Our Team

Elliot Jurist, PHD, PHD – DIRECTOR

A practicing clinical psychologist and an academic, Dr. Elliot Jurist is Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at the Graduate Center and The City College of New York, CUNY. 

Dr. Jurist's research has focused on the role of emotions in psychotherapy, and he maintains additional scholarly interest in the study of addiction and ethics. He and his research team have created a new measure of emotion regulation, the Mentalized Affectivity Scale (MAS), which is currently being adapted cross-culturally, into over ten languages.

From 2004-2013, he served as the Director of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at CUNY. From 2008 to 2017, Dr. Jurist was editor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, the journal of Division 39 of the American Psychological Association. He is also the editor of a book series, Psychoanalysis and Psychological Science, from Guilford Publications. His most recent book, Minding Emotions: Cultivating Mentalization in Psychotherapy, offers a brief overview of mentalization in psychotherapy, focusing on how to help patients understand and reflect on their emotional experiences.

Dr. Jurist is also the author of Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche: Philosophy, Culture and Agency (MIT Press, 2000) and co-author of Affect Regulation, Mentalization and the Development of the Self (Other Press, 2002). The latter won two book prizes and has been translated into five languages. He is also the co-editor of Mind to Mind: Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis (Other Press, 2008).

CURRENT DOCTORAL STUDENTS

ROZITA ALALUF, M.A.

Rozita Alaluf is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City College of New York. She received her B.Com. from McGill University and M.A. from Columbia University. Her research interests include reproductive mental health, mindfulness & mind-body interventions, non-ordinary states of consciousness, addictions, critical feminist theory, and mentalized affectivity.

Will Holland, B.A.

Will Holland is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City College of New York. He received his B.A. in Classics from Bowdoin College. Will's research interests include therapeutic process, therapy efficacy, mentalization, and the impact of experiences in nature on mental health and therapeutic outcomes.

Michael Perez Sosa, B.A.

Michael Perez Sosa is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The City College of New York. He received his B.A. from Columbia University in the City of New York where he double-majored in psychology and religion, with a focus on South Asian contemplative traditions. He is interested in the research and application of contemplative methodologies (i.e. education, meditation/yoga, and an ethical lifestyle) in a variety of contexts, especially in underserved and minority populations.

ALEXANDRA LORENZO
Alexandra Lorenzo- Lorenzo is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The City College of New York. She earned a M.A. in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a B.A. in political science from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. Her research interests include culturally competent interventions, forensic treatment, and the relationship between mentalization and attachment.

ALANNA DOHERTY, JD
Alanna Doherty is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City College of New York. She received her BA in Cultural Studies at McGill University and her JD from CUNY School of Law, where she was a Graduate Fellow and Pro Bono Scholar. Alanna practiced law prior to pursuing a PhD. Her current research interests include therapeutic process, and bereavement and mentalization.

MOLLY TOW
Molly Tow is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The City College of New York. She received her B.A. from Barnard College of Columbia University, where she majored in psychology. Her research interests include eating disorders, attachment, mindfulness, emotion regulation and somatization. 

NANDITA SHARMA, M.A.
Nandita Sharma is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City College of New York. She received her M.A. from Teachers College and her B.A. from Delhi University. Her research interests are based in positive psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and feminist psychology.

Brian Neff, M.A.L.D.

Brian Neff is pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at The City College of New York and holds a clinical externship at the Manhattan School of Music. His current research interests include mentalization-based therapy for children, mental health disparities in sexual minority youth, and the mediating role of rejection sensitivity in social anxiety disorder. His prior career spanned broadcast journalism, the international social sector, and the performing arts. He earned a BA in history from Yale and received an MA in international affairs (MALD) from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, where he specialized in international conflict resolution and global mental health.

I Wang, M.F.A.

I Wang is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City University of New York. She received her MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her clinical and research interests include the treatment of alcohol and substance use disorder, suicidal behaviors, and depression.

MARISSA PIZZIFERRO
Marissa Pizziferro is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The City College of New York and holds an MA from the New School of Social Research and a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is broadly interested in the psychotherapeutic process, including the role of emotion in self-disclosure, termination, and enactments in therapy. Marissa's former experience lies primarily in the psychodynamic treatment of substance users and research on the impact of early childhood experiences on adult states of mind.

RACHEL ENDE
Rachel Ende is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the City College of New York. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College of Columbia University and her Master of Social Work from New York University. Her current research interests include the relationship between mentalization and attachment theory.

DISSERTATION STUDENTS

GRADUATED STUDENTS

Loren Hatch wrote her theoretical dissertation on the treatment of menstruation in psychoanalytic theory, using the teachings and interventions of Lacan on Freudian theory to examine the presence and absence of this biological phenomenon in the psychoanalytic discourse on female sexuality.

Natalie Haziza’s dissertation examined intergenerational trauma among Yemenite and Mizrachi families of kidnapped children in Israel.

Camilla Hegstead wrote her dissertation on the role of mentalized affectivity on romantic love and relationship satisfaction.

Arielle Kagan Rubenstein's dissertation, entitled Internalization, Object Relations, and Transitional Space in Religious Conversion, was a mixed methods study of religious conversion from a psychoanalytic perspective.

Ilona Sichel’s dissertation aimed to understand the experiences of trauma, mourning, and resilience among gay and bisexual men who were long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS and were diagnosed prior to the medical breakthroughs of the mid-1990s.

Julie Slotnick’s research centered around discursive constructions of identity, with the example of the emergence of the term "cuck" (shortened from "cuckold") on online fora. Using the toolboxes of psychoanalytic and critical theory, she examined why the term is so resonant among men, working to untangle its psychical and ideological roots.

Tema Watstein’s dissertation examined the evolution of polyamory in modern American marriage of polyamory in modern American marriage. 

Josh Weinstein’s interpretive phenomenological study aimed at developing an understanding of how psychotherapists listen for, conceptualize, and work with the effects of the digital era on human experience and subsequently on psychological functioning, especially an individual’s sense of their own and others’ minds and selves.