Philip Barry, AzPF President
My interest in working as a member of the Foundation board is predicated on perceived need. I have been an advocate all my adult life. I was involved in supporting the right to vote for people with developmental disabilities in my 20s. I have felt for many years that people with cognitive limitations due to developmental or acquired brain dysfunction have a right to try to achieve their highest level of independence with supportive services. I have long supported women moving into political leadership roles and felt honored to have worked under several female bosses. Of course, as a therapist and supervisor, I encouraged people to realize their fulfillment, whatever that meant to them.
I came late to advocacy for my own profession. I served on the Governor’s Council for Spinal and Brain Injuries for many years and before that I was a member of the board for the Brain Injury Association of Arizona (now the Brain Injury Alliance). I enjoy being a member of a team for a good cause. Professionally, I spent over forty years as a board-certified neuropsychologist specializing in traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, chronic illness and disability, and geriatric disorders.
Jennifer Lee, MS, Secretary
Jennifer Lee is a Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Northern Arizona University. She is currently in her pre-doctoral internship at the Northern Arizona VA Health Care System. She earned her B.S. in Health Sciences with a minor in Educational Studies and her M.S. in Biomedical Diagnostics from Arizona State University. Jennifer’s clinical and research interests include culturally responsive care, lifespan development, neurodiversity, and health psychology. Her past research and public speaking projects include a focus on educational training, online communication preferences among young adults with autism, and an NIH-funded project focused on substance use treatment and mental health support for expecting and postpartum mothers. As a first-generation Asian-American student born and raised in Arizona, Jennifer has also served in student government and local professional committees to support fellow students and underserved communities through advocacy and leadership.
Christina Lebovitz, Emeritus
Dr. Christina Lebovitz is a licensed psychologist in the state of Arizona. As a clinical psychologist, she serves infants to adults and provides evaluations, therapy and consultation, in addition to training in mental health issues. Identification of learning, developmental and clinical conditions is done in conjunction with school and primary care liaisons. Health care consultation is geared to building resilience and a positive outlook, with improvement of medical compliance and self-monitoring for chronic conditions, including weight loss and management. She emphasizes how people can thrive by building on strengths and uses cognitive behavioral approaches as well as play therapy and trauma processing (EMDR). Dr. Lebovitz has over 26 years of practice in Arizona, including hospital-based and community programs, plus independent practice.
On the personal side, Dr. Lebovitz has gained invaluable insight by raising three children and enjoying a long marriage. Serving as co-founder and President of the Children’s Services Network (www.csn-az.org) and as Past-President of the Arizona Psychological Foundation broadens her awareness of public issues and facilitates multidisciplinary collaboration.
Brian Arizmendi, Treasurer
Brian J. Arizmendi, Ph.D. is a full-time licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Arizona. His professional service focuses on two specialties, health psychology and the treatment of grief-related disorders. He earned his doctorate at the University of Arizona before going on to complete his clinical internship in behavioral medicine at the VA Palo Alto Health Care system. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in health psychology at the Phoenix VA Health Care System, where he currently works as a health psychologist. Dr. Arizmendi also works part time in private practice providing assessments to individuals with hearing and vision impairments, through a state vocational rehabilitation program.
Dr. Arizmendi has published empirical research in the areas of complicated grief, psychosocial intervention in chronic illness, and adaption of virtual reality technology for psychological assessment and intervention. His current research focuses on grief and loss due both to bereavement and chronic illness adjustment. He is particularly interested in the behavioral and neurobiological instantiations of complicated grief, and he has begun to combine his interests in both health psychology and complicated grief to better understand the health outcomes of those experiencing loss.
Brittany Brown
Dr. Brittany Brown, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in Arizona who specializes in forensic and clinical risk management services for adults who have sexually offended or are otherwise struggling with maladaptive or exploitative sexual behavior, as well as general clinical services for adults, forensic psychological evaluations for adults, and SMI/SED determinations for children and adults. Dr. Brown is passionate about working with underserved populations with compassion and empathy. Dr. Brown believes in working towards the vision of a world with “no more victims”, where we can all be kind to ourselves, kind to others, and reach our fullest potential in a healthy and meaningful way.
Dr. Brown earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cornell University in 2012, Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Midwestern University in 2017, and Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology from Midwestern University in 2019. Dr. Brown completed her pre-doctoral internship at Greystone Park (State) Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey and her post-doctoral residency in forensic psychology at Psychological and Consulting Services in Arizona. Dr. Brown was awarded the Outstanding Postdoctoral Resident Award for Arizona for the 2020 year by the Arizona Psychological Foundation (AzPF). Dr. Brown now serves on the Board of Directors for the AzPF, and as both Chair of and Secretary for the Disaster Response Network Committee for the Arizona Psychological Association.
Amanda Acevedo
Amanda Acevedo, M.A., Ed.S., is a third-year doctoral student at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Mrs. Acevedo was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of South Florida (1998) and her master’s and education specialist’s degree in Educational Psychology from Argosy University (2016, 2019). Mrs. Acevedo is an active member of different psychology organizations both at the state (AzPA, AASP) and national level (APA, NLPA). As a bilingual (Spanish/English) and bicultural Hispanic woman, her major interest includes working within community-based programs with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
Maricella Smith, Psy.D.
