Please join us for this free continuing education webinar developed in collaboration with the Clinical Psychology Specialty Council. It is available to all current ABPP specialists as a live webinar and will subsequently be made available on-demand. Our friends from the Clinical Psychology Specialty Council may also register after creating a guest account (if needed) and then entering the special code emailed to them.
Presenters: Jude Bergkamp, PsyD, Shona Vas, PhD, ABPP, Edward Selby, PhD, Francisco Agustin Calvache Meyer, PhD, Kenneth Polishchuk, MA, MAPP, and Manasa Swaminathan, MA
Title of Presentation: Hidden Strengths: The Invisible Burden of International Students and Needed Changes
Date Recorded: Wednesday, October 29, 2025, from 10:00 am to 11:30 pm PT/1:00 pm to 2:30 pm ET
CE Credit: 1.5 hours
Presentation Summary:
Attendees will learn about international students as assets to our health service psychology doctoral and internship programs. Attendees will learn basic information about international students, key literature, the current policy landscape, and promising practices from doctoral program entry through career entry.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how international students contribute to our programs and how their inclusion aligns with health service psychology goals.
2. Explain individual level interventions faculty, directors of clinical training (DCTs), and supervisors can implement to support international students.
3. Identify program-level changes to implement that may improve the process for international students in terms of acculturation.
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Jude Bergkamp is the Chair of the clinical psychology program at Antioch University Seattle, as well as clinical faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. He is President of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP), representing over 100 doctoral programs. He serves on the American Psychological Association (APA) BEA/BPA Task Force on Doctoral Competencies in Health Service Psychology. His current research interests include the decolonization of psychology, the exploration of social privilege as the flip side of oppression, and the role social privilege plays in psychotherapy.
Dr. Shona Vas was born and raised in India where she completed her undergraduate and early graduate education. She came to the United States to pursue doctoral training in psychology which she obtained at Loyola University Chicago. She has been on the faculty of the University of Chicago for twenty years and is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. Dr. Vas is board-certified in Behavioral and Clinical Psychology and is the Director of the CBT Program. Dr. Vas is also the Director of the health service psychology externship, internship, and fellowship training programs at UChicago Medicine.
Dr. Edward Selby completed his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at The Florida State University in 2011, following completion of his psychology residency at Brown University – Warren Alpert Medical School in 2011. He previously earned his M.S. in clinical psychology from The Florida State University in 2007, and he completed a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience and a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Wyoming in 2005. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and he has received several national awards for his research including a Young Investigator Award from the International Academy of Suicide Research, the Neil S. Jacobson Award for Outstanding and Innovative Clinical Research from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the American Psychological Association Division 12 Distinguished Student Research Award. In his free time, Dr. Selby enjoys running, learning new languages, and spending time with his family.
Dr. Francisco Calvache Meyer is a licensed clinical health psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he came to the United States 13 years ago to start his higher education journey, starting with a a BA in Psychology from the University of Chicago and followed by a PhD in Clinical Psychological Science from Vanderbilt University. He completed his clinical internship at the University of Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. At Yale, Dr. Meyer leads the Adult Gastropsychology Program and serves as a faculty supervisor for the Behavioral Medicine track of the clinical psychology internship. He is passionate about bilingual and culturally informed care, integrative behavioral health, and advocacy for international scholars in health service psychology.
Kenneth Polishchuk, MA, MPP, is the Deputy Chief for Education and Training Policy at the American Psychological Association where he leads APA’s education and training policy and advocacy portfolio. He has been with APA since September 2019. His issue areas of focus cover the full continuum of education, including early childhood, elementary and secondary, and higher education programs, as well as psychology training and workforce development programs. Since 2021, Kenneth has been named one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Committee for Education Funding and the Title IV-A Coalition. Prior to his work at APA, he spent more than 5 years on the government affairs team at the Council of Graduate Schools. He has an MA in American Politics, an MA in Public Policy, and a BA in Psychology.
Manasa Swaminathan, MA, is a fifth year clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Indianapolis. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at Easterseals Rehabilitation Center in Evansville, Indiana. Prior to internship, Manasa trained in a variety of clinical settings, including Purdue University Counseling Center, the VA Medical Center, and Indiana University School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests focus on the assessment and treatment of neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly within diverse and underserved communities. In collaboration with IU School of Medicine and the Lata Medical Research Foundation, Manasa is co-leading a grant funded global research initiative on autism in Indian communities in the United States and India. Her work has been disseminated through communities and webinars.
Dr. Kritika Nayar is a pediatric neuropsychologist at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone. She is the current Chair of ANA’s OPT Ad-Hoc Committee, serving in this role since 2024. Kritika is passionate about supporting international trainees in clinical neuropsychology and works at the individual, group, and national levels to improve training pathways. She and the team have partnered with the American Psychological Association (APA) to promote policy change, collaborate with training directors to understand and address barriers faced by international students, and guide international trainees through challenges as they navigate their training journeys. Kritika and her team recently published an important paper on this topic in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology titled “Surveying Barriers to Training: A Call for Change for International Neuropsychology Trainees in the U.S.” This work is deeply personal to Kritika, rooted in her own experiences and commitment to creating a more accessible future for the next generation of neuropsychologists.
Registration Required:
Only registered specialists or CPSC guests will receive the Zoom link and access information.
You must be logged in as a current ABPP specialist or Clinical Psychology Specialty Council member/invitee to register. If you're with the Clinical Psychology Specialty Council but have never logged into our site, you may create a guest account and then return to this page to register.
The American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The American Board of Professional Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Board of Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0198.