Dr. Alison Giovanelli, PhD

Alison Giovanelli, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Pediatrics- Adolescent Medicine. She completed her PhD in a joint program in Clinical and Developmental Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and her clinical residency at Stanford Medical School.

Alison graduated with expertise in evaluation and treatment of mental health concerns in both children and adults, as well as expertise in adolescent health, early childhood education, the impacts of early adversity such as abuse and neglect (including impacts of ACEs) and development across the lifespan.

She currently works with adolescents with Eating Disorders at UCSF's renowned eating disorders clinic, and her research focuses on leveraging technology for intervention in common adolescent mental health problems. Alison has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals, with first-author publications in Pediatrics, Development and Psychopathology, and the Journal of Adolescent Health. These articles have primarily focused on ACEs and abuse/neglect, early childhood education, and adolescent heath, intervention, and well-being.

Alison's doctoral research, which was largely directed by prior experience teaching kindergarten, focused on the impacts of early adversity and high quality early childhood intervention in a large longitudinal sample. A secondary research interest was the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions for youth with mental health concerns (e.g., anxiety, depression, behavior problems) and their parents in collaboration with a large capacity mental health organization. She also worked on a team in collaboration with the Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, and Human Services to develop and distribute a county-by-county report quantifying both risks to the healthy development of Minnesota's young children and services to address these needs.

Sub-specializations:

Early childhood education - short and long-term impacts of high quality preschool programs
Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidality and self-harm, and other common mental health concerns in children, adolescents, and adults
Assessment of mental health and cognitive problems
Parenting and parent management of common behavioral problems in youth
ACEs- abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and other adversity, particularly in underserved communities
Levels of care and intervention programs (e.g., Outpatient, Intensive Outpatient, Partial Hospitalization, Inpatient) for mental health concerns