Natassia Hajal, PhD

Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA

Dr. Nastassia Hajal is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences. She is a licensed clinical psychologist whose primary interests are in caregiver-child relationships, children’s emotional development, and the prevention and treatment of traumatic stress.

Dr. Hajal is interested in translational work that bridges basic science on emotion, family relationships, and psychological symptoms with clinical research on the promotion of child and family resilience. Recent research studies have focused on families that have experienced trauma, taking a resilience-informed lens by studying processes that enhance child and family functioning in the face of stress. Her studies have used multi-method approaches to understanding parent/caregiver emotions (including brain-based measures, self-report, and observation), parenting behavior, and child well-being. She is interested in factors associated with family resilience and response to preventive intervention programs across the many cultures and contexts that make Los Angeles and Southern CA such a vibrant place to live and work.

Dr. Hajal serves as the Director of Research and Evaluation and the Assistant Director of the Early Childhood Core in the UCLA Division of Population Behavioral Health. In addition to her research and clinical work, Dr. Hajal loves teaching and mentoring. She serves as an attending psychologist at the UCLA Family STAR (Stress, Trauma, and Resilience) Clinic, where she supervises clinical psychology and psychiatry trainees, and provides research mentorship for students and trainees at all levels.