OUR TEAM

BLANCA PINEDA, ED.D.

Project Manager for i4Health/LTF Chair

Dr. Blanca Pineda joined Palo Alto University and the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health) in March 2018. Prior to joining PAU, she worked at Stanford University for several years. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and is interested in using internet interventions and digital technologies to enhance learning outcomes in psychology and education.

ALINNE Z. BARRERA, PH.D.

Associate Professor
Associate Director at the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health)

Alinne Barrera, PhD is a California licensed clinical psychologist. Her scholarly work is focused on depression prevention, intervention adaptations, and the use of technology to deliver maternal mental health resources. As a trainee, she built a strong foundation in the detection and treatment of major depression using standardized measures and evidence-based interventions and now primarily works with Spanish-speaking and Latinx communities. During the past 15 years Dr. Barrera has dedicated her research program to adapting and empirically testing internet and SMS versions of the Mothers and Babies Course/Curso Mamás y Bebés (MB), a prevention of postpartum depression intervention. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, her doctoral degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

RICARDO F. MUÑOZ, PH.D.

Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology and Founding Director, Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health: http://i4health.paloaltou.edu/)

Professor Muñoz immigrated from Perú to San Francisco's Mission District in 1961. His bachelor’s degree is from Stanford University (1972) and his masters and doctorate from the University of Oregon in Eugene (1977). He was professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) from 1977 to 2012, transitioning to Emeritus Professor in June, 2012, when he joined PAU.  At UCSF, he was Chief Psychologist at San Francisco General Hospital and Director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program. Dr. Muñoz specializes in interventions for low-income and Latino populations, including depression prevention and treatment interventions and worldwide digital interventions.

KAREN ROLLER, PH.D.

Assistant Professor

Karen Roller, PhD, MFT, FAAETS, DNCCM, CT, CFT, CSCR, is a Clinical Traumatologist and Compassion Fatigue Therapist. She served the foster care and migrant communities of Santa Cruz County for 15 years; has worked in juvenile detention diversion programs addressing disproportionate minority confinement; and is currently Clinical Coordinator at Family Connections in Redwood City, a parent-involvement preschool serving the migrant community of San Mateo County.  In collaboration with Global Trauma Research, she is performing trauma training and outcome research in Haiti. She is Secretary for the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy, and an Assistant Professor in the Counseling and Human Services Department at Palo Alto University.

EDUARDO BUNGE, PH.D.

Professor, M.S. Program Director

Dr. Eduardo Bunge, Ph.D., Professor, is the MS. Program Director, and core faculty of the Department of Psychology at PAU. His research encompasses the intersection of technology and mental health services with a focus on improving mental health awareness in developing countries in Latin America. He also serves as the Director of the Children and Adolescents Psychotherapy and Technology (CAPT) Research Lab. Associate Director for the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health). Being a trilingual professional Dr. Bunge published 5 clinical books in 3 languages and taught classes in English, Spanish, and Portuguese throughout the Americas (at least 7 countries). Additionally, Dr. Bunge has more than 50 publications, including published articles in peer reviewed journals  and chapters. Finally, Dr. Bunge has been been director of two clinical training programs in Argentina and have taught more than 19 Graduate Courses and Seminars in Latin America (including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Paraguay, Peru).

ELISABET REVILLA, PH.D.

Clinical Latina Director

Elisabet Revilla, originally from Argentina, is a California licensed clinical psychologist specializing in multicultural and community psychology with an emphasis on Latinx Spanish-speaking immigrants. 
As a specialty clinic at the Gronowski Center, Clínica Latina started in 2014 and serves primarily Latix clients. Bilingual/Spanish doctoral students from PAU and the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium complete a one-year clinical rotation as part of their clinical training.
Dr. Revilla’s clinical expertise and research interests are on multicultural clinical supervision and training, acculturation, immigrant families, depression, anxiety, and trauma within the immigration/acculturation context.

MARTHA HERNÁNDEZ, PH.D.

