Wendi F. Cross, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. Cross is a member of the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She is a clinical psychologist, educator and researcher. She is also an Education Specialist /Researcher at the VA's VISN 2 (Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, NY) and the Director of the Education Core in the UR Health Lab where she collaborates on development and evaluation of technology-driven healthcare interventions such as VR and apps to improve patients’ experience. Dr. Cross completed a NIMH Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) which focused on developing and testing models, methods and measures for training individuals charged with carrying forth a variety of evidence-based interventions into community settings. She is a graduate of the NIMH-supported Implementation Research Institute Fellowship, and her implementation science work has crosscut numerous interventions and practices. She is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Awardee as part of a team that focused on building a “digital web” to meet the behavioral health needs of rural communities. She recently completed training in User-Centered Design during which she consulted to healthcare design companies and led a customer insight team for a UR project. Dr. Cross has published widely and collaborates with investigators nationally and internationally on a variety of projects focused on training and transfer of training for impact in real world settings, community-based interventions and innovations in healthcare delivery. Dr. Cross directed the Clinical Psychology Training program in the Department of Psychiatry for over a decade and has received numerous awards for her teaching and mentorship.