Dr. Susan White is Professor and Endowed Chair in Clinical Psychology at The University of Alabama, where she directs the Center for Youth Development and Intervention. She is also the Associate Dean of Research for UA’s Barefield College of Arts & Sciences. Her research and clinical work focuses on mechanism-driven intervention for co-occurring and core problems in autism. A longstanding SCCAP member, she brings to this candidacy deep expertise bridging clinical science and practice.

As a clinician, mentor, and educator, Susan has dedicated her career to advancing evidence-based treatment and fostering diversity and belonging in psychology. In prior roles in private practice and residential settings, she earned recognition for her commitment to inclusive education and mentorship of underrepresented scholars, including first-generation students, women, and people of color. She was honored with the 2022 ABCT Outstanding Mentor Award. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, SCCAP, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT).

Susan is board-certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and has served on the ABCCAP National Examiner Board for the past three years. She is former President of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (2023) and former Coordinator of the Publications Committee of ABCT (2021-25). An accomplished scholar, she has authored or co-authored over 170 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, multiple treatment curricula, and several edited volumes, including the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Since 2016, she has served as Associate Editor for JCCAP and sits on the editorial board of EBPCAMH. She was also the inaugural editor of the Oxford clinical practice series, ABCT Series on Implementation of Clinical Approaches. Her work has been externally funded, from the National Institutes of Health as well as other entities, for the past 20 years.

As a clinical scientist, Susan is committed to the strong integration of science and practice. Most of her work carries direct relevance to clinical services or policy. She thrives in team science, as evidenced by her enduring collaborations with colleagues across disciplines—social work, education, biology, physics, computer science, and engineering. Notably, her research consistently involves undergraduate and graduate students as co-authors, advancing the next generation of clinical scientists.

Beyond her professional work, Susan enjoys travel, exercise, reading, and spending time with family.

I am a school psychologist by training and graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) with a PhD in 2019. I completed a 2-year fellowship in pediatric psychology at the Rothman Center for Neuropsychiatry from 2019-2021. Since then, I have become a Florida licensed psychologist and a board certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist.

Throughout my graduate training and beyond, I have specialized in early childhood trauma and disruptive behavior disorders. I have particular interest in equitable access to evidence-based care for underserved and underrepresented children and families such as those with developmental delay or low-income and economic marginalization. I currently provide a range of clinical, research, and leadership services as an assistant professor at a large academic medical center. In my role, I am the co-Principal Investigator of a community contract focused on the provision of accessible and affordable parent training groups to any caregiver in the community who has a child ages birth to fifth grade. In addition, I provide a day a week of clinical care wherein I offer comprehensive psychological evaluations as well as individual therapy for children ages 2-18 years. I am the internship director of the USF Doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology, which is an APA-accredited and APPIC-approved site. Finally, I offer professional service as the 2026 APA Convention chair to Division 53 and as an affiliate to the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, a state-wide agency focused on enhancing the sustainability of child welfare.

My professional identity has been shaped by a dedication to helping young people confront and overcome anxiety through exposure-based interventions. This work has transformed the lives of countless adolescents and their parents, and it has reinforced my belief that psychology must remain firmly grounded in science while responsive to the lived realities of those we serve. I have years of previous experience as a psychologist in inpatient, school-based, and outpatient settings, and I currently practice in a fast-paced children’s medical center affiliated with a university. My professional experience in a wide range of settings has sharpened my ability to respond quickly to complex needs, collaborate across disciplines, and deliver care that is both efficient and deeply compassionate. Working in a dynamic medical/academic setting has reinforced my belief that psychology must be integrated into broader healthcare systems, ensuring that mental health is treated with the same urgency and importance as physical heath. It has also given me a unique perspective on how systemic barriers affect families in real time, and how evidence-based interventions can be scaled to meet diverse needs. 

Anxiety disorders are among the most common and easily recognizable mental health challenges faced by children and adolescents, yet many families struggle to access effective care. Exposure therapy, a gold-standard treatment, is underutilized due to limited training opportunities, misconceptions about its application, and systemic barriers in healthcare delivery. My career has been dedicated to addressing these gaps—by providing direct clinical care, training clinicians, and promoting policies that expand access to evidence-based interventions. One of my proudest professional achievements has been the development of an intensive outpatient program (IOP) for school refusal rooted in anxiety treatment. School refusal is a growing crisis, often driven by severe anxiety that disrupts both academic progress and family functioning. By designing and implementing a structured IOP, I created a pathway for adolescents to gradually re-engage with school through exposure -based interventions, while simultaneously supporting parents in reducing accommodation behaviors. In tandem with IOP development, I joined with a local software development team to create a unique virtual-reality-based intervention that will reinforce and extend the work done in treatment. In addition, I developed a step-down (outpatient) social anxiety group with a unique parent component; by integrating parents and providing caregivers their own parallel processing groups with hands-on activities including exposures, the group not only empowers youth to face social fears but also equips caregivers with strategies to reduce accommodation and reinforce progress at home. On a personal note, my own experience as a single parent has further deepened my commitment to advocacy. I understand the challenges families face when balancing caregiving responsibilities, professional demands, and systemic barriers to accessing care. This lived experience has given me empathy for parents navigating complex systems and resilience in the face of adversity.