Affiliated CLEAR Faculty
Dr. Bruce Bongar
Pronouns: he/him/his
Dr. Bruce Bongar is the Calvin Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University. His areas of expertise include suicide and life-threatening behaviors. Dr. Bongar served as a co-investigator, along with Drs. Joyce Chu and Peter Goldblum, on a study analyzing better detection of suicide risk among LGBTQ individuals.
Dr. Lisa M. Brown
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Lisa M. Brown, ABPP is a Professor at Palo Alto University, where she also serves as the director of the Trauma Area of Emphasis. Her areas of research expertise include underserved populations, trauma, resilience, and aging. She conducts community participatory research both locally and globally. Dr. Brown is currently serving as a co-investigator on two Kaiser Permanente funded studies, Project Trust and Project SMART, that are examining access and use of mental health services by African Americans and LGBTQ people living in Oakland and San Francisco. She also is a co-author on a recent journal article that examined religion, depression, and loneliness in older sexual minority adults.
Joyce Chu
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Joyce Chu, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor at Palo Alto University (PAU), where she co-directs the Multicultural Suicide Research Center and directs the Diversity and Community Mental Health (DCMH) emphasis. Her work aims to advance culturally congruent services for underserved communities, particularly suicide prevention and management for Asian American, other ethnic minority, and LGBTQ populations. Dr. Chu served as a co-investigator, along with Drs. Bruce Bongar and Peter Goldblum, on a study analyzing better detection of suicide risk among LGBTQ individuals.
Dr. Amanda Fanniff
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Amanda Fanniff is an Associate Professor at Palo Alto University. Her areas of expertise include forensic psychology and sexual offending. Her research focus has broadened to the consideration of multiple cultural identities within these specialty areas. Her research related to the LGBTQ community includes projects examining the impact of gender, sexuality, and culture on rape myth acceptance and sexual coercion.
Dr. Rowena Gomez
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Rowena Gomez is Professor at Palo Alto University. Her research areas include aging, neuropsychology and depression. In particular, her research on aging intersects neuropsychology and diversity factors. Notably one of her major research projects at Palo Alto University focused on the mental health issues of LGBT+ and ethnic minority older adults with Dr. Peter Goldblulm, PhD MPH: Predictors of Psychological Health in Heterosexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Middle-Aged and Older Adults. This resulted in many professional conference presentations and dissertations, including a publication in the Clinical Gerontologist on “Relations of Religion with Depression and Loneliness in Older Sexual and Gender Minority Adults.”
Dr. Janice Habarth
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Janice Habarth is an Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University. Her areas of expertise include attitudes and beliefs about sexual orientation and gender; gender and sexual minority healthcare provider competence; gender minority stress and resilience; and sexual minority stress and resilience. Dr. Habarth has been involved in several studies related to LGBTQ communities. Key P.I. contributions include the development of the Heteronormative Attitudes and Beliefs Scale and a new study that is applying APA guidelines to a self-report measure for healthcare service providers working with trans and gender nonbinary populations. Co-authorship and dissertation supervisory contributions include the development of the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure and the APA-Informed Trans-Affirmative Provider Scale - Patient Version, a new patient self-report measure assessing provider adherence to APA guidelines for work with trans and gender nonbinary populations. In addition to scale development, Dr. Habarth is also interested in contributing to healthcare provider awareness of intersectionality, gender and sexual minority cultural humility, and relevant competencies.
Dr. Nancy Haug
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Nancy Haug is a Professor at Palo Alto University and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She studies harm reduction interventions for cannabis and opioid misuse, and evidence-based addiction treatment with a focus on women and gender considerations. Dr. Haug served as a Co-Investigator on a project exploring the clinical utility of the Minority Stress Scale within the STS/Innerlife assessment program for LGBTQ-identified clients. She also served as a collaborator on a case consultation study of gender and sexual minority clients at the Gronowski Center with Dr. Peter Goldblum. Dr. Haug co-authored a paper with Dr. Rylan Testa examining gender-related medical interventions, eating behavior and body image satisfaction among transgender individuals. Currently, Dr. Haug is working with Dr. Robin Brody to publish data on the impact of shame and substance use on intimacy among sexual minority women.
