Amanda Fanniff, PhD

Amanda M. Fanniff, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at Palo Alto University. Dr. Fanniff received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. She completed her clinical internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida. Her research primarily focuses on forensic mental health assessment, legal system processing, and the impact of sociocultural identities. One line of this research specifically focuses on best practices in conducting culturally informed forensic mental health assessments. Relatedly, she engages in research focused on how the field of forensic psychology is incorporating sociocultural factors into our research designs. Another line of research focuses on disparities in legal system processing, including how people with different sociocultural identities are perceived by legal system actors and how processing decisions and outcomes differ. She is on the editorial board for Sexual Abuse, the journal of the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse. She is a committee member for the American Psychology-Law Society and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, as well as the American Psychology-Law Society Appointed Representative to the Forensic Psychology Specialty Board of the Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology.