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Faculty

Christie L. M. Petrenko

Christie L. M. Petrenko

PhD, San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, 2009

Telephone
(585) 275-2991
Email
christie_petrenko@urmc.rochester.edu

Office Hours: By appointment

Mentorship and Advising Statement (PDF)

Biography

Professor Petrenko will be accepting applications for graduate students for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Dr. Christie Petrenko is a clinical psychologist, researcher and Research Associate Professor at Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester. In addition, she holds faculty appointments within the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics and is the Director of Clinical Training of the Clinical Psychology PhD Program.

Dr. Petrenko leads a multidisciplinary program on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), specializing in improving access to care and quality of life for people with FASD. She has multiple clinical trials underway funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Her novel interventions include developing mobile health applications for people with FASD across the lifespan in partnership with faculty in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. These interventions are theoretically grounded and utilize strengths-based approaches. Consistent with the motto “nothing about us, without us,” Dr. Petrenko and her team engage people with FASD and other stakeholders throughout the intervention development process. She values collaborative research and utilizes mixed-methods to document intervention efficacy and understand the lived experiences of people with FASD.

Dr. Petrenko also runs an FASD Diagnostic and Evaluation Clinic, FASD Intervention Service, and Family Night Support Program in partnership with medical providers at Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She provides professional training in FASD diagnosis locally and worldwide through her involvement in multidisciplinary research collaborations with both the World Health Organization and Pan-American Health Organization. She holds leadership roles in the field of FASD, including serving as President of the FASD Study Group, Board member of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and field editor of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Websites

Families Moving Forward (FMF) Connect website

Mt. Hope Family Center profile

Current Federal Grants

Parent Emotion Socialization and Child Emotion Regulation in FASD (R34 AA025717)

Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (CIFASD)

  1. Development and Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Mobile Health Caregiver Intervention for FASD (U01 AA026104)
  2. Mobile Health Tools to Promote Health in Adults with FASD (UH2 AA029050)

Selected Publications

(* denotes student/advisee)