Staff Psychologist
Derek Smith, PhDDerek is cross-trained in both school and counseling psychology. He completed his school psychology training at the University of Idaho - earning his M.Ed. in Counseling and School Psychology in 2010. During his training, however, his grandfather was diagnosed with dementia, and he took on the role of co-caregiver. This opened his eyes to the limited resources available for older adults in the community, and he decided to change his clinical focus and pursue his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Utah with emphases in neuro- and geropsychology. Derek did his time in Leavenworth! (That is to say he completed his predoctoral internship at the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System in Leavenworth, KS - not time in prison!) He completed his Ph.D. in 2018, and he works as a fully licensed psychologist in the State of Utah.
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Postdoctoral Fellow
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Chathuri Illapperuma-Wood, PhDBio coming soon
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Feeding Clinic Coordinator
Vanessa Feola
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Bio coming soon
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Training and Development Specialist
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Christina Hesley, MEd, BCBAChristina Hesley earned a bachelor’s degree in Special Education with an emphasis in mild moderate disabilities at the University of Utah in 2004. During her undergraduate career, she worked as a special education teacher for 14 years in a variety of school and clinical settings K-12. She earned a master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis at the University of Kentucky in May 2019. She has provided teacher trainings in public, private, and charter school settings in the area of PBIS, behavior, and academic interventions. Christina has also worked in a clinical setting providing parent training and conducting functional assessments. Her master's thesis was a single case research study targeting decreasing food selectivity in children in a preschool setting. Christina is currently one of the leadership staff members on the Behavior Response Support Team (BRST) providing services across six schools in Granite School District
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Lab Coordinator
Cara Duchene, JD
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Cara Duchene has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a JD from Brigham Young University and is a certified mediator in the state of Utah. Most recently she worked for the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC in their Education Government Relations Department and is now pursuing a Master's in Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She currently works as an estate-planning attorney, freelance photographer, teaching assistant, coordinator for the Mountain Plains Prevention Technology Transfer Center, and as the Administrative Lab Coordinator for the UTTEC Lab, in addition to accruing hours working towards her licensure as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor.
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