in measurement-based care. I am also collaborating with colleagues in HSR&D to develop and test a dyadic intervention for improving health behavior. I am lucky to provide clinical care as a staff psychologist in the PTSD Outpatient Clinic at VA Puget Sound, where I deliver individual, group, and couples treatments for PTSD and provide psychoeducation on trauma and related conditions to loved ones of veterans with PTSD.
I am a clinical psychologist and researcher. My research focuses on pediatric psychology, intervention science, and leveraging digital technologies to disseminate and implement evidence-based psychosocial interventions for children, teens, and young adults with serious medical conditions and co-occurring anxiety, stress, and depression. Digital mental health care initiatives have the potential to scale-up interventions and overcome structural barriers and unequal access to psychosocial care. Current and future research investigations aim to help improve patient and family coping skills, psychosocial well-being, and quality of life by developing and implementing evidence-based mental health interventions.
I am a Psychologist and the Coordinator of the DBT Program at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. I previously worked as the Research Director of Dr. Marsha Linehan’s Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics at the University of Washington (2006-2018), Director of Research and Development for Behavioral Tech, LLC (2014-2017), and Director of Behavioral Tech Research, Inc. (2013-2016). My research focuses on the development and evaluation of the DBT Prolonged Exposure protocol for PTSD as well as methods of disseminating and implementing this and other evidence-based treatments into clinical practice. I regularly provide training and consultation nationally and internationally in DBT and DBT PE and have published numerous articles and book chapters on these treatments. I am a certified DBT therapist, a certified PE therapist and supervisor, am board certified in Behavioral and Cognitive therapy, and am licensed as a psychologist in the state of Washington.
Dr. Megan Goldenshteyn works as a licensed psychologist at the Center on Human Development and Disability (CHDD) in the Child Development Clinic, Cardiac Neurodevelopment Clinic, and the Infant Development Follow-up Clinic. Dr. Goldenshteyn conducts psychological and developmental evaluations and supervises the psychology trainees, including the residents and the psychology practicum student.
My work focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and neurodegenerative dementias, as well as applications of positron emission tomography (PET) and other functional neuroimaging modalities to elucidating the pathophysiology of PTSD, mTBI, Alzheimer’s Disease, and other neurodegenerative dementias.
