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The Max Gray CHAMP Team
The Max Gray CHAMP Program includes several individuals at the UCLA Semel Institute who have interest and expertise in childhood bipolar disorder and related conditions.
Program Director
Dr. Miklowitz is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute, and a Visting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, UK. He directs the Max Gray Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP) at the Semel Institute, a clinic and research program focused on the diagnosis and treatment of early-onset bipolar disorder and depression. He completed his undergraduate work at Brandeis University and his doctoral (1979-1985) and postdoctoral (1985-1988) work at UCLA.
His research focuses on family environmental factors and family psychoeducational treatments for adult-onset and childhood-onset bipolar disorder. Dr. Miklowitz received the Joseph Gengerelli Dissertation Award from UCLA (1986), Young Investigator Awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (1987) and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD; 1987), a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD (2001), the 2005 Mogens Schou Award for Research from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, the 2008 Clinical Researcher of the Year award from Emory University, and the 2008 Monica Fooks Lectureship from Oxford University. He also won the 2009 Gerald L. Klerman Senior Research Investigator Award from the Depressive and Bipolar Support Alliance, the 2011 Bipolar Mood Disorder Research Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the 2017-18 Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) Distinguished Scientist Award, and the 2020 Mood Disorders Research award from the American College of Psychiatry. Dr. Miklowitz has received multiple research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, and private funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Max Gray Fund, the Baszucki Research Group, and the Attias Family Foundation. Dr. Miklowitz has published over 400 journal articles, books and book chapters. His book "Bipolar disorder: a family-focused treatment approach" (Guilford), won the 1998 Outstanding Research Publication Award from the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy. His book "The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide" is currently in its third edition and is an international best seller, with over 375,000 copies in print. His most recent book is "Living well with bipolar disorder: practical strategies for improving your daily life" (Guilford Press, 2024).
Program Co-Director
Dr. Walshaw is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and clinical psychologist who serves in the roles of Director of the Medical Psychology Assessment Center (MPAC), Co-Director of the Max Gray Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP), and Director of the Neurobehavioral Epilepsy Program (NEP). Her clinical expertise and research interests are in cognitive changes associated with medical diagnoses (e.g. epilepsy, brain tumors) as well as mood and anxiety disorders (particularly bipolar disorder). She also has expertise in cortical language mapping and leads the Clinical functional MRI (fMRI) program in the Department of Radiology.
Dr. Walshaw has served as a co-investigator on a number of NIH, private foundation, and industry funded grants. She has published over 40 research articles in the areas of bipolar disorder, clinical fMRI, and epilepsy. Dr. Walshaw also serves in the role of Director of the Psychology Internship Training Program, one of the oldest and largest pre-doctoral internship programs in the US accredited by the American Psychological Association.
Child Psychiatrist
Medical Director
Dr. Elizabeth Horstmann has been in CHAMP since she was a child psychiatry fellow at UCLA (graduating in 2016). She initially stayed at UCLA to be a Max Gray Fellow in mood disorders (2016-2017) and then stayed on as an attending in the clinic. She sees CHAMP patients, attends research meetings and supervises child psychiatry fellows as well as the Max Gray fellows. She loves the multi-disciplinary collaboration in CHAMP with an outstanding team of clinical psychologists and the ability of the clinic to offer excellent psychosocial and pharmacologic treatments for our patients with mood disorders. In addition to her work in CHAMP, she previously worked for 6 years in a non-public school serving children with more severe psychiatric illness. Currently, in addition to her work in CHAMP, she works with trainees and sees patients with both psychiatric illness and medical co-morbidities at CHLA. She did her undergraduate work at Columbia University, attended Harvard Medical School and completed general psychiatry residency at Columbia University's program (based at New York Presbyterian Hospital and the New York State Psychiatric Institute).
Psychologist
Child Neuropsychologist
Dr. Ellis is a clinical neuropsychologist who received her PhD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Neuropsychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. She first came to UCLA in 2011 for her pre-doctoral internship in Pediatric Neuropsychology. She then received a T32 post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychology and child and adolescent mood disorders. In addition to being the Director of the thinkSMART® program, she works as an attending psychologist in the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP). Dr. Ellis is also a prolific researcher who was recently awarded a K23 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to examine how neural response patterns of frustration and reward are associated with symptoms of depression and mania over time in youth with significant mood difficulties.
