Faculty Member
Professor & Associate Director, UCLA Anxiety and Depression Research Center
Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Biography
Dr. Kate Wolitzky-Taylor is an Associate Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center (ADRC). Her primary appointment is as a Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. Dr. Wolitzky-Taylor obtained her B.A. summa cum laude in psychology from Emory University, where she completed her undergraduate research assistantship in the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, obtaining clinical and research training in the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders. Dr. Wolitzky-Taylor received a predoctoral National Research Service Award (NRSA, NIMH-funded F31) in order to examine self-administered behavioral treatments for pathological worry. Dr. Wolitzky-Taylor completed her predoctoral internship at the Medical University of South Carolina in the Traumatic Stress Track, where she was on an NIMH-funded trauma-related training grant (T32). She completed a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship at UCLA in the ADRC (2009-2012) where she was the Project Director of the Youth Emotion Project, an NIMH-funded R01 examining common and specific risk factors for anxiety and depression. Dr. Wolitzky-Taylor completed a Career Development Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K23; funded by NIDA), the focus of which was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a brief CBT program to be delivered in community substance use disorder (SUD) specialty care clinics for individuals with comorbid anxiety disorders and SUDs. She has been the Principal Investigator for several NIH-funded studies that focus on the development and evaluation of treatments for comorbid emotional disorders and substance use disorders. She is the Director of Clinical Services for the Depression Grand Challenge Innovative Treatment Network, is a PI (along with Dr. Craske) for the UCLA STAND NIMH ALACRITY Center (P50), and she treats patients with anxiety and related disorders in the UCLA Faculty Practice Outpatient Clinic and in the Behavioral Health Services, where she also directs a CBT rotation for psychiatry residents. She has extensive experience in training and supervising clinical psychology doctoral students and psychiatry residents in delivering CBT and in research methods. Dr. Wolitzky-Taylor provides clinical supervision, statistical consultation, and research mentorship to the ADRC’s doctoral students and research staff. Her research interests include investigating mechanisms of change during behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders, increasing access to CBT for anxiety disorders in community settings, and understanding and treating comorbid anxiety and SUDs.
