Speakers

Originally from Southern California, Dr. Lopez received a bachelor of arts in Psychology and minor in History of Science from Harvard University in 2014. While at Harvard, Dr. Lopez volunteered in the Nock Lab, which sparked his interest in suicide prevention research. In 2017, he enrolled in George Mason University's (GMU) clinical psychology doctoral program under mentorship of Dr. Christianne Esposito-Smythers. He earned his master's in 2019 and Ph.D. in 2023 from GMU. Prior to earning my doctorate, he completed an APA-accredited internship at the University of California, Davis Children's Hospital within the Trauma-Adolescent Mental Illness Track. Dr. Lopez is currently Postdoctoral Scholar and Clinical Instructor within the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles under advisement of Dr. Joan R. Asarnow. His current research aims to uncover how risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors develops, who is at greatest risk, and what can be done to effectively intervene.