The thinkSMART® program was born out of Dr. Ellis’ frustration with the lack of effective, non-medication interventions for youth with executive dysfunction, particularly (but not limited to) individuals with ADHD. Through her extensive clinical work, she was struck by how pervasive and debilitating weaknesses in areas of organization, time management, task initiation/completion, and planning can be for individuals with mood, anxiety and attention problems. She was motivated to create a program with concrete behavioral strategies to specifically target these areas. With the help of Michelle Rozenman, PhD and Alex Sturm, MA, the thinkSMART® program was created! Dr. Ellis and her team are enthusiastic to move forward with getting empirical support for thinkSMART®.
Psychologist
Angus Strachan, PhD, is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, a clinical and social psychologist who has taught and supervised at UCLA for many years, most recently at CHAMP. At CHAMP, Dr. Strachan is an attending psychologist who supervises psychiatric fellows and psychology interns in family therapy.
His research interests include understanding the influence of the family on the progress of major mental disorders, assessing children's perceptions of relationships in families, and the process and outcome of psychotherapeutic interventions. He has worked for many years in the community with a focus on conflict resolution in teams, organizations and in divorcing families.
Dr. Strachan has a BA in Mechanical Sciences and Management Studies from Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Psychology from Birkbeck College, University of London. He obtained his PhD in psychology at the UCLA Department of Psychology. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London and at the Clinical Research Centre for the study of schizophrenia at UCLA.
Clinical Research
Dr. Denenny received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and M.A. in Psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Denenny sees clients at the CHAMP research clinic and previously completed a predoctoral internship as well as postdoctoral studies at UCLA Semel Institute. Dr. Denenny's clinical interests involve working with young people and families who have been diagnosed with, or are at high risk for developing thought and mood disorders. Her research focuses on theory, measurement, and interventions for mental illness stigmas (self, family, peer, public, and treatment), as well as the development of evidence-based individual and family therapies for these young people. Additionally, Dr. Denenny is very interested in issues of mental health policy, including improving access to evidence-based psychotherapy and clinical services.
Psychologist
Dr. Marc Weintraub is a clinical psychologist and an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. Dr. Weintraub received his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Miami and completed his clinical internship at the UCLA Semel Institute. He then conducted a postdoctoral fellowship in child and adolescent mood disorders at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior before joining the faculty.
Dr. Weintraub has clinical expertise in the diagnostic assessment and psychosocial treatment of adolescents and adults with mood disorders, psychotic disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Weintraub’s research focuses on the prognoses of mood and psychotic disorders as well as approaches to improve psychosocial treatments for these conditions (including psychedelic-assisted therapy and mHealth applications as adjuncts to therapy). Dr. Weintraub’s research is funded by numerous research grants, including funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, American Psychological Foundation, and the Friends of Semel. He has authored and co-authored numerous published papers and book chapters and has presented at national and international scientific meetings. Dr. Weintraub is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the recipient of several awards, including the American Psychological Association (APA) Dissertation Award, University of Miami Academic Excellence, Leadership & Service Award, and Rod Gillis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Anabel Salimian, BSc
Clinical Research Coordinator
Anabel Salimian is a Clinical Research Coordinator at CHAMP. She earned her B.Sc. in Biopsychology with a minor in Applied Psychology from UC Santa Barbara before joining UCLA. Her research interests revolve around leveraging digital health technologies to expand access to mental health care for marginalized communities, with a particular emphasis on BIPOC students and young adults.
Shelby Grody, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator Assistant
Shelby is a Clinical Research Coordinator Assistant at the CHAMP Clinic. He received his BA in Psychology from the University of Washington. He has previously worked at the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge. Shelby has an avid interest in helping adolescents and young adults with anxiety and mood disorders using novel treatment and technology-based methods. He currently coordinates the Child Bipolar Network Study and Ketogenic Therapy for Youth Bipolar Disorder Study.
Clinic Coordinator & Research Associate
The philosophy of the UCLA Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Clinic is to enhance clinical care for children, teens, and young adults and their families by conducting state-of-the-art treatment studies.
Max Gray Fellow
Dr. Barnett is a third-year Max Gray Fellow. Before participating in this program, he graduated from the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
Dr. Barnett received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and decided to pursue a career in medicine. He then went on to the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University and developed an interest in working with children and adolescents with mental health challenges. Dr. Barnett completed his adult psychiatry residency training at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, where he provided care to a diverse patient population at a safety net hospital. While Dr. Barnett is looking forward to continuing to refine his skills in psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and individual therapy with complex patients, he is most excited about seeing the continued growth of the individuals and families he has worked with for multiple years as a fellow in the CHAMP Clinic.