Clinical Supervisor, Gronowski Center – Clínica Latina

Dr. Hernández joined Clínica Latina at the Grownowki Center in 2017. She earned her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles and both her masters and doctorate in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology - Los Angeles.  Dr. Hernández is the Family Support Services Manager at Ronald McDonald House at Stanford where she created and implemented a Spanish Track which includes Spanish supervision and didactics for trainees, and training to trainees working with chronically ill children and their families. Dr. Hernández is an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University’s MFT-Latino Emphasis program and maintains a private practice providing psychotherapy and conducting psychological immigration evaluations. Lastly, Dr. Hernández is Vice President of Public Interest and Diversity of APA’s Division 43 – Society for Couple and Family Psychology.

YANIRE (YANI) PUENTES

Executive Assistant to President Maureen O’Connor

Yani, originally from Colombia, is an experienced Executive Assistant with over 20 years of administrative experience. She graduated Baruch College in New York with a degree of Business Administration. She has worked in several fields including Wall Street and the most recent at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, recognized as one of the nation’s leading law firms.

NICOLAS LAPIDO

Assistant Director of Outreach

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Nicolas was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and moved to the United States at the age of eight. One of the biggest reasons his family relocated was to give his sister and him the best chance possible of getting an education. He is a first-generation college graduate and he is passionate about, and committed to, empowering our Latinx community. There are doors that only an education can open, and he wants to help others navigate that process- he knows what it’s like to be the first person in your family to ever attempt to do so, having limited support and zero prior knowledge. He believes education should be accessible to all and wants to do all he can to make that a reality. 

ALEXANDRA PADILLA

2nd Year Doctoral Student, Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program

Alexa is a second-year graduate student in the Ph.D. Clinical Psychology program. Her passion for representing ethnic minority populations arose from her own cultural roots stemming from Jalisco, Mexico. Recognizing that Latinx populations are largely underserved, Alexa strives to serve as their advocate in her clinical, research, and community involvement. Alexa is currently placed at the Clínica Latina where she provides bilingual services in English and Spanish. Some of Alexa’s interests are child and family psychotherapy, generational differences in substance use and suicide prevalence among immigrant families, and influences of early trauma on psychopathy development.

KARLA BARAJAS

2nd Year Doctoral Student, Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program

Karla Barajas is a second-year doctoral student in the Ph.D clinical psychology program at Palo Alto University. Karla has an ardent interest in working with minority youth and families to help promote the utter importance of mental health. Karla is interested in preventive programs for at risk youth and providing psychoeducation to the families of at- risk youth by addressing and including the family in the child's treatment for the child to reach their optimal potential. Her research interests are acculturation, trauma among at risk youth, internalizing disorders among Latinx youth, mindfulness-based interventions, and cultural diversity in psychology. Karla is a member of PULSO and part of Clinica Latina. She is in Dr. Patel's Cultural Diversity and Community Mental Health research lab and is currently working on a few projects with immigrant "newcomer" youth.

MERCEDES PALACIOS

4th Year Ph.D. Student, Child/Adolescent Trauma Emphasis

Mercedes is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Child/Adolescent Trauma Emphasis. She comes from a Mexican and Guatemalan background and was raised in South Central Los Angeles. She is interested in working with Latinx children and families who experience tremendous barriers when attempting to obtain services due to socioeconomic status, language barriers, and stigma associated with mental health. She graduated from Pepperdine University with a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Through this degree, she focuses on conducting immigration evaluations and has a passion for improving immigrant mental health.

DANIELA SAN MARTIN, PSY.D.

Community Advocate/Alumnus

Dr. Daniela San Martin graduated as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist from the Catholic University of Chile. She emigrated from Chile to the U.S. to pursue a Clinical Psychology degree at the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University Counseling and Psychological Services. In 2010 Dr. San Martin started psychoanalytic training at NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis with a particular interest in Diversity and Psychoanalysis and was part of the Committee on Ethnicity, Race, Culture, Class and Language. Dr. San Martin currently lives in Palo Alto where she has a private practice. She is a former supervisor at Clinica Latina at the Gronowski Center.