Team

Patrick J. Raue, PhD

Lab Director, Professor of Psychology

Dr. Raue is Associate Director for Evidence-Based Psychosocial Interventions at the AIMS Center and Director of the National Network of PST Clinicians, Trainers & Researchers. In these roles, he develops and leads implementation and training programs across a range of behavioral health interventions. Dr. Raue conducts NIMH-supported research on training non-specialists in behavioral interventions, integrating mental health care into primary care settings, patient preferences and shared decision-making for depression, and the effectiveness of psychotherapy for older adults. He is also an active mentor of early-stage investigators. Dr. Raue received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook in 1995.

Lesley Steinman, PhD, MPH, MSW

Research Scientist

Dr. Steinman is a research scientist in the UW School of Public Health, based at the CDC-funded Health Promotion Research Center. For about twenty years she has partnered with community members, practitioners, and policymakers on health promotion and disease prevention for groups that face barriers to quality care. Much of her work centers on mental health and healthy aging.

Sam Bernecker, PhD

T32 Fellow

Dr. Bernecker is a clinical psychologist and researcher whose work investigates scalable methods for delivering evidence-based psychotherapy techniques. Dr. Bernecker also works in metascience, with a focus on helping researchers prioritize and design higher-impact projects. Prior to joining UW, Dr. Bernecker worked as a management consultant at BCG, a research scientist in the digital mental health industry, and a program manager at the nonprofit Rethink Wellbeing.

Isabell Griffith Fillipo, BA

Lead Research Coordinator

Isabell is a research coordinator at the CREATIV Lab and the UW ALACRITY Center. Isabell coordinates the operations for a variety of studies focused on mental health interventions for older adults and youth and has primarily worked on projects building an evidence base for digital mental health interventions. Isabell earned her bachelor’s degree from Macalester College with majors in psychology and Spanish, and a concentration in community and global health.

Dustin Prestridge

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Dustin is an undergraduate research assistant and psychology student at Seattle Central College. His interests center on aging, loneliness, home health care, and the everyday ways people stay connected. After transferring to the University of Washington, he plans to pursue a BA in Psychology.

Patricia Areán, PhD

Founder and Former Director

Dr. Areán is a professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and an international expert on the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for mood disorders. Her research focuses on the recognition and treatment of mental disorders in older adults and minority populations, particularly depression identified in non-mental-health settings, and on the use of technology to improve the scalability, usability, personalization, and quality of psychosocial treatments. She is also director of the NIMH-funded ALACRITY Center at the University of Washington.

Brittany Mosser, MSW, LICSW

Former Lab Manager

Brittany is a clinical social worker and research manager with experience coordinating a broad range of studies, including NIMH-funded clinical trials, pilot projects, and large-scale remote research. Clinically, she has specialized in working with older adults and their families. She is interested in improving access to evidence-based treatments through training, engaging diverse providers, modified treatments, and digital health applications. She earned her BA from Middlebury College and her MSW from the University of Maryland. She is now the Director of Research Operations in the UW School of Social Work.

Michael Pullmann, PhD

Former Faculty

Dr. Pullmann is a methodologist and biostatistician whose research focuses on digital mental health, the unintended consequences of implementation strategies, and community-based and participatory approaches to serving youth and families with complex needs. He provided research and methodological leadership across multiple centers, including the UW SMART Center, the UW ALACRITY Center, and the UW Impact Center. He co-hosts That Implementation Science Podcast with Kevin King. He is now a Senior Program Officer at PCORI.

Brenna N. Renn, PhD

Former Faculty

Dr. Renn’s research and clinical interests focus on the recognition and treatment of depression in older adults, particularly alongside co-occurring medical illness and within primary care settings. She is also interested in workforce training, health services research, and policy initiatives to optimize behavioral health care for older adults. She completed her doctorate at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and her residency at Baylor College of Medicine, and serves on the board of the Society of Clinical Geropsychology.

Adam Kuczynski, PhD

Former Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Kuczynski was a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow whose research focused on improving access to evidence-based psychosocial interventions for underserved individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. He worked on a grant-funded randomized trial to increase engagement with online peer-bridging interventions, and has expertise in the causes and consequences of loneliness in everyday life. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Washington in 2023. He is now a clinical psychologist for UW inpatient psychiatry and an acting assistant professor at the UW Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions.

Felicia Mata-Greve, PhD

Former Postdoctoral Fellow

Felicia is a former postdoctoral fellow in the CREATIV Lab. She is now a rehabilitation psychologist and an acting assistant professor in the UW Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Margaret Wang, MD

Clinician Researcher & Integrated Mental Health Fellow

Dr. Wang is a psychiatrist and health services researcher. Her work focuses on system-level ways to deliver high-quality mental health care in settings with few clinical resources or specialists. She is board certified in general adult and geriatric psychiatry, with clinical experience across outpatient, inpatient, and emergency care. She is interested in adapting evidence-based practices to community settings to close treatment gaps.

Bernardo Martinez

Former Research Coordinator

Bernardo conducted clinical assessments with participants in both English and Spanish. He received a BA in Psychology and Chicano Studies from California State University, Northridge, and is interested in the accessibility and use of mental health care among the Latinx population.

Alex Dillabaugh

Former Research Coordinator

Alex supported clinical assessments, participant screenings, and the expansion of existing studies to include the Spanish-speaking population. He completed a BS in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and a BA in Spanish at UC Davis, and previously spent two years as a mental health case manager at DESC serving Seattle’s homeless population. He is now an MPhil student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Cambridge.

Liz Jones

Former Research Coordinator

Dylan Fisher

Former Research Coordinator

Dylan supported a variety of research projects along with training and technical-assistance activities for the ALACRITY Center and CREATIV Lab. He previously worked on a nationwide NIMH-supported study implementing psychosocial interventions in Level I trauma centers. He received a BS in Psychology with a minor in nonprofit administration from the University of Oregon.

Ryan Allred

Former Research Coordinator

Ryan conducted clinical assessments with study participants. He received a BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Seattle Pacific University and is interested in research that advances the mental health field. He plans to pursue a doctorate in Clinical or Social Psychology. He is now a research coordinator at the UW ALACRITY Center.