Dr. West specializes in psychosocial treatment for pediatric mood disorders. She directs the Pediatric Intervention Research in Affect Dysregulation and Mood Disorder (PIRAMD) laboratory at the Institute for Juvenile Research. In particular, her team conducts research on the use of psychosocial interventions adjunctive to pharmacotherapy in the treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder. She also has interests in the developmental psychopathology of mood disorders in children, treatment mechanisms in psychosocial interventions, and in suicidal behavior in pediatric bipolar disorder. Dr. West is the Principal Investigator on a K23 Patient-Oriented Career Development Award funded by NIMH to develop a preliminary randomized controlled trial of child and family-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CFF-CBT). CFF-CBT (also called the RAINBOW program) is a manual-based psychosocial intervention that combines CBT, psychoeducation, and interpersonal therapy techniques into a family-based treatment model for children 8-12 with a bipolar spectrum disorder.

Dr. West also has an interest in adapting psychosocial treatments to be culturally-relevant to American Indian youth and in developing mental health services for American Indian youth. She was awarded a faculty seed grant from the Great Cities Institute at UIC to conduct a needs assessment of urban American Indian youth in Chicago using a culturally-informed qualitative methodology. She is partnering with the American Indian Center of Chicago to conduct this project.

Dr. West received a B.A from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia, where she was the Principal Investigator on an NIMH NRSA (F31) studying the experience of social anxiety in an at-risk American Indian sample of adolescents. Dr. West completed her pre-doctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Children’s Hospital Boston. She was then selected to be a Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) post-doctoral fellow in the Adolescent Medicine Department of Children’s Boston/Harvard Medical School. This one-year fellowship was funded by the Maternal Child Health Bureau.

West, A.E. & Pavuluri, M. Individual and family-focused psychosocial treatment for pediatric bipolar disorder. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Manuscript in preparation.

Westerholm, R., West, A.E., Ribordy, S. & Pavuluri, M. (under review).Medication compliance in pediatric bipolar disorder.

Pavuluri, M.N., West, A.E., Hill, S., Jindal, K., Harral, E., Henry, D. & Sweeney, J. (under review). Neurocognitive functioning in children with bipolar disorder compared to healthy controls: A three-year follow-up.

West, A.E., Schenkel, L.S., & Pavuluri, M. (2008). Early childhood temperament in pediatric bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(4), 402-421.

Schenkel, L. S., West, A. E., Harral, E. M., Patel, N. B., & Pavuluri, M. N. (2008). Parent-child interactions in pediatric bipolar disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64, 422-437.

West, A.E. & Newman, D. (2007). Childhood behavioral inhibition and the experience of social anxiety in American Indian adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(3), 197-206.

West, A.E. & Pavuluri, M. (2007). Maintenance model of integrated psychosocial treatment in pediatric bipolar disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46 (2), 205-212.

West, A.E. & Newman, D. (2003). Worried and Blue: The Relationship Between Mild Parental Anxiety and Depression and Young Children’s Development. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3(2), 133-154.

West, A.E. & Pavuluri, M.N. (in press). Pediatric bipolar disorder. In D. Greydanus, D. Patel, and H. Pratt (eds), Behavioral Pediatrics, Third Edition.

West, A.E. & Donenberg, G. (2007). The role of family diversity in the diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders. In S. Loue, M. Sajatovic, & L. Weiss Roberts (Eds.), Diversity Issues in the Diagnosis, Treatment and Research of Mood Disorders. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.