Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Kirstyn Smith-LeCavalier graduated magna cum laude with university honors from Colorado State University in 2016, earning a B.S. in psychology, minor in applied statistics, and concentration in addictions counseling. During her undergraduate studies, she began researching etiology and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) under mentorship of Drs. Mark Prince and Bradley Conner. She then pursued graduate training in clinical psychology at the University of Washington under Dr. Mary Larimer, where she refined her focus on developing and testing accessible, person-centered interventions for SUDs among adolescents and young adults. Kirstyn initially served as a NIAAA-funded predoctoral scholar on the Psychology Training in Alcohol Research T32 until later securing independent funding through her NIDA F31 and competitive institutional small grant award. During this time, she also sought advanced training in evidence-based treatments from well-regarded founders and experts in these approaches to maintain close integration of research and clinical practice. Kirstyn completed her clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. During internship, Kirstyn received extensive training providing evidence-based treatments in inpatient and partial hospital settings and contributing to research, under Drs. Jane Metrik and Hayley Treloar Padovano, examining alcohol and cannabis use and pathology among adolescents and young adults. Kirstyn is excited to continue working with Drs. Metrik and Padovano as a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University on the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies T32. She is deeply grateful to her mentors, colleagues, friends, family, and fiancé, Ryan, for their unwavering support throughout her academic journey.