Jennifer C. West, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. West is an educational leader in the Department of Psychiatry. She is currently the Acting Director of Clinical Psychology Training. She has been the director of the Child and Adolescent Doctoral Internship Track since 2007 and has been the Associate Director of Clinical Psychology Training since 2012. Dr. West received the Dr. Rita Underberg Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005, 2009 and 2022. In 2016 she received the Ray Babineau Award f or Excellence in Psychotherapy Education in the Department of Psychiatry and in 2017 she received the Genesee Valley Psychological Association Outstanding Psychologist Award. Dr. West has been a presenter at several meetings of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers. In additions to teaching seminars and supervising emerging psychologists in the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. West also teaches in the Pediatric Dentistry Resident program at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health.

Dr. West's research is focused on using innovative educational methodology, particularly standardized patients, to train providers and other interventionists. She was a co-PI on a randomized controlled trial focused on the use of standardized patients for suicide prevention training for providers in primary care. In 2020, Dr. West was a Dean's Teaching Fellow and developed a project focused on improving healthcare providers' skills in firearm injury prevention. Dr. West has expertise on observational coding and has collaborated on projects assessing implementer fidelity.

Dr. West has extensive experience in the clinical treatment of children, adolescents, and families. As a member of several interdisciplinary teams in the Department of Pediatrics, she specializes in the assessment and therapeutic treatment of children with acute and chronic medical conditions, especially asthma, vocal cord dysfunction, Type I diabetes, craniofacial anomalies, abdominal pain, and encopresis. Dr. West also has expertise in the treatment of anxiety, mood disorders, bereavement, and adjustment disorders with children, adolescents, and adults. She has specialized training and expertise in the using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people develop skills to improve their psychological flexibility and build meaningful lives in the face of difficult emotions, thoughts and situations.

Dr. West is a member of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 53 and 54), the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, the Rome Foundation, and the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.