Liz McConnell, PhD

Elizabeth (Liz) McConnell, PhD (they/them or she/her) teaches in the PhD and MS programs at Palo Alto University. Dr. McConnell received their Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology at DePaul University in Chicago and completed a three-year, NIH-funded predoctoral fellowship with Northwestern University's Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. 

Dr. McConnell leads the Relational and Ecological Aspects of LGBTQ+ Lives (REAL Lives) Lab and is a core faculty member in the Center for Evidence-based Applied Research (CLEAR). Their research focuses on relational and structural influences on the health and wellbeing of intersectionally diverse sexual and gender minority populations using a variety of methodological approaches, including social network analysis and mixed-methods. 

Dr. McConnell has worked clinically in university counseling, community mental health, and hospital settings. Dr. McConnell’s clinical interests include training and supervision, relational concerns, trauma-informed approaches, group therapy, and sexual and gender minority mental health. They direct the Sexual and Gender Identities Clinic @ PAU. They are a member of Divisions 27 and 44 of the American Psychological Association.

• PhD, Clinical-Community Psychology, DePaul University (2019)
• MA, Clinical-Community Psychology, DePaul University (2015)
• BA, Comparative American Studies & English, Oberlin College (2007)

Teaching interests: Clinical training and supervision, clinical interviewing, psychopathology & psychodiagnosis

Research and clinical interests: LGBTQ+ populations, intersectionality, socio-ecological influences on health disparities, relationship and group therapy, trauma-informed approaches