Email: mmv265@nyu.edu
Program: PhD in Counseling Psychology
Year entered Program: Fall 2017
Research Interests: Mental Health Stigma in BIPOC communities, Improving Treatment Access and Service Utilization by BIPOC communities for Children's Mental Health Services
Principal Advisor(s): Dr. Anil Chacko
Research Description/Bio:
(Maria) Michelle Vardanian is a first-generation, Armenian-American doctoral candidate working with the mentorship of Anil Chacko, PhD, in the Counseling Psychology Program in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Her research interests are primarily in the area of mental health disparities within BIPOC communities. She is particularly interested in the facilitators and barriers of initial and ongoing caregiver engagement with children’s mental health services and how the stigmatization of mental illness within diverse cultures may play a role in these family systems. She is also passionate about social justice advocacy and delivering culturally competent services to children and families.
Prior to NYU, Michelle worked as a research associate for The Center for Implementation-Dissemination of Evidence-Based Practices among States (IDEAS Center) at the NYU Child Study Center under Dr. Kimberly Hoagwood, where she coordinated and managed the evidence-based training known as the Managing and Adapting Practices (MAP) Program in New York State. Michelle graduated summa cum laude and obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from New York University’s College of Arts and Science. She currently serves as an instructor for NYU Steinhardt’s Masters in Mental Health Counseling and Applied Psychology Undergraduate Program (APUG) courses and conducts research with the FACES Lab regarding parent engagement as well as behavior parent trainings. She has also been the curriculum coordinator for NYU Steinhardt’s Quality Undergraduate Education and Scholarly Training (QUEST) program as well as the program journal’s editor-in-chief for the last three years.
Michelle is currently an advanced neuropsychology extern working at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Neurology conducting neuropsychological evaluations for older adults with neurological conditions. She previously worked at Mount Sinai’s Department of Psychiatry, conducting neuropsychological evaluations for children and adolescents with learning and developmental disorders as well as the New York City Children’s Center with diverse children and youth with significant mental health treatment needs. She completed a previous externship at the NYU Center for Counseling and Community wellbeing, where she provided services for a wide range of clientele that varied across age, racial/ethnic identity, gender identity, sexual identity, and symptom presentation. In the future, she hopes to continue investigating the mechanisms behind family engagement with children’s mental health services and develop accessible pathways to enhance treatment access and service use for families seeking help with mental health and wellbeing, especially within diverse racial/ethnic communities.