Max Gray Fellow
Dr. Ichinose is a licensed clinical psychologist currently completing her fourth year as a Max Gray Fellow. As a fellow, she has received specialized training in the evaluation, diagnosis, and psychosocial treatment of mood disorders under program director Dr. David Miklowitz. Her clinical focus is on providing individual, family, and group treatments for adolescents and young adults with mood and commonly co-occurring disorders (e.g., patients with both anxiety and ADHD). Over the past year, she has taken on the role of clinical supervisor in the Max Gray Child and Adolescents Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP) and the Adult Mood Disorders Clinic. As supervisor, she trains masters-level therapists and psychiatry residents in family-focused therapy. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Ichinose helps coordinate and provide clinical care for adolescents and their families participating in research studies at CHAMP, including the Child Bipolar Network, a multi-site longitudinal study examining the trajectory and treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder. She is also involved in a family therapy intervention study for youth at high risk for psychosis.
Dr. Ichinose earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and global health at Northwestern University. After working as a research assistant in the Belief, Learning & Memory Lab at Yale School of Medicine, she pursued a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Vanderbilt University under the supervision of Dr. Sohee Park, a leader in the field. Dr. Ichinose completed her predoctoral internship at UCLA, where she specialized in adolescent serious mental illness.
Max Gray Fellow
Dr. Nguyen graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She received her medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine and completed her adult psychiatry residency as well as dialectical behavioral therapy training at the University of Washington. She then pursued a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at UCLA, where she served as inpatient chief fellow. Dr. Nguyen’s clinical interests are in acute psychiatric care, including inpatient hospitalization and psychiatric emergency services, with a focus on mood disorders and suicide prevention. Her research interests include suicide prevention; disparities in mental health care, especially for Asian Americans; and translating evidence-based interventions into the clinical setting. Recent scholarly work includes a QI project that reduced the disproportionate use of restraints and seclusion among BIPOC patients in a psychiatric ICU, an educational module on cultural models of suicide risk factors, the PCORI Youth Partners in Care for Suicide Prevention study and a QI project to standardize safety planning practices in the emergency room. In addition to the Max Gray Fellowship, Dr. Nguyen works as an attending psychiatrist on the 4W Child Inpatient Unit, Psychopharmacology Clinic (PPC) and the Youth Mood and Stress Clinic (YSAM) and as the ED Operations Lead for the PCORI study.
Max Gray Fellow
Dr. Khan completed the UCLA Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship before becoming a Max Gray Fellow. Dr. Khan received her medical education in Pakistan and completed her psychiatry residency training at the University of Washington. Dr. Khan graduated with areas of distinction in global mental health and cultural psychiatry, perinatal mental health, and advanced psychotherapy. She also served as the chief resident of recruitment and wellness and graduated with an outstanding resident award. During her first fellowship at UCLA, Dr. Khan served as the inaugural justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion chief. She graduated the fellowship with an area of distinction in psychotherapy and concentration in psychoanalytical psychotherapy. Dr. Khan has received additional psychotherapy training in dialectical behavioral therapy and child and adolescent psychoanalytical psychotherapy. Dr. Khan’s areas of experience and interest include mood disorders, childhood adversity, psychotherapy, immigrant mental health, and structural determinants of health. In addition to the Max Gray Fellowship, Dr. Khan serves as the Associated Program Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, Co-Director of the Community and Global Child Psychiatry Area of Distinction, and Director of Fellows’ Psychotherapy Clinic. Clinically, she works as a supervising attending for the inpatient unit and child and adult neurodevelopmental disorders clinic.
Max Gray Fellow
Dr. Burns earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University and completed her internship at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Her clinical and research interests are centered on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of neurological and psychological conditions in children, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and mood disorders.
Currently, Dr. Burns is in her second year as a Max Gray Fellow at the CHAMP clinic, where she conducts diagnostic evaluations and provides individual and family-based treatment for youth affected by mood disorders. She also delivers clinical care to youth and families involved in research studies, such as the Child Bipolar Network Study. In addition to the Max Gray Fellowship, Dr. Burns serves as the Chief Pediatric Neuropsychology Fellow at the UCLA Medical Psychology Assessment Center. There, she performs comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations to assess cognitive, academic, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children and adolescents. She also provides tiered supervision and training in pediatric neuropsychology to predoctoral trainees.
Dr. Burns is dedicated to using her training in brain development and mood disorders to create individualized treatment plans that are grounded in empirical evidence, informed by assessment results, and aligned with each child and family’s strengths, background, and needs. She strives to employ a collaborative approach that involves teamwork and open communication between patients, families, and providers so that treatment can remain responsive to evolving needs and effective in fostering each child’s well-being and development.