Alissa Ellis, PhD

Director: thinkSMART program

Clinical Director: Ellis Effect Psychological Group

Dr. Alissa Ellis is a clinical neuropsychologist who received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in Pediatric Neuropsychology at UCLA, and then completed a T32 post-doctoral fellowship in both neuropsychology and child and adolescent mood disorders at UCLA. She is now an assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human behavior. She works as an attending psychologist in the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP) and Medical Psychology Assessment Center (MPAC).

Dr. Ellis also created and is the director of the thinkSMART® program, a behavioral intervention targeting executive functioning weaknesses in adolescents. Dr. Ellis is a prolific researcher who was awarded a K23 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to examine how neural response patterns of frustration and reward are associated with symptoms of depression and mania over time in youth with significant mood difficulties. Dr. Ellis is the Founder and Clinical Director of Ellis Effect Psychological Group, a practice specializing in empirically supported treatments for children, adolescents and adults.