Biography

Hello and welcome to my website! My name is Christian (he/him/his), and I am a third-year PhD student in the Counseling Psychology program at Columbia University. This website is a work in progress, though I hope it can help share a bit about me and my interests. Please feel free to reach out if anything piques your interest!

A bit more about me: as I mentioned I am a doctoral student at Columbia's Teachers College, where I work with Dr. Brandon Velez within the Stigma, Identity, and Intersectionality (SII) Research Team on a variety of projects that examine marginalization, oppression, and mental health. Additionally, I am a psychology extern at the Columbia University Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CUCARD) where I provide services to youth and their families using a variety of evidence-based approaches.

Broadly, my research and clinical interests take an intersectional, anti-oppression, and multicultural approach to understanding how systems impact the mental and sexual health of minoritized people - with a particular interest in the well-being of queer & trans* Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people.

I was recently named an American Psychological Association (APA) Interdisciplinary Minority Fellow to support my training and development in these areas, and I am also receiving specialized training through my doctoral program's concentration in Bilingual Latinx Mental Health and a Teachers College-wide advanced certificate in Sexuality, Women, and Gender in Psychology & Education.

I am a proud first-generation college graduate from the University of Chicago, where I received my undergraduate degree in psychology. I then spent three years at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine working on various research and evaluation projects focused on HIV prevention and health justice before joining the SII team in 2018 when I came to Teachers College to pursue a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology.

Outside of my doctoral program, I am involved with psychology at the national level through membership within APA's divisions of Counseling Psychology (Division 17), Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (Division 44), and Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (Division 45), as well as through membership with the National Latinx Psychological Association. Additionally, I serve on the Executive Committee of Division 44 as Student Representative & Co-Chair for the Community of Students, where I represent student voices in division decision-making.

Outside of my academic and professional interests, I enjoys staying highly caffeinated, winning Broadway ticket lotteries (pre-COVID), riding Citibikes across New York City, and ceaselessly recounting Moira Rose's unparalleled one-liners.