I believe I bring a diverse viewpoint as I have worked in public mental health, including those diagnosed with a serious mental illness, over the last four years. I believe all races and ethnicities should be represented within a prestigious foundation. I remember wishing as a youth for more role models I could relate to in positions of power. I grew up in a rural town in Idaho after my parents moved here from Mexico in their adolescence. While Spanish is my second language, I grew up in a bicultural household and think it is important to represent the Hispanic/Latino population in various positions within the community. I think it’s important to recognize exceptional research and individuals who want to make the changes necessary to improve the mental health community.
Dr. Aynne Henry, Ph.D.
Dr. Aynne Henry has been practicing independently as a psychologist since 1981; she has supported many mental health and community organizations. She was honored to be elected President of the Scottsdale Psychological Society (2016), the Arizona Psychological Association (1995), the Maricopa Psychological Society (1990) and the center Against Sexual Assault (1985). She was selected by AzPA as the 2019 Distinguished Service to Psychology recipient. Seeing a diverse clientele with a variety of complexities and problem issues makes Dr. Henry’s practice somewhat unique. In addition to a client population of successful, highly functioning individuals and couples seen for psychotherapy, Dr. Henry also concentrates on diagnosing and developing treatment plans for those with complex disorders such as bipolar and schizoaffective disorders, resistant issues of depression, trauma, pain and the consequences of medical conditions. Since 1971 Dr. Henry has specialized in treating individuals and couples, improve emotional and physical intimacy. Dr. Henry is a certified provider in Feeling-State Addiction Protocol (FSAP) (for behavioral and substance addictions). Other add on specialties include Interpersonal Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT), EMDR Therapy, EFT for couples and hypnosis.
Elsa Hernandez Holtzman, Ph.D.
Dr. Holtzman studied at a Jesuit private university, Universidad Iberoamericana and had excellent clinical training, in Mexico City. When attending summer school at the University of Texas at Austin, she met Wayne Holtzman, Jr, also a junior psychology student. They got married after three years and they had a daughter six years later. Dr. Holtzman attended graduate school in Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Developmental Psychology. She had practicums and internships at Region XIII Educational Laboratory, Women and Minorities in Research, Southwest Educational Laboratory. She obtained a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at Houston Health Sciences Center for Health Promotion. She became a Licensed Psychologist in Arizona in 1993. Her emphasis has been working with children and teenagers in the schools and working for 17 years on family evaluations for immigration courts. Since 2014, she has been working with victims of accidents with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), conducting evaluations and psychotherapy as they attend cognitive rehabilitation. Some of her other areas of work are ADHD assessments, learning and emotional disabilities, underachievers, only children, sibling rivalry, blending of families, marriage counseling, grief counseling, and medical disabilities that affect school (504 plans) or work (FMLA). Dr. Holtzman has one adult child who is a film producer in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Mexico.
Wendy Bunn, Psy.D.
Dr. Bunn has also helped adults and youth stabilize in residential settings. She has provided habilitation services for children diagnosed with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, counseling to individuals and their families in clinic settings, has ran and directed residential programs within Maricopa County public behavioral health system, and gained three years of experience as an executive as the Vice President of a housing program before returning to her passion of supervising doctoral students as the Sr. Clinical Director on the Clinical Education team at Copa Health.
Her proudest achievements and greatest joys were becoming a mother and raising a son and daughter in Arizona with her husband, Matt. When the kids were younger the family was heavily involved with scouting and loved to travel together, whether to a campground or to a soccer field. Dr. Bunn recently opened a small private practice and is excited to expand her involvement in the professional community starting with AzPA’s foundation as a board member.
Chun Tao, Ph.D., ABPP
Chun Tao, Ph.D., ABPP, is a board-certified bilingual (Mandarin/English) clinical health psychologist with specialties in psychosocial oncology and pain psychology. She is licensed in Arizona, California, and New Mexico, as well as through PsyPACT. Originally from China, Dr. Tao received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Counseling Psychology from Arizona State University. She completed her predoctoral psychology internship at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and her fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Tao’s research examines and promotes the resilience and strengths shown by individuals facing health challenges and psychosocial stress, including the development and implementation of innovative interventions to enhance the emotional well-being and quality of life of individuals who are coping with diverse cancer diagnoses and their caregivers. In her clinical practice, she frequently adopts empirically supported therapeutic interventions from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness, meaning-center psychotherapy (MCP), and dignity therapy frameworks. In addition, Dr. Tao is passionate about bridging research, clinical practice, and advocacy to address health equity concerns.
Chris Hallgren, Webmaster
Mr. Hallgren brings over 30 years of experience in information technology, with expertise in computer forensics, programming, web design, database management, and software deployment/reporting. As a principal consultant to Oracle and a consultant to InPower and Tesseract, he supported and managed human resources and payroll software applications and development.
He previously served as President of Helios Data Forensics, a firm specializing in computer forensics and e-discovery services for businesses and the civil legal sector. He also held the role of Director of Information Technology and Corporate Social Responsibility at International Police Training and Consulting Services (IPTACS), an organization providing sustainable law enforcement training to developing nations and emerging democracies.
Mr. Hallgren holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Systems from Arizona State University and an MBA with a specialization in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.