Empowering 4C Mental Health Technicians
IOS Toolkit Training
Our Research Team
The Family Translational Research Group at NYU works in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force to empower mental health technicians in the military. Our research lab studies the mechanisms through which individual, couple, and family dysfunction cause significant public health degradation and translates that knowledge into effective interventions. To learn more about our research click here.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Heyman is a Professor at New York University, where he co-directs the Family Translational Research Group. He earned a B.S. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. He’s a licensed psychologist.
Dr. Heyman has received over 70 grants/contracts from major U.S. funding agencies on a variety of topics, from family maltreatment to couples communication to dental fear to social determinants of health. Dr. Heyman has published over 200 scientific articles/chapters on these topics.
At the core of Dr. Heyman’s research is translating basic knowledge into prevention and treatment and improving the adoption of evidence-based practices.
Dr. Slep's research focuses on understanding the interconnected concepts of anger, conflict, aggression, and abuse in families with the ultimate goals of (a) determining what distinguishes adaptive from destructive processes and (b) developing effective prevention approaches. She is also committed to understanding how to make prevention efforts that are effective more accessible and more widely implemented. Her work is strongly grounded in social learning theory and implementation science. Ultimately, she is interested in identifying and exploiting the naturally occurring mechanisms of change and outcomes to serve as the basis for more powerful interventions. Much of her work tests hypotheses that build toward an integrated theory of the etiology and maintenance of child and partner abuse. She maintains a strong interest in addressing methodological and measurement gaps. Finally, she is committed to translating the findings from her basic studies into effective prevention, extending this work into real world settings, and understanding what helps effective practices sustain over time. Since obtaining her Ph.D in 1995, Dr. Slep has served as the PI or co-PI on over 70 federally-funded studies. She has published nearly 200 articles and chapters and serves on two federal advisory committees.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Daly is a child psychologist with a research and clinical specialization in maltreatment trauma. Specifically, her research program has focused on the neural and socioemotional impacts of trauma exposure across the lifespan, and risk and resilience factors implicated in the intergenerational transmission of family violence. Through her treatment experiences, Dr. Daly has become passionate about child advocacy and institutional reform. She is particularly interested in research initiatives geared toward the identification of systemic problems and modification of existing operating procedures within systems responsible for child welfare (e.g., CPS, family courts, schools). She is incredibly excited to be contributing to FTRG’s work on this within the military, and to be working in implementation science generally. Dr. Daly received her PhD in Child Clinical Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University.
Project Director
Wendy J. Travis, Ph.D., is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Research Associate with the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Travis has over 25 years of military and clinical experience and 15 years of research experience in the areas of family violence treatment and prevention, mental health, substance abuse and sexual assault. Dr. Travis has a specific interest in the translation of evidence-based and evidence-informed findings into mental health, nursing and educational practice. While serving in the Air Force, Dr. Travis oversaw a $2M research portfolio aimed to improve the clinical and preventative services delivered to military members and their families. She taught Behavioral Sciences to cadets at the United States Air Force Academy and was the Principal Investigator for a study that tested the implementation of a sexual assault prevention program for cadets.
Wendy Travis, PhD
Dr. Mitnick is the Director of Family Clinical and Prevention Research at the Family Translational Research Group, and a Clinical Associate Professor.
Dr. Mitnick received a PhD in 2010 in Clinical Psychology from Stony Brook University, and completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. During her doctoral training, Dr. Mitnick focused on couples' relationships, especially across the transition to parenthood.
Dr. Mitnick serves as the Director of Family Clinical and Prevention Research. She is a course director for Communication in Healthcare: Working with Diverse Populations, and contributes to dental education on communicating with patients effectively.
Dr. Mitnick has published on relationship satisfaction, transition to parenthood, and treating intimate partner violence.
Danielle Mitnick, PhD
I received my Master’s in Social Work at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. I began my externship with FTRG as a recruiter for the Teen Dating Study and then as a Demand-Withdraw head observational coder. Later, I was extremely fortunate to officially join the FTRG staff as a Junior Research Scientist. I started as an assessment runner on the Science of Behavior Change study. Since then, I have been involved as a project coordinator in a variety of studies in the lab, including Caseload Management, ADAPT Level 1 and Aftercare Group Reboot, Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention, IES Second Step, and FAP Animal Cruelty Reporting. Outside of the lab, I enjoy going to pop culture conventions and Renaissance faires, and reading and watching anything from the science fiction and fantasy genre.
Samara Trindade, MSW