PATCH Staff

Emily M. Becker-Haimes, Ph.D.

Emily M. Becker-Haimes, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Clinical Director of the Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer (PATCH) program. She is an implementation scientist and clinical psychologist dedicated to improving mental healthcare for youth. Clinically, Dr. Becker-Haimes is an expert in the treatment of anxiety disorders, with expertise in the application of exposure therapy for anxious youth with complex comorbidities. She has trained hundreds of clinicians in the application of exposure therapy and continues to advance the reach of exposure therapy through her extensive research and clinical work. Dr. Becker-Haimes conducts the initial diagnostic evaluations for youth receiving services through PATCH and provides clinical supervision to PATCH clinicians.

Dr. Becker-Haimes’ research focuses on treatment optimization for pediatric anxiety disorder. She is the author of the Resource for Exposures for Anxiety Disordered Youth (READY) Toolkit (www.bravepracticeforkids.com) and has developed and led research concerning the implementation and utilization of exposure therapy in diverse clinical settings. Dr. Becker-Haimes has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications and her work is funded by organizations such as the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). She has received several national awards for her work, including the Future Directions Launch Award from the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and the Outstanding New Investigator Presentation Award from the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration.

Dr. Becker-Haimes received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her Ph. D in child clinical psychology from the University of Miami. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

For questions about The READY Toolkit or her work, she can be reached at embecker@upenn.edu.

Julie Worley, Ph.D., BCBA

Dr. Worley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Director of Philly AIMS (Autism Instructional Methods and Support) at the Penn Center for Mental Health. She is a clinical psychologist and a behavior analyst dedicated to increasing community access to evidence based interventions and assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. Further, she is interested in facilitating community partnerships to help increase the quality of care for children receiving mental and behavioral health services.

Dr. Worley received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her fellowship at the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has extensive training on the assessment and treatment of autism and often co-occurring disorders including anxiety. 

Dr. Worley provides clinical supervision to pre-doctoral interns and practicum students completing rotations through PATCH and the School District of Philadelphia.

Anika Khan, Ph.D.

Anika Khan, PhD is a postdoctoral trainee at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Mental Health who is working full time as a clinician at the Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer (PATCH) program. Dr. Khan completed her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her predoctoral internship at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Her research and clinical work focus on examining the effects of childhood adversity on the development of internalizing and externalizing disorders. She has experience in providing cognitive behavioral therapy to address anxiety, OCD and related disorders as well as in family work, working with disordered eating and practice in addressing anxiety symptoms which may be exacerbating medical concerns (e.g. GI distress).

Claire Picard, MA, LPC, ATR-BC

Claire Picard is a licensed professional counselor and board-certified art therapist working as a clinician in the PATCH program at Hall Mercer. Claire received her Bachelor’s degree from The

Pennsylvania State University and her Masters in Art Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University. Prior to joining the Outpatient team, Claire worked on the PHIIPATCH Family Based team at Hall Mercer, providing exposure therapy for children across home, school, and community settings. Claire specializes in working with children and their families to manage Anxiety, OCD, and related disorders.

Jesslyn Jamison, Ph.D.

Jesslyn Jamison, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow at the Penn Center for Mental Health and a licensed psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer (PATCH) program. She received her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin in their School/Clinical Child Psychology Program and completed her predoctoral internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research focuses on determining how to best transport evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health into community settings. Dr. Jamison has experience working with children and families with a range of presenting concerns across a variety of clinical settings including schools, hospitals, and primary care settings. Her clinical expertise is in working with children with anxiety and OCD and their families.

Megan Brady

Megan Brady is a Project Manager at the Penn Center for Mental Health (CMH) where she provides operational and administrative research support across projects which focus on mental health quality improvement and implementation research, including projects aimed at improving services within the PATCH program. Megan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in psychology. Prior to working at CMH, Megan worked as a research assistant at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA, focusing on underlying mechanisms of mood disorders. She is currently working on obtaining a Master’s in Public Health degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sara Rothschild, Psy.D.

