Patricia Areán, PhD, who officially joined our Department as a Professor of Psychiatry on April 15, is heading up a new research initiative, the Targeted Treatment Development Program. The program will combine theory and experts from diverse scientific fields to offer a fully translational, collaborative approach to behavioral interventions including research, development, implementation, training, and evaluation.

“Our goal is to develop personalized and targeted interventions that can be implemented in real-world, community settings,” said Pat. “The number of psychotherapy sessions required for effective treatment is typically between six and nine, yet most people only go to one or two. We want to make behavioral interventions more powerful and readily available to the millions of individuals who would benefit most.”