Current Professional Positions
Dr. Michele Cooley-Strickland is an award winning licensed psychologist, professor, researcher, wife, and mother. Dr. Michele is currently a Research Psychologist in the Center for Culture and Health, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, David R. Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. She concurrently is an Associate Professor (now Adjunct) in the Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
Psychological Practice
Dr. Michele specializes in treating and researching anxiety disorders among youth, families, and adults. She has successfully treated children, adolescents, women, and men with a variety of emotional and behavioral disorders. Dr. Michele is a cognitive-behavior therapist — believing that thoughts affect ones feelings, which affect ones behavior – who places great value in considering context and culture in individualizing interventions. As an “optimal realist,” Dr. Michele believes that each client possesses inherent strengths, yet may benefit from the expertise of a competent and engaging therapist who demands action and accountability in assisting clients in becoming their best selves.
Education
Dr. Michele was born in France and reared primarily in Virginia. She earned a Master’s degree of education in clinical and school psychology from the University of Virginia and a doctorate of philosophy in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. She completed her clinical internship at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Research, Publications, and Professional Service
Dr. Michele has been a psychologist, professor, and researcher for almost two decades, giving over 100 regional, national, and international presentations and publishing nearly 45 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and clinical psychology treatment intervention manuals. A partial list of her publications may be found here.
Dr. Michele is a community-based clinical child researcher, preventive interventionist, and teacher. She has been the principal investigator of grants funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) designed to study the emotional and behavioral outcomes of youth’s exposure to community violence. Dr. Michele was formerly the principal investigator of a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R01 prospective cohort longitudinal study that investigates community violence as a risk factor for internalizing and externalizing behaviors, co-occurring substance use, and academic achievement problems, as well as protective factors that attenuate those adverse outcomes.
Dr. Michele has been active in the National Institutes of Health. She has served on several advisory committees and over 35 special emphasis panels and standing grant review committees for the NIH, CDC, and National Institute on Justice. Dr. Michele has participated on many panels and task forces for professional organizations, including holding elected positions. Professional organizations she has served include the: Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Society for Prevention Research, Anxiety Disorders Association of America (Children’s Task Force), Johnson and Johnson’s Pediatric Roundtable, and American Psychological Association (e.g., Member-at-Large for Education and Standards for Division 53 [Society of Clinical Child Psychology]; Chairperson of the Ethnic Minority Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Task Forces; Member of the Resiliency and Strength Black Child and Adolescent Task Force; Executive Committee of Division 12, Section 6; Committee on Publications and Communications, Division 12). Dr. Cooley Strickland is a former APA Minority Fellowship Program Fellow. Other professional contributions include service as an editorial board member or reviewer of numerous scientific journals, including acting as Guest Editor of a section of Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (JCCAP) on Assessing Child and Adolescent Anxiety in Multi-ethnic Populations and Co-Editor for the special JCCAP Youth and Violence section.
Television and Radio Appearances
Dr. Michele has appeared as an expert psychologist on KTLA and the Extra! television show as an Extra! Life Changer. She has been a recurring guest on the Living Well with Dr. Peg radio program. Dr. Michele has also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC’s Today Show, CNN, and CBS Early Show to discuss her family’s relation to our third American president, Thomas Jefferson.
Personal
Dr. Michele transitioned from the east coast to Los Angeles ten years ago. She married a native of Los Angeles, Tony Strickland, M.S., Ph.D., ABPP, and is proud to call the Los Angeles area “home.” Dr. Michele has always been dedicated to improving her and other’s communities through her research and volunteer opportunities. She cooks, bakes, volunteers in her daughters’ school, is committed to physical fitness, is an amateur artist, and Sunday School teacher. Dr. Michele is a blogger dedicated toward helping people become their “best selves.”