Dr. Ricardo Muñoz
Dr. Ricardo F. Muñoz is distinguished professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University, professor of psychology emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco, based at San Francisco General Hospital’s department of psychiatry, and adjunct clinical professor at the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. He is the founding director of the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health), which has as its mission to develop, evaluate, and disseminate digital health interventions worldwide at no charge for all who want to use them. He specializes in the prevention and treatment of depression and in smoking cessation. He was inducted as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “for distinguished contributions towards the prevention of major depression and the development of Internet interventions to improve mental health worldwide.” He earned his B.A. in psychology at Stanford University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon.
Dr. Jayme Peta
Dr. Jayme Peta is the Associate Director of Clinical Training and an Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University. Dr. Peta is a co-author of The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity, as well as the Gender Minority Stress Measure. Dr. Peta's research has focused on gender minority stress and its relationship with childhood trauma and mental health in transgender and gender non-binary adults. Dr. Peta also holds interests in transgender and gender non-binary cultural competence, gender minority stress and revictimization, and serious mental illness in gender and sexual minorities. Currently, Dr. Peta is part of the faculty training team developing and delivering the LGBTQ Clinical Acadamy: A 40-hour training on LGBTQ+ cultural competence to Santa Clara County Behavioral Health providers.
Dr. Predair Robinson
Pronouns: he/him/his
Dr. Predair Robinson is is the Interim Director of the Sexual and Gender Identities Clinic at the Grownowski Center and Clinician Educator at Palo Alto University. His areas of expertise include providing culturally responsive care to LGBTQ individuals that focuses on intersectional identities, providing supervision, consultation, and training related to LGBTQ mental health issues and care, and extensive research experience on physical and mental health issues experienced in the LGBTQ population. Dr. Robinson served as a Co-Principal Investigator on the Men's Online Research of Psychological Health project, a large-scale Internet survey that explored the interplay between minority stress, substance use, high-risk sexual behaviors, personality factors, and online dating among gay, bisexual, and queer men.
Dr. Megan Speciale
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Megan Speciale is an Assistant Professor in the Counseling Department at Palo Alto University, where she teaches courses on human sexuality, addictions, and group work. As a professional counselor, she co-founded the University of New Mexico LGBTQ Counseling Center and served as the Founding Co-President for the New Mexico Association of LGBT Issues in Counseling. Her research foci include: cultural competence with intersectional LGBTQIA+ children, teens, adults, and families; LGBTQIA+ and sex-positive approaches to sexuality counseling and sex therapy; and counseling competence with alternative sexualities, including kink/BDSM and consensual non-monogamy. Dr. Speciale has led various projects related to the LGBTQIA+ community, including research examining the intersection of sexual identity and alternative sexual practice, heteronormativity in counselor education, LGBTQ+ issues in group counseling, and LGBTQ+ career counseling.
Dr. Lynn Waelde
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Dr. Lynn Waelde is a Professor at Palo Alto University and an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is Founding Director of the Inner Resources Center and Director of the Meditation and Psychology Area of Emphasis at Palo Alto University. She served as the Chair of the PAU Diversity Committee for 12 years and has served as a scientific advisor to CLEAR since its inception. Dr. Waelde's clinical and research interests focus on therapeutic applications of mindfulness and meditation. She specializes in evaluations and clinical trials of mindfulness and meditation and related interventions. She developed the Inner Resources programs so that the powerful techniques of mindfulness, mantra, and meditation could be tailored to different people's needs and capacities. She also studies predictors and manifestations of stress disorders. She worked with Dr. Peter Goldblum to adapt her co-authored measure of exposure to racism-related stress to assessment of sexual minority stress exposure and she has a particular focus on risk and resiliency to minority stress.
Dr. Robert Wickham
Pronouns: he/him/his
Dr. Robert Wickham is an Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University. His areas of expertise include dyadic and longitudinal Data Analysis, close relationship processes, and psychological measurement. Dr. Wickham has served as a member of the research team for the CUPPLES Project, a study of relationship processes among same-sex and heterosexual couples. He has also authored a number of manuscripts and publications examining interpersonal conflict and minority stress in same-sex couples.
