UCSD Profiles

search, discover, network

BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Brookman-Frazee is a Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. She is also the Associate Director of the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Research Director at the Autism Discovery Institute at Rady Children’s Hospital, and Co-Director of the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. She completed her doctoral training at UC Santa Barbara and postdoctoral training at UC San Diego and the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center. Dr. Brookman-Frazee also completed a fellowship at the NIMH/VA-sponsored Implementation Research Institute. Her research examines methods to promote the implementation of evidence-based interventions in community service systems caring for children and reduce disparities in access to quality care.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
The overarching goal of Dr. Brookman-Frazee’s community-partnered research is to improve the effectiveness of community services for children with mental health and developmental challenges. In the area of autism services research, one of her major contributions has been to develop and test the “AIM HI” intervention for implementation in publicly-funded mental health services. Dr. Brookman-Frazee and her team completed a randomized community effectiveness trial in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties demonstrating the positive impacts of training community therapists to deliver AIM HI on therapist practice and child and family outcomes. In a subsequent trial being conducted throughout California, Dr. Brookman-Frazee’s team is currently testing the effectiveness of multiple implementation strategies paired with AIM HI on community therapist fidelity of AIM HI delivery and subsequent child symptom reduction. Additionally, she has linked study testing a cultural enhancement to AIM HI for Latinx families.

A second major research area is focused on studying system-driven implementation of multiple evidence-based interventions for common childhood mental health problems in community mental health services. In a large, observational study, Dr. Brookman-Frazee and her colleagues are examining the sustainment of multiple interventions delivered through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, the largest mental health department in the country. They are examining system, organization, and provider level factors that influence intervention sustainment. In a subsequent study, Dr. Brookman-Frazee and her colleagues are developing pragmatic measures for assessing community therapist delivery strategies common in evidence-based interventions for common children’s mental health targets (Trauma, Disruptive behaviors, Anxiety, Depression).

CLINICAL FOCUS
Dr. Brookman-Frazee is a licensed clinical psychologist and board certified behavior analyst specializing in parent mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental and mental health conditions. In collaboration with community partners, Dr. Brookman-Frazee developed AIM HI (“An Individualized Mental Health Intervention for ASD”) for delivery in community mental health services for children. A focus of her clinical supervision and research activities is on training mental health providers to deliver AIM HI and adapt psychotherapy for children with ASD and co-occurring mental health conditions.