Sara Rothschild, PsyD is a licensed psychologist and supervisor at PATCH. Additionally, Dr. Rothschild is an instructor at the Penn Collaborative for CBT and Implementation Science. Dr. Rothschild completed her undergraduate training at New York University before earning her doctoral degree from Yeshiva University in 2018. While at Yeshiva she gained experience across New York City working with children, adolescents, and adults struggling with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and trauma across a multitude of settings. After completing her APA internship at Northwell Health, Dr. Rothschild moved back to her hometown of Philadelphia where she completed her Postdoctoral training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the CARES Institute. Dr. Rothschild is passionate about training others in and providing CBT to children, adolescents, and families in need.

Kennedy Chatman

Kennedy Chatman is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Penn Center for Mental Health (CMH) contributing to projects focusing on the implementation of evidence-based treatment in community mental health settings as well as projects aimed at improving services within the PATCH Program. She provides administrative support to the PATCH Program as Intake Coordinator. Kennedy graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a B.S. in psychology where she conducted independent research on factors associated with sexual revictimization.

Franchesca Kuhney

Franchesca Kuhney, MA is a clinical psychology pre-doctoral intern at Penn Medicine. She is completing her graduate training at the University of Illinois – Chicago and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Connecticut. Prior to attending graduate school, Franchesca completed a fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in a neuroimaging lab investigating developmental trajectories of social brain regions in children with Williams syndrome. Her research interests surround social functioning challenges in psychosis-spectrum disorders. Clinically, Franchesca focuses on diagnostic assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities across the lifespan and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for neurodiverse children and teenagers.

Kristin Murtha

Kristin Murtha is a Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania. Kristin graduated with high honors from the University of Virginia in 2018 with a major in psychology and a minor in bioethics. After graduation, she joined the Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Lab, working under Dr. Ted Satterthwaite. Here, she completed independent research examining relationships between neighborhood and family level socioeconomic status and development of the brain’s executive system. Currently, she works with Dr. Rebecca Waller in the Emotion, Development, Environment and Neurogenetics Lab, where she is broadly interested in studying neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie the development of childhood disruptive behavior disorders and co-morbid symptoms of anxiety. Through her role at PATCH, Kristin provides cognitive-behavioral therapy to children and adolescents with anxiety-related disorders.

Ross Sonnenblick

Ross Sonnenblick is a graduate-student extern at PATCH, where he provides cognitive-behavioral therapy to children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and related conditions. Ross is also a third-year Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at Drexel University; there, he studies disordered eating in men and boys. Previously, Ross received his B.A. in psychology from Tufts University. At Tufts, he conducted research on racial discrimination and children's understanding of stories. He then worked as a clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital, where his team studied the influence of food insecurity and housing instability on people’s long-term physical and mental health. As a clinician, in addition to teaching practical skills, Ross strives to promote confidence and self-compassion in everyone with whom he works.

Colleen Maxwell

Colleen Maxwell, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Mental Health who serves as a clinician at the Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer (PATCH) program. She also serves as member of the research team implementing the BRIDGE model for mental health clinician consultation to teachers in Philadelphia public schools. Dr. Maxwell earned her BA in Psychology and Spanish at Saint Louis University and her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Temple University. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research focuses on the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based mental health services for youth and families from traditionally underserved backgrounds. Her clinical expertise is in pediatric anxiety and OCD and she enjoys applying these treatment principles to support youth with chronic pain, somatic symptoms, and functional disorders.

Alyssa Marie Hernandez

Alyssa Marie Hernandez is a third-year clinical psychology graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. At PATCH, Alyssa provides cognitive behavioral therapy to youth with anxiety-related disorders. Alyssa has extensive experience working with school-age and neurodiverse children, including autistic youth and youth with ADHD and learning disabilities. She has worked with children and caregivers across clinical, school, and community-based settings. In her research, Alyssa investigates the access to and quality of behavioral health services for neurodiverse children from underserved communities. She applies developmental economic approaches and incorporates cultural and contextual factors to improve intervention implementation.