Position:

Assistant Professor, Director of the Trauma, Diversity, and Systemic Change (TDSC) Lab

Contact Information:

kwatters@paloaltou.edu

Biography:

Dr. Kayleigh Watters is an Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University and a licensed clinical psychologist in California (PSY 34749). She directs the Trauma, Diversity, and Systemic Change (TDSC) lab, where her research focuses on complex trauma, the impact of discrimination on trauma symptoms, sexual violence, and barriers to seeking services or reporting sexual violence. As an applied researcher, Dr. Watters uses research outcomes to advocate for changes in various settings.

Dr. Watters teaches courses in statistics, substance use, trauma, and psychopathology. Her expertise spans PTSD, complex trauma, grief, anxiety, and depression, developed through extensive training at institutions including the San Francisco VA and StarVista.

She earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology with an emphasis in adult trauma from Palo Alto University. Dr. Watters completed her predoctoral internship at Oregon State University and her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.